Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J Langlois.
The authors report on their experience in 322 cases of aortic arch anomalies surgically treated in infants and children. The progress recently achieved through improved diagnosis and resuscitation care have made possible to obtain good results in the great majority of cases.
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Toxocara canis is nematode parasite of dogs. Children are particularly subject to infestation, however the larva remains quiescent at stage II. Toxocara can localize in the eye and induce a variety of clinical manifestations. A case of ocular toxocara is presented in which there was granulomatous endophthalmitis. Immunologic testing was negative in the serum but positive in the vitreous, where numerous eosinophils and plasma cells where found. Vitreous and aqueous IgE levels were elevated. Corticosteroid therapy was ineffective in quieting the inflammation, but vitrectomy was beneficial. Biological testing demonstrated the advantages of using specific antigens with ELISA techniques. Negative test results in the serum do not obviate the need to perform assays of the aqueous and/or vitreous. The demonstration of an eosinophilic inflammatory response and elevated IgE levels support the diagnosis of ocular parasite infection. In the absence of specific anti-parasite therapy corticosteroid treatment appears to yield inconsistent results. Vitrectomy seems to be beneficial in these circumstances. The new diagnostic technique should improve the accuracy of ocular toxocara diagnoses.
In intrathoracic cardiac and vascular surgery, immediate repair of median sternotomy sometimes results in rapid haemodynamic failure. We therefore chose delayed sternal closure in 50 patients with complex heart disease. Three cases of infection were recorded. This safe and easy procedure presents the advantage of being life-saving for more than one third of the patients.
Seventy-six patients, with a mean age of 11.6 years, presenting with congenital subvalvar aortic stenosis were operated upon between 1965 and 1979. Seventy had moderate subvalvular stenosis. Eighty-eight percent had myotomy combined with resection of the obstruction. Five patients (6.6%) died postoperatively. Of 48 survivors followed up between 6 months to 13 years postoperatively (mean 4.2 years), 4 underwent reoperation and 2 of them died. Survival at 5 years and 10 years was 96% and survival without reoperation at 5 years and 10 years was 91%. When last seen, 90% of the patients were asymptomatic, left ventricular hypertrophy on ECG had disappeared in 63%. No patient had atrioventricular block. Two thirds of the patients had no systolic thrill and of 13 patients recatheterized (3.2 years follow-up) 9 had a peak systolic gradient below 50 mmHg. If, postoperatively 60% of the patients had aortic insufficiency versus 31% preoperatively for the whole period, this percentage fell to 33% after 1976. As subaortic stenosis is a progressive disease and late surgical results are correlated to preoperative peak systolic gradient, early surgery is recommended. Close postoperative follow-up is needed since recurrence of aortic stenosis is possible (and acquired aortic insufficiency may persist).
Between 1977 and 1981 palliative anastomosis procedures between the subclavian and pulmonary arteries using a PTFE (Gore-Tex) prosthesis for anatomical reasons (short subclavian artery or trajectory incompatible with a Blalock-Taussig anastomosis) were carried out in 50 patients from 1 day to 24 years of age with cyanotic congenital heart disease. Two groups of patients were identified: ten patients in which the PTFE prosthesis was used as an "extension" to the subclavian artery, and 40 patients in which the PTFE was interposed between the respected subclavian and pulmonary arteries. There were three deaths (6 p. 100) at 1,7 and 15 days after surgery (mean mortality 5,7 and 12,3 p. 100). There were no major complications in the survivors. Two prostheses became occluded, one of which was reanastomosed to the ascending aorta. The follow-up ranges from 6 months to 5,5 years. The angiographic investigations performed before complete repair demonstrated the patency and good function of these anastomoses.
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We present our experience in the management of tricuspid atresia in 115 children. The anatomic data are categorized as follows: type I, 83.5%, type II, 16.5%. Type IB is the most frequent, representing 63.5% of all the cases. Each patient was operated upon one to four times. The age at first operation ranged from 10 days to 20 years. The first operation was a shunt in 94 children, a Fontan operation in four, and banding of the pulmonary artery in 17. Hospital mortality for the first operation was 12.2%, significantly higher in children under 6 months and in those having Waterston shunts. Potts and Blalock-Taussig operations give low long-term mortality; although few (six) have been done, Potts shunts also seem to give good long-term palliation in this series. The Glenn anastomosis is a good operation when performed after a systemic-pulmonary arterial shunt. The Fontan operation was performed in 24 children (hospital mortality 16.6%). There have been no late deaths after the third month postoperatively. Mean follow-up for this operation is only 2 years, but 88% of the survivors lead a normal life, two thirds of them receiving no treatment. There has been one reoperation for stenosis of a Dacron conduit with a good result. Late arrhythmias are well tolerated. In conclusion, the Fontan procedure is a good operation, but palliative procedures still allow good long-term survival.
Long-term stimulation of the heart in young children often raises technical problems, most of which are associated with the site of implantation of the pacemaker. For this reason, a new technique of implantation was devised with the following main stages: (1) the child is made to rest on its right side, with slight posterior declivity; (2) a pacemaker electrode is implanted on the left ventricle through a short left thoracic incision in the 5th intercostal space; (3) the pacemaker itself is implanted through a short lumbar incision into the space between the posterior peritoneum and the left renal fossa; it is attached to the costal grid. None of the complications usually reported (infection of the pacemaker cavity, displacement or exteriorization of the instrument) was observed in this series of 25 young patients.
In infants, merely dividing an aberrant subclavian artery (ROSCA) through left-thoracotomy may result in severe cerebral circulatory disorders by vertebrobasilar arterial steal. The authors report on 3 cases where reimplantation of the ROSCA into the common carotid artery reproduced a normal brachiocephalic arterial trunk and resulted in normal revascularization. In 2 of these 3 cases, the ROSCA was approached through a right cervical incision, divided in the mediastinum, behind the oesophagus, and reimplanted by latero-lateral anastomosis into the right carotid artery. In the third case the same approach was preceded by left thoracotomy for easier division of the ROSCA close to the aorta. The three operations were uneventful and no complication occurred, except for transient and mild left hemiparesis without sequelae in one patient.
Endophthalmia due to Candida has increased in incidence over the last few years, particularly in drug addicts. Two cases of severe bilateral Candida albicans endophthalmia are reported. Histological examination of the globes following treatment by amphotericin B i.v. and secondary vitrectomy demonstrated persistence of Candida, particularly in the preretinal membrane, in the first case. Treatment in the second case consisted of amphotericin B i.v. and 5 fluorocytosine, associated with vitrectomy and an intravitreal injection of 5 micrograms of amphotericin B. Fungal elements were absent on histological examination of the globes. Ocular Candida albicans lesions may be of exogenous origin but contamination arises more frequently from an endogenous source. The resulting endophthalmia leads to retinal nodules having a tendency to extend into the vitreous. Clinical features are fairly typical and diagnosis not a problem. General treatment consists of combined administration of amphotericin B and 5 fluorocytosine, but results are often disappointing as effective penetration of these compounds into the intraocular zone is not obtained. Early vitrectomy, when a vitreal lesion exists, offers many advantages such as the possibility to identify Candida in the removed aqueous humor. As histological examination shows persistence of Candida in the preretinal membrane, the vitrectomy should be combined with intravitreal injections of amphotericin B.
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