Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to K G Davidson.
A cardiac stab wound is an uncommon and potentially lethal injury. With appropriate treatment, better than 90% of those admitted alive will survive. This paper outlines the presentation and management of patients with cardiac stab wounds, based on the experience of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and a review of the literature, illustrated by relevant case histories.
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One month following a right upper lobectomy for bronchial carcinoma, a 50-year-old man developed headaches, confusion and a right hemiparesis. Radiographs revealed intraventricular air. This was thought to have originated from air being forced through a dural tear sustained at the time of operation. Both the intraventricular air and the accompanying symptoms and signs subsequently resolved.
Pulsatile perfusion has been shown to offer significant haemodynamic advantages over non-pulsatile perfusion in many experimental studies. Clinical acceptance of pulsatile perfusion during cardiac surgical procedures has, however, been hampered by the lack of technologically satisfactory pulsatile pump systems, and by inadequate clinical experience of routine use of pulsatile perfusion. The recent introduction of reliable pulsatile pump systems with low haemolysis characteristics has made possible the clinical validation of the previous experimental studies. We describe the results of a prospective study of mortality, haemodynamic morbidity, and haematological status, in 350 consecutive adult patients submitted to cardiopulmonary bypass procedures in a surgical unit over a 12-month period. One hundred and seventy five patients were perfused with conventional non-pulsatile flow and 175 with pulsatile flow, using a modified roller-pump pulsatile system (Cobe-Stockert). The groups were closely similar in terms of preoperative characteristics, referral category, and pathology requiring surgery. Operative techniques, bypass parameters, and anaesthetic regime were standardised in both groups. The results were as follows. (1) Total mortality was significantly lower in the pulsatile group (4.6%) compared with the non-pulsatile group (10.3%), p = 0.06. (2) The incidence of deaths attributable to post-perfusion low cardiac output was significantly lower in the pulsatile group (1.1% compared with 6.3%, p = 0.02). (3) Requirement for mechanical (intra-aortic balloon) or drug circulatory support was significantly lower in the pulsatile group. (4) The use of pulsatile perfusion was not associated with any increase in haemolysis, blood cell depletion, or postoperative bleeding problems.
The effects of prostacyclin (PGI2) on postoperative blood loss and on the deposits which are known to form on filters in the bypass circuit were studied in patients undergoing operations with cardioopulmonary bypass. In this double-blind, randomized study, PGI2 or a placebo solution was administered to 56 patients undergoing elective cardiac operations. At the end of cardipulmonary bypass, the arterial line filter was removed from the circuit and blood losses were accurately recorded. There was no statistically significant difference in either the amount or the pattern of postbypass bleeding between the PGI2 and the control patients. However, the changes in weight of the arterial line filters and their electron microscopic appearances suggest that PGI2 can reduce the deposition of platelets and fibrin on the filter mesh, and in this role it may be of value in reducing visceral injury during cardiac operations.
In a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of 48 patients requiring open heart surgery, prostacyclin (PGI2) was infused in a dose of 20 ng/kg/min throughout cardiopulmonary bypass. When compared with the placebo group, the patients given active PGI2 were found to have significantly higher platelet counts from 30 min after commencement of bypass and in the immediate post-operative period, and to have significantly less elevation of the platelet secretory proteins, beta thromboglobulin and platelet factor 4 during bypass. The mean weight increase in the arterial line filters was significantly greater in the placebo-treated patients than in the PGI2 group. It is suggested that infused PGI2 decreases platelet activation during cardiopulmonary bypass and that further studies are required to establish its clinical value in this situation.
Over a 5-year period, 9 patients (0.85 per cent) developed a major acute abdominal complication after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery. Difficulties in the initial recognition and diagnosis of these complications in sedated, ill patients are highlighted. A high index of suspicion is important in the early diagnosis of these complications. The numbers are too small for statistical analysis, but experience suggests that each case should be dealt with on its merits in accordance with common surgical practice and that operative management should not be rejected because the patient has recently undergone a major cardiac operation.
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The experience of one regional thoracic surgical unit in managing intrathoracic neural tumours over a 25-year period is presented. Neural tumour was diagnosed in 55 patients, of whom 41 were asymptomatic. In 11 patients complete resection was not achieved--the reasons for this and its effect on the outcome of the patient are discussed. There were 52 posterior mediastinal and three lateral chest wall tumours. The pathological distribution was as follows--benign nerve sheath tumours (neurofibroma, neurilemoma) 39, ganglioneuroma 13, and neuroblastoma 3. One neurofibroma recurred as a neurosarcoma six years after its apparently complete resection and was removed by an extensive resection at reoperation. One neuroblastoma recurred within the spinal canal four years after incomplete excision at thoracotomy--this patient died subsequently of widespread metastatic neuroblastoma. No other tumour is known to have recurred.
Traumatic rupture of the aorta at the level of the isthmus is a well-recognized injury following blunt chest trauma. By contrast, rupture of the ascending aorta and of the aortic valve in a road traffic accident is rare and does not appear to have been previously reported. The occurrence of such an injury in a 56-year-old man involved in a road traffic accident is reported. The diagnosis was made preoperatively following aortography and successful surgical correction involved aortic valve replacement with resection and grafting of the damaged area of the ascending aorta. The probable mechanisms involved in the production of this unusual injury are discussed.
Patients with anomalous left coronary artery arising from the pulmonary artery rarely survive to adult life. Those who attain adulthood may present with angina indistinguishable from coronary artery disease and are liable to sudden death. Myocardial infarction, though rare in young adults, may occur and may be due to coronary artery steal. Accurate diagnosis requires coronary arteriography. Two further cases of coronary artery steal in adults with anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery are presented. In both patients aortocoronary bypass grafting using a reversed autogenous saphenous vein with closure of the origin of the anomalous left coronary artery was successfully performed. This operation provided complete symptomatic relief and may protect patients against the risk of sudden death.
In an 18 month period six patients were treated by operation for ventricular septal defect occurring as a complication of acute myocardial infarction. Each septal defect occurred within one week of the myocardial infarct but the interval from infarction to operation ranged from 8 days to 7 months. All patients had intractable cardiac failure and two were in cardiogenic shock at the time of operation. Preoperatively right and left heart catheterisation with left ventriculography and biplane coronary arteriography was performed in every case. At operation the principle of "total correction" of all the cardiac defects was followed so that in addition to closure of the septal defect each patient required one or more additional operative procedures such as resection of left ventricular infarct or aneurysm, mitral valve replacement or coronary artery vein bypass grafts. All six patients survived operation but one died four weeks postoperatively from perforation of an acute peptic ulcer. In one patient the ventricular septal defect recurred and was successfully closed four months later. The surviving patients remain well at follow-up.
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From January 1984 to August 1985, 51 out of 2138 patients undergoing cardiac surgery (2.38 per cent) had an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) inserted or an attempted insertion. The patients ranged in age from 24 to 68 years (mean 54.2 years). An IABP was inserted preoperatively in four patients, all of whom were in cardiogenic shock; peroperatively in 27 patients who could not be weaned from cardiopulmonary bypass; and postoperatively in 16 patients who had haemodynamic deterioration. Failed insertion occurred in a further four patients. Twenty-eight patients (59.6 per cent) had percutaneous insertion of the balloon, in 17 (36.2 per cent) the common femoral artery was exposed prior to insertion and in two (4.2 per cent) the balloon was inserted into the thoracic aorta. The overall survival rate was 38.3 per cent for patients with successful insertion. Major complications that threatened life or limb occurred in 10.25 per cent of patients. These complications were confined to females and in these patients the percutaneous technique for inserting intra-aortic balloons should be used with caution.