[Risk of infection following splenectomy].

The problem of a reduced resistance against infections in splenectomized patients is again described on the occasion of one patient who died within a very short time after the beginning of a severe infection. A retrospective study of 150 patients without spleen showed that 2.6% died in a consequence of a severe infection.

Evaluation of tomography and mediastinoscopy for the detection of mediastinal lymph node metastases.

In a prospective study of 88 patients seen consecutively with proven or suspected bronchial carcinoma, the validity of x-ray tomography and routine mediastinoscopy was tested for the detection and evaluation of mediastinal lymph node metastases. Positive mediastinum was defined as malignant tissue found in the mediastinum and negative mediastinum as mediastinoscopy with negative results plus a negative intraoperative mediastinal lymph node dissection. Thirty-four patients were eliminated from the analysis because carcinoma was not found or because mediastinal evaluation was incomplete by these criteria.