Anaesthesia for Treacher Collins and Pierre Robin syndromes: A report of three cases

We present three patients with Treacher Collins or Pierre Robin syndromes who had historical and physical evidence of airway obstruction, difficulty feeding, and sleep disturbances. These preoperative findings correlated with difficult airway management intraoperatively. Based on this experience, we recommend that children with obstructive symptoms have laryngoscopy prior to anaesthetic induction. If the glottic opening is visualized, inhalational induction can proceed. If the glottic structures cannot be visualized, then the anaesthetist must choose between awake oral or nasal intubation, elective tracheostomy, or fiberoptic intubation. In all cases, a tracheostomy tray should be ready and a surgeon experienced in paediatric tracheostomy should be in attendance. After intubation, anaesthesia is best maintained with oxygen and a potent inhalational agent. Extubation should only be done with the patient fully awake and with emergency airway equipment immediately available. Postoperatively, these patients should be transferred to an intermediate care area or intensive care unit where they can be observed closely since delayed complications of airway obstruction are common in this group of patients.     

Initial two-year results of the Oregon Liver Transplantation Program

During the first 24 months of the Oregon Liver Transplantation Program, which began in October 1988, 94 patients were formally evaluated and 47 adults underwent 54 liver transplantations. Thirty-four percent of patients were veterans. The recipient operation lasted a mean of 7.4 hours (range: 4 to 16 hours). Veno-venous bypass was used routinely at first but selectively later (7 of the last 26 cases), resulting in reduced operating time. Hepatic artery reconstruction was end-to-end anastomosis in 52 cases and iliac conduit in 2. No arterial thrombosis occurred. Biliary reconstruction was choledochocholedochostomy in 83% and choledochojejunostomy in 17%. Biliary complications occurred in 28%. Operative mortality was 2%, and 1-year actual survival was 80%. Patients with hepatitis B fared worse, with four of six dying at a mean of 7.6 months. Overall, the median hospital stay was 30 days. Patients surviving more than 3 months had a mean Karnofsky score of 82%. No significant difference in outcome was noted in patients receiving prophylactic OKT3 monoclonal antibody (used in 45%) versus conventional immunosuppressive therapy. Overall, allograft rejection occurred in 55% of patients. Retransplantation was required in seven patients, three for primary graft nonfunction, two for uncontrolled rejection during induction therapy with OKT3, and two for graft failure secondary to recurrent hepatitis B.     

Evidence-based medicine for nutrition support: an overview of the process.

On a daily basis, clinicians make decisions regarding therapies to result in the best outcome for their patients. These decisions should be based on the evidence in the literature, indicating a therapy will cause the best outcome. To facilitate this, many professional societies and scientific journals have published technical and scientific reviews, as well as evidence-based standards of care focused on many issues of nutrition support practice. This paper provides an overview of how these reviews and standards of care are derived to promote both the understanding of what they can and cannot do to enhance clinical practice.     

Patterns of teen exposure to a community-based violence prevention project

This paper describes the implementation of a community-based youth violence prevention project that utilized an educational curriculum and a mass media campaign. The extent of penetration of the intervention into target areas and the degree of contamination of control areas are assessed, and the most frequently contacted forms of educational outreach are identified. Two sources of data, provider interviews and a random digit dialed telephone survey, were used to track the source and extent of teens' exposure to the intervention. Agency provider data revealed that 40% of the 92 contacted agencies actually conducted violence prevention education, reaching 22% of the target area teens. Approximately one-half of the surveyed teens reported some exposure to the program, with 13% of the teens in target areas reporting participation in interactive educational activities associated with the project. The most common source of exposure was the media campaign. Most teens report a single exposure, usually to the media campaign, although 29% report contact with more than one form of violence prevention education. While the project did not achieve community saturation, the data show that the community-based model of intervention for violence prevention is feasible and effective in reaching teenagers. This research highlights some difficulties in evaluating prevention programs, including reconciling community ownership with project identification, the ethics of curtailing services for control purposes, and factors influencing recall of participation.     

Breast Conservation Therapy in Patients with Early-Stage Breast Cancer Who Have Undergone a Second Re-Excision of the Primary Tumor Bed: A Report of Four Cases

Abstract: For the women with early-stage breast cancer who are candidates for breast conservation therapy, re-excision of the primary tumor bed has commonly been used in patients for several indications. These indications include positive margin or uncertain margin status of the primary excision or residual microcalcifications on postbiopsy mammogram. If the pathology from the re-excision does not confirm negative margin status, mastectomy is generally recommended. This article examines patients who have undergone a second re-excision (i.e., a lumpectomy followed by two re-excisions) who have been treated with breast conservation therapy rather than a mastectomy.
From September 1977 to November 1995, 1,562 patients underwent breast conserving therapy at this institution. Seven hundred forty of these patients underwent a re-excisional biopsy because of positive or uncertain margin status or residual microcalcifications after the first excision. Four patients (0.5%) underwent a second re-excision because of positive or uncertain margin status or residual microcalcifications on mammogram after the first re-excision. The final margin status after the second re-excision of all four patients was negative. The radiation dose was 4,600–5,000 cGy to the whole breast followed by a conedown to bring the total dose to 6,400–6,800 cGy to the primary tumor bed.
Follow-up in the four patients was 13 years, 4 years, 14 months, and 8 months respectively. All four patients are clinically without disease and have not had a locoregional recurrence. Cosmesis was excellent in all four patients. One patient had an adriamycin-induced recall reaction causing a cellulitis, which resolved with antibiotics. There were no other complications.
Highly selected patients may undergo breast-conserving therapy after a second re-excision. Good outcome and cosmesis can be achieved for this small subset of patients with avoidance of a mastectomy.     

Longitudinal Evaluation of an Enhanced Alcohol Misuse Prevention Study (AMPS) Curriculum for Grades Six-Eight

ABSTRACT: For students progressing from sixth to eighth grade, an enhanced Alcohol Misuse Prevention Study (AMPS) curriculum that emphasized social pressure resistance training, peer support, and norm-setting was developed, implemented, and evaluated. Schools were randomly assigned within communities to curriculum or control groups. Students were pretested early in sixth grade before the intervention and posttested at the end of sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Results indicated the curriculum was effective in increasing students' knowledge of curriculum material, and among the subgroup of students who had used alcohol unsupervised by adults before the pretest, in reducing the rate of increase of alcohol misuse. The findings result from a replication of the analytic approach used with the initial AMPS cohort data.