“White‐Out” After Lung Transplantation: A Multicenter Cohort Description of Late Acute Graft Failure

Graft failure represents a leading cause of mortality after organ transplantation. Acute late‐onset graft failure has not been widely reported. The authors describe the demographics, CT imaging–pathology findings, and treatment of patients presenting with the latter. A retrospective review was performed of lung transplant recipients at two large‐volume centers. Acute late‐onset graft failure was defined as sudden onset of bilateral infiltrates with an oxygenation index <200 without identifiable cause or concurrent extrapulmonary organ failure. Laboratory, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), radiology, and histology results were assessed. Between 2005 and 2016, 21 patients were identified. Median survival was 19 (IQR 13–36) days post onset. Twelve patients (57%) required intensive care support at onset, 12 (57%) required mechanical ventilation, and 6 (29%) were placed on extracorporeal life support. Blood and BAL analysis revealed elevated neutrophilia, with CT demonstrating diffuse ground‐glass opacities. Transbronchial biopsy samples revealed acute fibrinoid organizing pneumonia (AFOP), organizing pneumonia, and diffuse alveolar damage (DAD). Assessment of explanted lungs confirmed AFOP and DAD but also identified obliterative bronchiolitis. Patients surviving to discharge without redo transplantation (n = 2) subsequently developed restrictive allograft syndrome. This study describes acute late‐onset graft failure in lung allograft recipients, without known cause, which is associated with a dismal prognosis.     

Rat Hindlimb Cryopreservation and Transplantation: A Step Toward “Organ Banking”

In 2016, over 5 million reconstructive procedures were performed in the United States. The recent successes of clinical vascularized composite allotransplantations, hand and face transplantations included, established the tremendous potential of these life‐enhancing reconstructions. Nevertheless, due to limited availability and lifelong immunosuppression, application is limited. Long‐term banking of composite transplants may increase the availability of esthetically compatible parts with partial or complete HLA matching, reducing the risk of rejection and the immunosuppressive burden. The study purpose was to develop efficient protocols for the cryopreservation and transplantation of a complete rodent limb. Directional freezing is a method in which a sample is cooled at a constant‐velocity linear temperature gradient, enabling precise control of the process and ice crystal formation. Vitrification is an alternative cryopreservation method in which the sample solidifies without the formation of ice crystals. Testing both methods on a rat hindlimb composite tissue transplantation model, we found reliable, reproducible, and stable ways to preserve composite tissue. We believe that with further research and development, cryopreservation may lead to composite tissue “banks.” This may lead to a paradigm shift from few and far apart emergent surgeries to wide‐scale, well‐planned, and better‐controlled elective surgeries.     

Dramatic Improvement in Survival After Lung Transplantation Over Time: A Single Center Experience

Lung transplantation (LT) is a recognized procedure for selected patients with end-stage respiratory failure. We performed 123 LT, including 32 single lung, 84 double lung, and 7 heart-lung transplantations in 48 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 13 patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH), 33 with cystic fibrosis (CF), and 29 with interstitial lung disease (ILD) between July 1990 and January 2008. Survival was compared for periods before and after December 2001. The mean age of patients was 44.4 years (range 16-66.5 years); 84 (69%) were men. Before LT, 1 second forced expiratory volume was 28.7% ± 18.1% and PaCO₂ = 6.3 kPa. Fifty-five patients were on noninvasive ventilation. Cold ischemia time was 320 ± 91 minutes. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) was used in 77 patients (64%). There were 18 early surgical reinterventions, 8 extracorporeal membrane oxygenations, and 38 bronchial stent insertions among 206 at-risk bronchial sutures. Crude survivals were 69%, 58%, 41%, and 18% at 1, 2, 5, and 10 years, respectively. Comparing before (n = 70 with 15 CF) vs after December 2001 (n = 53 with 17 CF), survivals were 63% vs 78%, 51% vs 71%, and 33% vs 60% at 1, 2, and 5 years, respectively (P = .01) and for CF patients, 52% vs 100%, 52% vs 94%, and 25% vs 94% at 1, 2, and 5 years, respectively (P = .005). There was significant improvement in survival before and after 2001 in 123 LT and particularly among CF patients. Improvement in survival after LT may be related to the sum of numerous changes in our practice since December 2001, including the use of pulmonary rehabilitation pre-LT, extracellular pneumoplegia, statins, macrolides for chronic rejection, monitoring of Epstein-Barr blood load, changes in maintenance immunosuppressants, as well as position movement up the coordinator nurse and learning curve.     

“Burried strip” versus “tube” in hypospadias repair: Analysis of 82 consecutive cases

The goal of this study was to analyze, discuss, and compare risks and results obtained with the “buried strip” and two “tube” techniques for hypospadias repair in a personal series. From 1976 through 1982, 82 patients underwent complete two-stage repair of hypospadias using either the Denis Browne procedure (23 patients) or the Belt-Fuqua technique (41) and Byars procedure (18), respectively. Only those patients with originally distal and mid shaft hypospadias plus chordee were included in this series. The mean age at the time of repair was 4.9 years, with a range of two to sixteen years. The overall complication rate was 13.4 per cent (11 of 82 The tube procedures alone had a complication rate of 6.8 per cent (4 of 59) compared with 30 per cent (7 of 23) with the Denis Browne technique. Complications noted were: fistulas 6 (Denis Browne 5, Belt-Fuqua 1); meatal stenosis 4 (Denis Browne 2, Byars 2); urethral stricture 1 (Belt-Fuqua Our results confirm the general belief that tube techniques have a higher reliability than does the Denis Browne procedure. Each procedure improves with the experience of the surgeon, although the tube technique appears to cause less trouble in our hands. The running subcutaneous and intracutaneous sutures give a far smoother healing. We believe this study supports the virtues of two-stage tube repairs.     

“Repeat” High Ligation

This paper describes a method for the safe and expeditious exposure of the saphenofemoral junction when recurrent varicose veins in the groin are due to a previous incomplete “high ligation”.     

“Deflected” calyx sign

Despite the introduction of nephrotomography and renal angiography, routine excretory urography still is the main diagnostic tool in radiology that provides the necessary evidence for the diagnosis of renal tuberculosis. The “deflected” calyx sign results from stricture of an infundibulum which ultimately leads to complete obstruction and a space-occupying (pseudotumor) mass produced by a debris filled dilated calyx. Since no contrast medium enters the obstructed calyx, the normal middle calyx frequently appears to be “deflected”. When other typical radiographic evidence is absent, this sign should suggest renal tuberculosis.