Comparative study of primary tissue failure between porcine (Hancock and Carpentier-Edwards) and bovine pericardial (Ionescu-Shiley) bioprostheses in the aortic position at five- to nine-year follow-up.

Retrospective follow-up data on 458 consecutive patients who received a Hancock, Carpentier-Edwards (C-E) or Ionescu-Shiley (I-S) bioprosthesis in the aortic valve position between April 1978 and December 1981 are reviewed. A total of 461 valves (184 Hancock, 131 C-E and 146 I-S) were available for study of the incidence of primary tissue valve failure after 5 to 9 years of follow-up. Cumulative follow-up was 1,016 patient-years for patients with Hancock valve, 688 for the C-E and 767 for the I-S group.

Successful surgical treatment of a case of listeria monocytogenes endocarditis.

Endocarditis due to listeria monocytogenes is rare with only twenty one cases to our knowledge appearing in the world's literature to date. We report a further case with a successful surgical outcome and stress the importance of surgery in the treatment of infective endocarditis. There is a clear predilection of this organism for the left side of the heart and systemic embolization is frequent.

Reconstructive techniques for rheumatic aortic valve disease.

Aortic valve reconstruction is still at an early stage of development. We report techniques that can be applied in the repair of rheumatic aortic valve disease in patients with concomitant mitral valve disease. The techniques described are: (1) commissurotomy, (2) cusp free edge unfolding, (3) annuloplasty, and (4) supraaortic crest enlargement.

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation versus intensification chemotherapy for acute myelogenous leukaemia in first remission: a prospective controlled trial.

In 1982 we began a prospective controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation and intensive post-remission chemotherapy for patients with acute myelogenous leukaemia in first complete remission. Fourteen patients, 3-45 years of age, who had an HLA-identical sibling donor, received bone marrow transplantation. Twenty-five patients who either lacked an HLA-identical sibling or were over 45 years of age received intensive consolidation chemotherapy including high-dose cytosine arabinoside with or without adriamycin.

Incidence of primary tissue valve failure in porcine bioprosthetic heart valves.

This report provides retrospective follow-up data on 324 consecutive patients who received a Hancock-I porcine valve in the aortic or the mitral position, or in both positions, between June, 1974, and December, 1976. This analysis included 319 valves (193 mitral, 126 aortic) available for study of the incidence of primary tissue valve failure after 10 to 12.5 years of follow-up.

[Value of muscular echography in the detection of carriers of progressive muscular dystrophy].

Progressive muscular dystrophy is an hereditary disease with a sex-linked recessive transmission. It is remarkable that in a 33% of the patients the disease is due to a spontaneous mutation. The great deal of methods described for the detection of carriers, reflects their poor reliability.

Long-term performance of porcine heart valve bioprostheses.

To assess the results after long-term implantation of porcine bioprosthetic heart valves, 320 patients with 381 valves were retrospectively reviewed. This group included all patients receiving one such xenograft in the mitral or aortic position (or both) in our institution between June 1974 and December 1976. The patients had a follow-up of 9-11.

Vertebral compression fractures and mineral metabolism in chronic obstructive lung disease.

Chronic obstructive lung disease has been reported as a cause of osteoporosis, though whether this association is due to the disease itself or to corticosteroid treatment has not been elucidated. We studied 44 male patients with chronic obstructive lung disease (mean (SD) FEV1 39% (14%) of predicted normal) who were not having long term corticosteroids. No differences in a vertebral deformity score or in metacarpal index were found between them and a control group of similar age.

Hematuria and microalbuminuria after a 100 kilometer race.

An investigation into hematuria and microalbuminuria induced by prolonged physical exercise was carried out by studying 26 runners who took part in a 100 km race by collecting urine samples before, after the race, and 24 hours later. Microscopic hematuria was present in two runners before the race. After this strenuous exercise there was macroscopic hematuria in five runners (19.

Epidural analgesia for post-caesarean pain relief: a comparison between morphine and fentanyl.

In 20 post-operative patients who had undergone caesarean section, morphine 2 mg or fentanyl 75 micrograms in 0.9% saline were given epidurally in a randomized study, to compare their effectiveness in providing post-operative pain relief and the incidence of untoward reaction. There was a faster onset of action (P less than 0.

[Semilobar holoprosencephaly associated with central diabetes insipidus].

The clinical and neuroradiological findings in a case of semilobar holoprosencephaly associated to hypernatremia behaving like diabetes insipidus are described. The differential diagnosis with a neurogenic hypernatremia is discussed. The advantages of ultrasounds in the diagnosis of this malformation are pointed out.

[Prospective study on the prevalence of iron deficiency in Cantabria among children 6 to 14 years old].

Iron deficiency is the most common worldwide micronutrient deficiency in developed countries. To analyze its prevalence in children and adolescent population from our region, we studied Hb, Hto, red cell volumes, serum iron, total iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation and serum ferritin in a population of 380 individuals. These also fulfilled an epidemiological questionnaire.

[Gastric carcinoma in Cantabria: III. Anatomo-pathological factors of prognostic significance].

In the present study, we have proceeded to analyze different anatomo-pathological parametres concerning 638 gastric carcinomas, for a twelve year period between 1970-1981, such as location and macroscopic aspect, tumoral extension and histological type, observing their prognosis in the case of curative surgery. We have also proceeded to analyze the rate of survival amounting to 5 years in all the patients being examined, depending on the therapeutical attitude in use. We then proceeded to compare our series with others already published, thus coinciding in the best prognosis as to tumoral location in antrum-pylorus with an ulcerated aspect, less depth as to intraparietal invasion, as well as an absence of ganglionar compromise and visceral metastasis.

[Gastric carcinoma in Cantabria: II. Histopathological aspects].

In this study we have proceeded to analyze the differences found in each histological type of gastric carcinoma according to age and sex, showing a predominance of tubular adenocarcinoma in advanced ages, affecting females, as an average, more than males. We have also found out how other histological types such as the signet ring cell adenocarcinoma tend to appear at an early age, concerning females preferably. We have also checked on the pathogenesis concerning the different histological types described by certain authors as to age and sex.

[Gastric carcinoma in Cantabria: I. Incidence and distribution].

We have proceeded to study the rate of incidence and distribution in Cantabria of six hundred and thirty two patients suffering from gastric carcinoma in a period of time ranging from 1970 to 1981. The rate of incidence being observed among this population amounts to 14.54, cases per one hundred thousand inhabitants and year between 1976-1981.