Letter: Carcinoma of the chest wall complicating chronically draining empyema.
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Bronchopleural fistula developed in 28 (12.5%) of 225 pneumonectomies performed for pulmonary carcinoma of non-small cell types during a 10-year period. The incidence of fistula apparently decreased significantly when chromic catgut was replaced by Dexon for closure of the bronchial stump. The fistula presented as an emergency in nine cases and was subacute in 19. The overall mortality from bronchopleural fistula was 28.6%. Conservative treatment, i.e. bronchoscopic application of silver nitrate to destroy the epithelium in the bronchial stump and induce granulation, achieved closure of fistula in all the surviving patients. In the seven patients with sterile pleural cavity the pleura was not drained. The results justified our principle of conservative management when a bronchopleural fistula does not present as an emergency. In emergency situations, however, or if the pleural fluid is purulent, pleural drainage should be instituted.
Children with early onset scoliosis typically present before age 5 years. Radiographic criteria help to distinguish progressive cases from those that will spontaneously resolve. Severe cardiopulmonary problems may occur in untreated progressive cases. A comprehensive evaluation should be performed to identify commonly associated conditions, such as plagiocephaly, congenital heart disease, inguinal hernia, and hip dysplasia. For curves >20 degrees , magnetic resonance imaging of the neural axis is indicated to rule out occult central nervous system lesions. Surgical management should be considered when nonsurgical measures, including bracing and casting, fail to arrest progression. Surgical methods continue to evolve and are primarily directed at obtaining and maintaining curve correction while simultaneously preserving spinal and trunk growth.
Acute respiratory failure is more common in miliary tuberculosis than in tuberculous bronchopneumonia and also has a worse prognosis. Chronic hypercapnic respiratory failure is frequent after both spinal tuberculosis and surgical treatments for pulmonary tuberculosis. It may develop insidiously or present acutely, for instance, during a chest infection. Hypoventilation appears during REM sleep before non-REM sleep or wakefulness and is readily treatable with non-invasive ventilation. The prognosis is good even if initially tracheostomy ventilation is required temporarily.
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The experience on perforation of the esophagus at the Hospital Infantil de México is reviewed. Between 1961 and 1975, 20 cases were attended. The most frequent perforation is the iatrogenic subsequent to dilatations or to esophagoscopy. Esophageal perforation is the most serious of the digestive tube perforations and must be considered as a real medicosurgical emergency. The clinical picture is analyzed and the necessity to take chest x-rays and esophagogram as urgent measures is emphasized at the slightest clinical doubt. The different treatment methods are mentioned and it is stressed that the best results are obtained with an urgent thoracotomy, closure of the perforation, full canalization and antibiotic therapy at high doses. According to the literature referred and to the results obtained from the present study, mortality is higher in cases where treatment is delayed. The clinical and radiological pictures are described together with the therapeutic behavior in spontaneous perforation in the newborn. The theories to explain this etiology are set forth. At present, mortality is still high; therefore, in order to bring down this high percentage, it is concluded that an early diagnosis together with an agressive surgical treatment are necessary.
Twenty-four patients with chest wall tumors underwent resection during the past twenty years. There were 12 female and 12 male patients with ages ranging from 7 months to 78 years (mean 44 years). Five patients had primary malignant neoplasms, 7 had metastases, and 12 had benign tumors. The tumor was located in the soft tissue in 14 patients and in the ribs and the sternum in 10. Ninety-two percent of tumors were diagnosed correctly if they were benign or malignant before resection, however the final diagnosis was made in only 25% of benign tumors and 54% of malignant tumors before surgery. Thirty-one operations were performed in 24 patients and 10 reconstruction with prosthetic materials were done. Concerning malignant neoplasms patients with primary tumors had better prognosis than those with metastases and patients underwent reconstruction had better prognosis than those underwent resection only. We conclude that wide resection with reconstruction is potentially curative treatment.
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An unusual and previously unreported case of partially reversible ischemic myelopathy after limited unilateral segmental vessel ligation during scoliosis surgery is described. Intravenous lidocaine, used intraoperatively for its vasoactive properties, induced an immediate and meaningful recovery of neurologic function. The conceptual and pharmacologic basis for this intervention is discussed in view of this exceedingly rare complication of segmental vessel ligation.
Mediastinal sepsis following open heart surgery is a significant cause of death. Open drainage of the mediastinumalone was employed originally in management of this problem. More recently, debridement, drainage, and reclosure have been used. Various irrigation solutions, such as antibiotics and Betadine, have been advocated to control severe mediastinal sepsis. Three principles of management in patients unresponsiveness to the above techniques have proved successful in two patients with life-threatening mediastinal sepsis: (1) radical, complete excision of the sternum and adjacent costal cartilages; (2) transposition of the greater omentum on a vascular pedicle to the mediastinum; and (3) primary closure with full-thickness rotational skin flaps. The radical excision of the sternum removes residual foci of sepsis in cartilage and sternal bone marrow. The transposition of the omentum provides a highly vascular, rapidly granulating covering for the contaminated great vessels and hase been successfully to prevent recurrence of suture line bleeding of an exposed ascending aortic anastomosis site. Primary closure of the wound with full-thickness skin flaps provides a suprisingly satisfactory covering for the heart. Preoperative and postoperative measurements of ventilatory mechanics have shown relatively small ventilatory impairment after the alteration of the thoracic cage imposed by excision of the sternum. Two patients have returned to active lives. A treatment failure probably due to incomplete adherence to these guidelines also is presented.
Despite the decreasing number of patients suffering tuberculosis and the use of modern broad spectrum antibiotics the pleural empyema did not lose its relevance. The main reasons are increasing numbers of patients with drug and alcohol abuse or immunodeficiency of different causes. We retrospectively analysed the data of 73 patients treated of pleural empyema between 1992 and 1998. Considering the known stages of pleural empyema we present the corresponding therapeutic results. All patients classified as stage I were treated with a chest drain and cure was achieved in all of them (100%). The treatment for patients classified as stage II was different: 5 out of 32 were treated with a continuous irrigation and suction chest drain system. 18 patients first underwent thoracoscopy and were afterwards treated with a continuous irrigation and suction system. Another 9 patients primarily underwent an early open decortication. In 40% the treatment with the suction and irrigation system was successful. Using video-assisted thoracoscopy (VATS) cure was achieved in 94.4%, with open decortication in 100%. The preferred treatment of patients classified as stage III is the open decortication. After the first operation 80% (30 patients) were cured. 6 patients needed thoracoplastic procedures after the first intervention. No patient was discharged neither with a permanent chest drain nor a permanent thoracic window. With the results a cause dependent analysis of morbidity and mortality was done. The overall morbidity rate was 27.9% and the overall mortality 5.4%. The treatment of pleural empyema still remains to be problematic. Corresponding to our results pleural empyema classified as stage I is best treated with a simple chest tube. The video-assisted thoracoscopy (VATS) lacks of complications and is a very efficient method in treating stage II. The method of choice in stage III is the open decortication which in the case of a chronic and recurrent or persistent infection should be followed by a thoracoplastic procedure.
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