Vaginal Malignant Melanoma: Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Introduction: Primary vaginal malignant melanomas are rare tumours with a limited number of cases published in the literature. They primarily affect post-menopausal women with a median age of 57-68 years and have a dismal prognosis. The 5-year survival rate, regardless of treatment, is approximately 5-25%.

Co-Occurrence of Rarest Type of Dysphagia Lusoria (Type N-1) and Eosinophilic Esophagitis in a Cognitively Disabled Individual.

Dysphagia is an expressive symptom, described by an individual as "difficulty in swallowing." Dysphagia due to esophageal compression from an aberrant right subclavian artery is rare, and it is termed as "dysphagia lusoria." We present a rare case of co-occurrence of dysphagia lusoria with esophageal eosinophilia in a patient with cognitive disability which portends a case with diagnostic challenge and treatment dilemma.

Value of portal venous system radiological indices in predicting esophageal varices.

Introduction: Portal hypertension results from increased resistance to portal blood flow and has the potential complications of variceal bleeding and ascites. The splenoportal veins increase in caliber with worsening portal hypertension, and partially decompress by opening a shunt with systemic circulation, ie, a varix. In the event of portosystemic shunting, there is a differential decompression across the portal vein and splenic vein (portal vein > splenic vein), with a resultant decrease in the ratio of portal vein diameter to that of splenic vein.

Arterial injuries from femoral artery cannulation with port access cardiac surgery.

Although minimally invasive (MI) cardiac surgery reduces blood loss, hospital stay, and recovery time, some MI approaches require femoral arterial cannulation, which introduces a heretofore unknown risk of femoral arterial injury. This study was performed to examine the risk of femoral arterial injury after Port Access MI cardiac surgery (PA-MICS) with femoral cannulation. Data were prospectively obtained on 739 consecutive patients who had PA-MICS with femoral cannulation between June 1996 and April 2000, identifying any patient with new (<30 days postoperative) arterial insufficiency from the cannulation site.