[Forced delivery instead of postmortem cesarean section].

The Lex Regia stipulated that no pregnant women shall be buried unless the child has been removed from her womb. The post mortem caesarean delivery was upheld till 1861 by the majority of obstetricians but nevertheless, anterior to the XIXth century, in 1729, Delamotte practiced delivery in the agonising patient in the absence of labour in view to bypass the cesarean section in hope of better child survival. This article describes the beginning of forced ante mortem delivery upon post mortem cesarean section, which contributed to a decrease in child mortality.

[Medicinal leeches].

Leeches are hermaphroditic and hematophagous annelids. One important medical species, Hirudo medicinalis, comes from hirudiniculture of fresh water pools. Thanks to their three mandibles with some 300 teeth on their anterior muscular sucker, they easily grab to tissues and by secreting their saliva containing numerous powerful enzymes, such as hyaluronidase, collagenase and inhibitors of platelet aggregation and coagulation, like hirudin, allow blood sucking.

Cerebral arteriovenous malformation mimicking acute coronary syndrome.

We report a case of cerebral arteriovenous malformation in a 34 year-old male patient presenting with chest pain. Electrocardiographic findings showed ST elevations in the precordial leads. However, a coronary angiogram showed no coronary lesions.

Evaluation of a new, rapid lactate analyzer in critical care.

Objective: To determine the reliability, precision and clinical usefulness of a newly developed substrate-specific lactate/blood gas analyzer (Chiron M865).

Setting: A university hospital 31-bed mixed medical/surgical intensive care unit (ICU).

Patients: Seventeen critically ill patients with sepsis (n = 4), post-cardiac surgery (n = 8), hepatic failure (n = 2) or acute respiratory failure (n = 3).