Blunt Cardiac Injury in the Severely Injured - A Retrospective Multicentre Study.

Background: Blunt cardiac injury is a rare trauma entity. Here, we sought to evaluate the relevance and prognostic significance of blunt cardiac injury in severely injured patients.

Methods: In a retrospective multicentre study, using data collected from 47,580 patients enrolled to TraumaRegister DGU (1993-2009), characteristics of trauma, prehospital / hospital trauma management, and outcome analysis were correlated to the severity of blunt cardiac injury.

Pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma in a 21-year-old male with metastatic hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer: report of a case.

Background: Pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma (SH) is a rare tumor of the lung predominantly affecting Asian women in their fifth decade of life. SH is thought to evolve from primitive respiratory epithelium and mostly shows benign biological behavior; however, cases of lymph node metastases, local recurrence and multiple lesions have been described.

Case Presentation: We report the case of a 21-year-old Caucasian male with a history of locally advanced and metastatic rectal carcinoma (UICC IV; pT4, pN1, M1(hep)) that was eventually identified as having hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC, Lynch syndrome).

Teaching advanced wound closure techniques using cattle digits.

Objectives: To evaluate a model used to impart advanced wound closure skills because available models do not meet the necessary requirements to a substantial degree.

Materials And Methods: Seventy-one residents were asked to evaluate a 75-minute-long skills course using cadaveric cattle digits to learn Z-plasty, V-Y-plasty, and oval-shaped rotational flaps. A short film and the course instructor demonstrated each technique first.

Enteric conversion after pancreatic transplantation: resolution of symptoms and long-term results.

Purpose: Bladder drainage (BD) of pancreatic transplants is associated with a unique set of complications. We intended to analyze the incidence, indications, complications and long-term results of enteric conversion procedures (EC).

Methods: Using a prospective database, 32 EC patients out of 433 simultaneous pancreas-kidney-transplant (SPK) recipients were identified.

The formal requirements of algorithms and their implications in clinical medicine and quality management.

Purpose: Clinical algorithms contribute to the problem- and priority-orientated management of patients and their disease in healthcare. Algorithms are of particular importance in all aspects of emergency medicine where the fast completion of a complex problem according to a hierarchy is required. The advantages and success of this priority- and problem-orientated concept led to its expansion to other subspecialties in medicine in recent years.

Description and evaluation of a bench porcine model for teaching surgical residents vascular anastomosis skills.

Background: Numerous models, of variable quality, exist to impart the complex skills required to perform vascular anastomosis. These models differ with regard to the kinds of materials used, as well as their sizes, the time needed for their preparation, their availability, and the associated costs. The present study describes a bench model that uses formalin-fixed porcine aorta, and its evaluation by young surgical residents during a recent skills course.

Natural history, clinical pattern, and surgical considerations of pneumatosis intestinalis.

Objective: Pneumatosis intestinalis has been increasingly detected in recent years with the more frequent use of computed tomography for abdominal imaging of the intestine. The underlying causes of the gas found during radiographic studies of the bowel wall can vary widely and different hypotheses regarding its pathophysiology have been postulated. Pneumatosis intestinalis often represents a benign condition and should not be considered an argument for surgery.

Aspiration and injection-based technique for incision and drainage of a sacrococcygeal pilonidal abscess.

The incision and drainage of a sacrococcygeal abscess is a common procedure in the Emergency Department (ED) both to decrease a patient's pain and to improve the local wound conditions for subsequent definitive surgical therapy. However, the local infiltration of anesthetics is often problematic due to the unacceptable and unavoidable pain resulting from the injection itself, as well as the inability to achieve a complete anesthetic response. Therefore, standard textbooks generally recommend the concomitant use of local and systemic analgesics in the treatment of sacrococcygeal abscesses.

Nonmyeloablative stem cell therapy enhances microcirculation and tissue regeneration in murine inflammatory bowel disease.

Background And Aims: Reduced microcirculation has been implicated in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Stem cells or endothelial progenitor cells are thought to contribute to tissue regeneration through neoangiogenesis or vasculogenesis in ischemia- or inflammatory-related diseases. We therefore hypothesized that adult stem cells facilitate epithelial repair in IBD.

RETRACTED: Modified high-performance liquid chromatographic conditions for determination of inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase activity inerythrocytes.

This article has been retracted consistent with Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal, because three of the named authors (N. E., G.

The critical role of aprotinin in controlling haemostasis in conjunction with non-pharmacological blood-saving strategies during routine coronary artery bypass surgery.

Objective: Aprotinin, a non-specific serine protease inhibitor, has been confirmed to be safe and effective in reducing intra- and postoperative blood drainage, transfusion requirements, and perioperative morbidity and mortality during coronary artery bypass surgery. It is the only one of the currently available haemo-static agents that is approved by the U.S.

Validation and application of a high-performance liquid chromatographic-based assay for determination of the inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase activity in erythrocytes.

Thiopurine drug monitoring has become an important issue in treating children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). In this population, a genetic polymorphism causes wide differences in the activity of thiopurine S-methyletransferase (TPMT)--the rate-limiting enzyme of the thiopurine degradation metabolism--leading to the necessity of drug dose adjustments. It is not yet known if similar differences exist in the inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH; EC 1.

Histochemical assessment of early myocardial infarction using 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride in blood-perfused porcine hearts.

Introduction: Although the chemical mechanism of the triphenyltetrazolium (TTC) reaction, for macroscopic detection of myocardial infarction, has been described previously, literature reports on correct tissue preparation and the use of this technique in intact large animals are lacking.

Methods: We investigated the special requirements for TTC staining in blood-perfused porcine hearts, validated the various handling steps and provided detailed information for precise and easy use of this histochemical method. The left anterior descending coronary artery was occluded for 45 min followed by 6 h of reperfusion in an open chest preparation using anesthetised domestic pigs.

Calpain inhibition reduces infarct size and improves global hemodynamics and left ventricular contractility in a porcine myocardial ischemia/reperfusion model.

Calpains, a family of Ca2+-dependent cysteine proteases, are activated during myocardial ischemia and reperfusion. This study investigates the cardioprotective effects of calpain inhibition on infarct size and global hemodynamics in an ischemia/reperfusion model in pigs, using the calpain inhibitor A-705253. The left anterior descending coronary artery was occluded for 45 min and reperfused for 6 h.

Interference free and simplyfied liquid chromatography-based determination of thiopurine S-methyltransferase activity in erythrocytes.

The determination of the thiopurine S-methyltransferase activity (TPMT; EC 2.1.1.