Towards Sustainable Open Heart Surgery in Zimbabwe.

Open heart surgery has become more readily available worldwide, especially in the West, whilst it remains elusive for the majority of the people in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Zimbabwe in particular. Efforts to provide the service began in the 1950s and open heart surgery became a regular service from 1989 to 2003. From 1997, Zimbabwe went through a phase of political and economic turmoil resulting in the disruption of meaningful service.

Parieto-temporal pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma in a black African child.

Pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma (PXA) is a rare cerebral tumor, accounting for <1% of all astrocytic neoplasms. PXA, usually, has a favorable prognosis in spite of what might be suggested from the ominous microscopic appearance. There is no literature immediately available on the black population for this tumor.

Prominent ears: Anthropometric study of the external ear of primary school children of Harare, Zimbabwe.

Background: Prominent ear is the most common congenital ear deformity affecting 5% of children in the Western world and has profound psychosocial effects on the bearer. It is important to know the prevalence in the local population to have a better appreciation of the local burden of the abnormality as well as to know the parameters of ear morphology locally. These parameters can be useful in the diagnosis and evaluation of ear anomalies and may help reconstructive surgeons in reproducing an anatomically correct ear of an African/Zimbabwean child.