Functional complications following supraglottal laryngectomy

85 patients who had undergone supraglottic laryngectomy was necessary including the removal of one arytenoid cartilage or one vocal cord which was replaced by a thyroid cartilage graft. The latter group had greater difficulty in learning to swallow, a longer stay in hospital, more deaths as a result of lung infection, and an increased incidence of later lung infection.     

Automatic defibrillation in man: Is it feasible?

Twenty-eight patients who survived multiple arrhythmic cardiac arrest refractory to medical therapy underwent implantation of the automatic defibrillator without additional antiarrhythmic surgery. Lateral thoracotomy was used for implantation in 14 patients and the subxiphoid technique was used in 14. There was no operative mortality and surgical complications were minimal.The longest follow-up was 29 months and the average was 14 months. The implanted device correctly identified and reverted 50 episodes of spontaneous malignant ventricular tachyarrhytthmias in six hospitalized patients. After discharge, 20 episodes of automatic out-of-hospital resuscitations occurred in eight patients.Kaplan-Meier survival curves, based on the assumption that out-of-hospital defibrillations would otherwise have been lethal, indicated an expected 1 year mortality of 60 percent. Seven deaths were in fact observed in this period for an actual mortality rate of 30 percent. We conclude that automatic defibrillation is clearly feasible in man and appears to increase survival in selected high-risk patients.     

Adrenal myelolipomas: CT appearance with tiny amounts of fat and punctate calcification

Five cases of myelolipoma of the adrenal are presented which contained only tiny foci of fat along with areas of punctate calcification. This computed tomographic (CT) appearance is less common for this neoplasm and has only been described in three of 26 previously published CT cases of this adrenal tumor. The presence of even tiny amounts of fat in an adrenal mass should alert the radiologist to the probable diagnosis of myelolipoma. Small foci of calcification are also frequently associated.     

Clinical thermochemotherapy. A controlled trial in advanced cancer patients

In vitro and in vivo animal studies and some clinical trials have shown apparent benefit from thermochemotherapy; however, this treatment modality has not been adequately tested in humans. This investigation evaluated response to and toxicity of secondary thermochemotherapy, using each patient as his own control. Patients with advanced cancer who had documented disease progression while receiving chemotherapy alone were subsequently treated with the same drug, by the same dose and route, combined with localized hyperthermia. Thirty-four patients whose diseases included metastatic colon carcinoma, melanoma, sarcoma and hepatoma in viscera (29) or surface tissues (5) were treated with combination thermochemotherapy for 1 hour daily for 5 days/month. Effective heating from 41 to 45 degrees C minimum tumor temperature was possible in 17/19 (89%) tumors in which temperatures could be measured safely. The authors observed 5 (15%) tumor regressions for 1 to 5 months (median, 2 months), and 19 (56%) tumor stabilizations (growth arrest of previously progressive disease) for 1 to 9 months (median, 4 months). Subjective improvement in activity and/or pain control occurred in 6 (18%) patients and 20 (59%) had no progression of symptoms during treatment. Moreover, there was no detectable morbidity from localized hyperthermia, and no evidence of increased chemotherapy toxicity. While the mechanism(s) of response is poorly understood, the documented disease regressions and stabilizations of previously progressive disease in 24 (71%) patients during secondary combination thermochemotherapy indicates that the addition of hyperthermia may have useful anticancer activity. Expanded trials are warranted.     

Incidence of stress ulcer formation associated with steroid therapy in various shock states

The use of pharmacologic doses of steroids early in the shock state, within the first hour when possible, for periods of less than forty-eight hours seems to reduce the incidence of gastric ulceration and hemorrhage in low flow states associated with septic, cardiogenic, and hemorrhagic shock.     

Hepatic artery ligation and 5-fluorouracil infusion for metastatic colon carcinoma and primary hepatoma.

Nine patients with extensive bilateral hepatic metastases of colorectal cancer were treated with hepatic artery ligation and continuous infusion of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Silastic catheters were inserted into the hepatic artery at laparotomy, and continuous perfusion was effected by a Sigmamotor pump. There was no operative mortality or morbidity, and drug toxicity was acceptable. Dosage averaged 10 mg/kg/day and average time of infusion was sixty-three days. Liver function returned to preoperative values within two weeks in all patients, and four patients had improvement of preoperative liver function for three to six months after perfusion. Two patients had palpable regressions that lasted five months or more, and one patient had a slight palpable regression for two months. Five who are dead had a mean survival of 10.4 months after therapy, with a median survival of 11.5 months. Eight of the nine patients had significant clinical improvement following treatment. Seven patients with irresectable primary liver carcinoma were treated with continuous 5-FU infusion. A Silastic catheter was placed at laparotomy into the hepatic artery via the gastroduodenal artery. Ligation of the hepatic artery was not performed. There was no operative mortality or morbidity. Dosage averaged 10 mg/kg/day and the average time of infusion was 140 days. Significant clinical improvement was noted in six of the seven patients although this did not correlate with improvement of hepatic function. All six responding patients are still living (mean survival, 14 months). Prolongation of life with hepatic artery infusion of 5-FU has been significantly better than with any previously reported chemotherapy for this disease.