Mortality after colon surgery: the value of a mortality registration system.

Background/aims: Postoperative mortality after colon surgery is relatively infrequent. In order to evaluate the quality of colon surgery, post-mortem evaluation is useful. This study was performed to determine the value of a mortality register used at the Department of Surgery of the Red Cross Hospital.

Value of keeping records of mortality.

Objective: To evaluate treatment and complications which is essential for good medical practice.

Design: Prospective audit.

Setting: City hospital, The Netherlands.

Nature's high-voltage injuries: sometimes a deadly consequence.

A patient is described who presented with the clinical picture of respiratory failure, persistent comatose state and myocardial injury after being struck by lightning. The discussion reviews the management of lightning injuries with emphasis on cardiovascular and neurological complications.

A series of carcinoid tumours of the breast.

Eight patients with a carcinoid tumour of the breast were treated between 1985 and 1992. All were reviewed for their history, physical examination, mammographic and ultrasound features. Staining methods according to Grimelius, with H&E and Neurone Specific Enolase were repeated, and all were positive.

Four cycles of BEP versus an alternating regime of PVB and BEP in patients with poor-prognosis metastatic testicular non-seminoma; a randomised study of the EORTC Genitourinary Tract Cancer Cooperative Group.

We have investigated whether an alternating induction chemotherapy regimen of PVB/BEP is superior to BEP in patients with poor-prognosis testicular non-seminoma. A total of 234 eligible patients were randomised to receive an alternating schedule of PVB/BEP for a total of four cycles or four cycles of BEP. Poor prognosis was defined as any of the following: lymph node metastases larger than 5 cm, lung metastases more than four in number or larger than 2 cm, haematogenic spread outside the lungs, such as in liver and bone, human chorionic gonadotrophin > 10,000 IU l-1 or alphafetoprotein > 1000 IU l-1.