Changing patterns and surgical results in adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus.

Background: Prognosis of oesophageal adenocarcinoma is notoriously dismal. To examine the changing patterns of and treatment strategies for this disease, the longitudinal experience of a single institution over 16 years is reported.

Methods: The study comprised a retrospective review of 551 consecutive patients operated on for oesophageal cancer between 1979 and 1995, of whom 164 had adenocarcinoma.

Selective digestive decontamination in multiple trauma patients: cost and efficacy.

A double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy and the cost of selective digestive decontamination (SDD) to prevent nosocomial pneumonia in multiple-trauma patients. Nosocomial infections, particularly pneumonia, were more frequent in the placebo group. The most common infectious agent was Staphylococcus: Staphylococcus aureus in the placebo group and Staphylococcus epidermidis in the SDD group.

Video-assisted minithoracotomy versus muscle-sparing thoracotomy for performing lobectomy.

We prospectively analyzed the outcome of lobectomy in a cohort of 67 patients. Operative time, postoperative pain, pulmonary function, and early outcome were compared between the patients undergoing video-assisted techniques (n = 44) and those undergoing standard muscle-sparing procedures (n = 23). Pain was quantified daily throughout the first week using the visual analog scale.

Dilation of woven and knitted aortic prosthetic grafts: CT scan evaluation.

Because there are few reports in the literature concerning short- and medium-term outcome of woven and knitted aortic prosthetic grafts, we conducted CT evaluations in 58 asymptomatic patients (53 males and five females with a mean age of 63.5 years) undergoing infrarenal aortic reconstruction between June 1988 and June 1991. Joined CT slices after contrast enhancement, centered on the proximal anastomoses, prosthetic bodies, and prosthetic limbs, were obtained in the early (mean 19 days) and late (mean 19 months, range 6 to 40 months) postoperative periods.

[Prevalence of gastrocnemius vein insufficiency using color-coded Doppler ultrasound (modifications of the therapeutic strategy)].

The importance of morphologic and dynamic lesions of the gastrocnemius vein is underestimated. Color-coded Duplex scanning was performed in 483 patients with varicosities and 869 legs with some venous abnormalities were discovered. Two types of lesion on gastrocnemius veins were founded: incompetence and dilatation usually located on the medial gastrocnemius vein.