Widening of the mediastinum following a sternal fracture.

Sternal fractures, once thought of as uncommon, occur with increasing frequency, parallelling the incidence of motor vehicle accidents. A fractured sternum can produce a widening of the mediastinum even in the absence of an aortic injury. The Advanced Trauma Life Support course teaches that a widening of the mediastinum after blunt chest injury is an indication for aortography.

Traumatic radial head dislocation in children--a missed injury.

The purpose of this article is to remind accident and emergency doctors of an easily missed injury-isolated traumatic radial head dislocation in children. We present two such cases. This is a very uncommon injury and the diagnosis was overlooked in both cases.

Twenty-four hour nurse practitioner service in the accident and emergency department.

This paper discusses the introduction of a 24-h nurse practitioner service in a major accident and emergency department and monitors it over a 3-month period. The paper provides a description of the activities of the nurse practitioners and a critical evaluation of their role. It shows that every major accident and emergency department can set up a 24-h nurse practitioner scheme and the organization of such a scheme can be very simple.

Spontaneous splenic rupture: an unusual cause of hypovolaemia.

Splenic rupture in infectious mononucleosis is an extremely rare but often fatal complication. A case presented to the accident and emergency department in ventricular fibrillation seconds after losing signs of any cardiac output. The underlying cause of cardiorespiratory arrest always be sought irrespective of the presenting rhythm.

Warfarin and the apparent minor head injury.

Two cases of patients on warfarin who developed intracranial haematoma after an apparently minor head injury are described. There is a 10-fold increase in the likelihood of developing an intracranial haematoma in these patients. Recommendations are made regarding the management of this type of patient seen in the accident and emergency department.

[The surgical management of pneumothorax in patients with AIDS].

The occurrence of a pneumothorax occurring as a complication of AIDS is a poor prognostic sign. We have undertaken a review of 26 patients admitted to hospital for a pneumothorax of whom 25 were admitted for therapy: five resolved under simple drainage; twenty required a pleurodesis which was performed on thirteen under video thoracoscopy: these were recurrent pneumothoraces and were bilateral in half the patients; all had failed under simple drainage. The hospital mortality was 30%; the follow-up was unusually long in the majority of cases and only 20% had a simple follow-up.

Factors determining survival in resected N2 lung cancer.

This retrospective study was based on 237 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and nodal N2 disease. All accessible mediastinal lymph nodes (LN) were removed and classified according to their anatomical location in LN chains. The pulmonary resections performed were: pneumonectomy (n = 187), lobectomy (n = 44) and segmentectomy (n = 4).

[Prognostic factors of survival in resected N2 bronchial cancer].

This study was based on 206 patients with non small cell lung cancer and N2 nodal disease submitted to curative surgery: pneumonectomy 163, lobectomy 39 and segmentectomy 4. All accessible mediastinal lymph nodes were removed and classified according to their anatomical location in lymph node chains; "skip" metastases were present in 24.8% of cases.

[The lymphatic drainage of the esophagus].

The study was carried on 65 cadavers: 50 adults and 15 newborns. The esophagus was injected at the level to the neck 16 times, in the thorax at the superior level 18 times, middle level 30 times and inferior level 21 times. The lymphatic pathways were named short when joining the nodes at the same level, half long when joining the nodes of the neighbouring level, long when joining third level, and very long.

[Excision of mediastinal nodes using video-thoracoscopy].

A man of seventy-one years with gross respiratory failure was suspected of having a cancer of the right upper lobe with metastases to the right pretracheal and intertracheobronchial nodes. A diagnostic mediastinoscopy did not achieve a diagnosis, and a right sub-bronchial node biopsy was performed, using videothoracoscopy and this revealed the presence of tuberculosis without any further delay.

[Chylomediastinum after mediastinoscopy. Apropos of a case].

A mediastinal chylous effusion occurred in a young woman after a mediastinoscopy. This effusion healed rapidly with medical treatment. An understanding of the anatomy of these intra-thoracic/lymphatic channels explains that intra-thoracic chylous effusions may occur in case of incontinence of the lymphatic vessels which connect the tracheo-bronchial nodes to the thoracic duct in the mediastinum.

[Extrapulmonary intrathoracic pneumocystosis. Apropos of 4 cases in HIV positive patients].

The authors report 4 cases of intrathoracic extrapulmonary pneumocystosis; 3 of them involved the pleura and 1 the mediastinal lymph nodes. As in other rare but apparently increasingly frequent cases, everything seemed to incriminate the use of prophylactic Pentamidine aerosols, but only a prospective study of systemic versus aerosol prophylaxis can confirm this suspicion.

Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of tibial arteries for limb salvage.

Percutaneous transluminal balloon angioplasty (PTA) was performed in 17 tibial arteries with an average cross-sectional area stenosis of 92% (range 75-99%) in 13 patients (14 limbs) for limb salvage. In 4 of 14 lower extremities, PTA of femoropopliteal arteries was also performed. Technical success with 50% or less residual stenosis was achieved in all 17 tibial vessels.

[Surgery for cancer with mediastinal lymph node invasiveness (N2)].

Resection is indicated in about 20% of N2 cases. When it is complete a 5-year survival rate may be expected. It represents for these patients a chance of cure and therefore must be considered in all cases of N2, either immediately or after an adjuvant treatment.

[Evaluation of a 20 years' experience of colo-anal anastomoses. Indications, results and pitfalls].

Seventy nine anastomoses were performed over a 20 year period. Indications included 68 rectal adenocarcinomas and 11 benign lesions. There was no operative mortality.

[Reconstruction of the left ventricle by circular endoventriculoplasty with septal exclusion].

Since 1984 the authors have developed a technical modification of left ventricular surgery after myocardial infarction. The principle is to reorganise the contractile muscle in a circumferential manner by excluding the fibrous akinetic parts of the interventricular septum. The operation consists of implanting sutures distally then resecting the exteriorized fibrous zones and finally mobilising the scarred endocardium in the zones inaccessible to resection (septum and the base of the anterior and posterior papillary muscles) up to the limits of the viable myocardium.

Bronchoscopic cryotherapy for advanced bronchial carcinoma.

A prospective study was carried out to assess the value of bronchoscopic cryotherapy for palliation of inoperable bronchial carcinoma with bronchial obstruction. Symptoms, lung function, and chest radiographic and bronchoscopic findings were recorded serially before and after 81 cryotherapy sessions in 33 consecutive patients. Most patients improved in terms of overall symptoms, stridor, and haemoptysis and they had an overall improvement in dyspnoea.