Dialock: a new vascular access device for extracorporeal renal replacement therapy. Preliminary clinical results.

Background: Vascular access, a vital tool for end-stage renal disease patients, remains a weak component of extracorporeal renal replacement therapy (RRT) and the first cause of morbidity. Permanent catheters proposed as an alternative to permanent AV fistulae are associated with a significant risk of infection. A subcutaneously implantable chamber connected to permanent catheter appears highly desirable to reduce such hazards.

[Clinical application of grafts of cultured epidermis in burn patients. Apropos of 16 patients].

The authors report a series of 16 patients with extensive burns partially treated by epidermal culture between May 1985 and July 1988. This series consisted of 9 males and 7 females between the ages of 6 and 88 years (mean age: 34 years). The mean surface area of the burns was 66% (range: 30% to 92%).

The grafting of burns with cultured epidermis as autografts in man. Two case reports.

In two patients full-thickness burns were grafted with cultured autologous epidermis obtained using the technique described by H. Green. The grafts only took partially but produced satisfactory covering.

[Postoperative analgesic effect of pethidine injected epidurally].

Postoperative pain was treated by epidural administration of 30 to 50 mg pethidine (5 mg X ml-1) in a group of 36 patients who had undergone retropubic prostatectomy. Surgery was carried out under epidural anaesthesia with lidocaine. Pain was assessed by means of the visual analogue scale.