Fatal cardiac tamponade as a late complication of central venous catheterization: a case report.

Central venous catheterization is a reliable technique in neonatal surgery. Nevertheless, the rate of mechanical catheter-related complications remains high. We report a neonate with gastroschisis in which the successful placement of a central venous catheter was followed later by a cardiac tamponade with a fatal outcome.

Risk factors for latex allergy in patients with spina bifida and latex sensitization.

Background: Some subjects with spina bifida (SB) and latex sensitization (cutaneous and/or serum IgE) can have clinical reactions, while others may have no symptoms after the exposure to latex products.

Objective: This study was carried out to determine the risk factors associated with latex allergy in patients affected with SB and latex sensitization.

Methods: Fifty-nine consecutive subjects affected with SB, besides answering a questionnaire, underwent a skin-prick test (SPT) to latex and the determination of the specific serum IgE (RAST CAP) to latex.

Prevalence of and risk factors for latex sensitization in patients with spina bifida.

Purpose: We determined the prevalence of and risk factors for latex sensitization in patients with spina bifida.

Materials And Methods: A total of 59 consecutive subjects 2 to 40 years old with spina bifida answered a questionnaire, and underwent a latex skin prick test and determination of serum IgE specific for latex by RAST CAP radioimmunoassay. We also noted the relationships of total serum IgE skin prick tests to common air and food allergens.

[Portable bladder ultrasonography: a new technic for the urological management of pediatric spinal cord damage].

Noninvasive measurement of bladder volume demonstrates how a new technology can improve the management of pediatric patients with spinal cord injured. The bladder-scan was used to perform volume and post-void residual urine measurement. The aim of our study is to verify the reliability of Bladder Manager Tc 5000 in these patients.

[Severe chronic constipation: limitations of medical therapy and indications for surgical intervention. II].

Severe chronic constipation is a common problem in children. Most patients have functional constipation, only few (approximately 5%) have an underlying organic disease who requires surgical treatment. Anatomic problems with a painful defecation (anal rhagades, fistulas, hemorrhoids) or with difficult defecation (anal stenosis, tumor) require only a careful physical examination.

Evolution of upper urinary tract and renal function in patients with posterior urethral valves.

From January 1972 to June 1993, 166 patients with posterior urethral valves (PUV) were treated in our surgical department, 59 with a milder form of PUV (upper urinary tract [UUT] complication rate 29%) and 107 with a severer form (UUT complication rate 96.3%). Only the latter group was studied for long-term (mean 9.

[A flowmetric study after a Mathieu-Righini intervention in medial-distal hypospadias].

Uroflowmetric long-term data (mean follow-up 4.5 years) of 64 nonselected patients successfully treated for mid-distal hypospadias with Mathieu-Righini procedure were analyzed. None of our patients needed meatal dilation after primary procedure.

Evolution of urodynamic patterns in posterior urethral valves.

A retrospective, long-term urodynamic study was performed in order to follow the evolution of the urodynamic patterns in 55 unselected patients previously affected by posterior urethral valves (PUV). The mean maximum cystometric capacity (MCC) values progressively increased over time and, on long-term follow-up, were just above 2 standard deviations (SD). The mean compliance values were clearly reduced in the first urodynamic studies after valve ablation, and only after a mean of 5 years follow-up did they approach the lower limits of normal.

Neuropathic urinary incontinence in pediatric patients: management with artificial sphincter.

From June 1982 to November 1990, 37 patients, aged 13 to 19 years (35 males and 2 females), were treated in our division for neuropathic urinary incontinence with an artificial sphincter. All patients were treated before sphincter implantation with drugs, transurethral sphincterotomy in boys, and bladder flap urethroplasty was carried out in females during the surgical procedure. The cuff was placed at the bladder neck in 33 cases, and in 4 cases at the urethral bulb.

[Renovascular hypertension in childhood].

One to two per cent of children and up to 11% of adolescent have arterial hypertension. In most cases children and adolescent are not recognized to be hypertensive because physicians do not routinely measure blood pressure. Often the diagnosis is recognized only when the pediatric patients develop a complication: seizure, stroke, heart failure or paraplegia.

[Primary intestinal lymphangiectasis. A case treated surgically].

The authors describe a rare case of primary intestinal lymphangiectasis resolved with surgical treatment. Usually the natural course of the disease is relatively mild and medical nutritional treatment can be sufficient. In this case the lymphatic intestinal anomaly was generalized to the entire small intestine but a distal ileal segment was particularly involved.

[Ectopic ureter].

Ectopic ureter is quite a rare malformation, and it can be more or less serious depending on its anatomy (monolateral or bilateral ectopy, duplicated ureter, single ureter) and the associated malformations. It's more common in female patients. Ectopic ureteral orifice can be either intravesical (bladder neck) or, more often, extravesical.

[Retroperitoneal lymphangioma. Radiologic aspects and diagnostic protocol].

The authors analyze the radiological aspects and the staging problems of the retroperitoneal lymphangioma, a rare neoplasma of infancy. Echography and computer-assisted tomography contributions are particularly emphasized.

[Dilatation of esophageal stenosis using a balloon catheter].

Treatment of esophageal strictures is discussed. Authors describe technique and results of transluminal balloon dilatation in nine cases of esophageal stenosis.

[Surgery of malformations of extrahepatic bile ducts in childhood].

The actual hypothesis on the etiology and pathogenesis of neonatal hepatitis, intrahepatic and extrahepatic biliary atresia and choledocal cyst is that these disorders can be different results or permissible outcomes of a single basic process: infantile obstructive cholangiopathy. This hypothesis can explain the failure of many infants with operable extrahepatic biliary atresia to do well following surgically successful anastomosis. Very possibly no surgical mode of therapy will cure a significant fraction of infants with biliary atresia (correctable and non-correctable types) because the basic disease process actually produces portal fibrosis and destroys intrahepatic bile ducts as well.

[Description of a case of thanatophoric dysplasia with cloverleaf skull].

This report presents the clinical, radiographic, and autopsy findings in a newborn infant with thanatophoric dysplasia and cloverleaf skull who died soon after birth. The possible genetic mechanisms of transmission of both malformations are discussed.

[Care of the newborn infant with respiratory distress syndrome using continuous negative pressure. 5 years' experience].

Continuous Negative Pressure (CNP) was utilized as sole form of respiratory assistance in the treatment of 40 newborn infants with Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS). The average duration of CNP therapy was less than 7 days in all cases. 38 of these infants survived without sequelae (95%); an infant developed severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (2.