Right upper lobe torsion following middle lobectomy: a rare complication.

Middle lobe torsion is a known complication of right upper or lower lobectomy, whereas torsion of the upper or lower lobe is extremely rare. We report our experience with torsion of the right upper lobe following a middle lobectomy in a 74-year-old man with non-small-cell lung cancer.

A preliminary study on the insect fauna of Al-Baha Province, Saudi Arabia, with descriptions of two new species.

A preliminary study was carried out on the insect fauna of Al-Baha Province, south-western part of Saudi Arabia. A total number of 582 species and subspecies (few identified only to the genus level) belonging to 129 families and representing 17 orders were recorded. Two of these species are described as new, namely: Monomorium sarawatensis Sharaf & Aldawood, sp.

Removal of a bullet in the pericardial cavity by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.

The use of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) in dealing with thoracic trauma has been well established. VATS avoids a thoracotomy and offers excellent visualization of the entire pleural cavity. The removal of bullets from the pleural cavity using VATS has also been reported, but, to our knowledge, this is the first time a bullet has been removed from the pericardial cavity using VATS.

Epithelioid malignant mesothelioma presenting with features of esophageal tumor.

Intrathoracic epithelioid mesothelioma commonly presents as a diffuse tumor of the pleura. It rarely occurs as a localized tumor that might be surgically resectable. We report a case of one such localized mesothelioma in a 72-year-old woman, which arose from the wall of the esophagus and had all the presenting features of an esophageal tumor.

Chivosazoles A and F, cytostatic macrolides from myxobacteria, interfere with actin.

Chivosazoles A and F, isolated from Sorangium cellulosum, showed high antiproliferative activity with different mammalian cell lines including human cancer cells. The chivosazoles caused a delay in G2/M phase of the cell cycle, and treated cells often contained two nuclei. By labeling F-actin it was shown that the actin cytoskeleton of the cells starts to break down after a few minutes of treatment.

Surgical treatment of benign neurogenic tumours of the mediastinum: a single institution report.

Objective: Neurogenic tumours of the mediastinum are uncommon neoplasms arising from nerve tissues within the thorax. We sought to evaluate and compare the outcome following surgical resection of such tumours by VATS, open thoracotomy, and by either combined with hemilaminectomy.

Methods: From February 1992 to March 2007, 93 patients underwent surgical resection of neurogenic tumours of the mediastinum in our institution.

Successful angiographic embolisation of bleeding into the chest wall after chest drain insertion.

Peripheral arterial injuries after blunt or penetrating trauma commonly follow injuries to adjacent soft tissue and bone. The traditional approach to these injuries is by open exploration, with identification and ligation of the bleeding vessel. We describe the case of a type II respiratory failure patient who had an enormous pectoral muscle haematoma following chest drain insertion, in whom the bleeding was only controlled by angiographic embolisation following failure of surgical exploration.

Surgical repair of post-traumatic lung hernia using a video-assisted open technique.

Post-traumatic lung herniation through a defect in the chest wall is an uncommon injury, with only about 300 reported in the literature. Various methods of treatment and repair have been described, including both purely thoracoscopic to full open techniques. We repaired a case by using a combination of minithoracotomy and video-assistance through the minithoracotomy wound.

Rapid development of fatal TB constrictive pericarditis after cardiac surgery.

We report the case of a 75-year-old male of Asian origin who developed TB constrictive pericarditis less than 6 weeks after CABG. He had no history of active TB, but did show a strong Heaf test reaction in 1987, following a period of weight loss. This was thought to be indicative of previous infection and was not actively treated.

Uniportal vs standard three-port VATS technique for spontaneous pneumothorax: comparison of post-operative pain and residual paraesthesia.

Objective: VATS using the conventional three ports is currently the technique of choice for blebectomy/bullectomy for spontaneous pneumothorax. However, the procedure has recently been shown to have neurological complications related to the port sites. Uniportal VATS has recently been proposed as an alternative to conventional three-port VATS.