Spontaneous idiopathic pneumopericardium in young patients. Review of the literature. Apropos of a new case]

Spontaneous idiopathic pneumopericardium (SIPP) in young subjects is a rare disorder since, apart from the case described here, only 28 cases have been reported in the literature. It occurs mainly in young adults. The physiopathology of the disorder involves alveolar rupture, as described by Macklin. The symptoms of SIPP are dominated by chest pain, which usually develops suddenly and is combined with dyspnea. Clinical examination is not very helpful, cardiac auscultation detects either pericardial rubbing or a more suggestive metallic sound. Recovery usually occurs without treatment, but there is a risk of long-term recurrence. An unusual complication to be feared is aerial tamponade, which may be life-threatening and calls for emergency draining. The treatment of SIPP involves strict bed-rest, symptomatic treatment of the pain and clinical monitoring.     

Long-term laryngoscopic follow-up in vocal cord paralysis following struma surgery

Of 525 patients 17 (3.2%) showed a laryngoscopically established palsy of the recurrent laryngeal nerve after surgery due to goiter. A laryngoscopic follow-up of all these patients, performed at least one year after the operation, revealed that 76.5% of the recurrent nerve palsies were temporary and 23.5% were permanent. Danger of permanent palsy increased in the sequence--uncomplicated nodular goiter--struma maligna--recurrent goiter. The outcome of long-term follow-up showed a palsy rate of 0.8%, which was much lower than the corresponding rate reported by short-term control (p = 0.005). Therefore laryngoscopic long-term follow-up in cases of postoperative abnormal laryngoscopic function should be a standard part of follow-up in thyroid gland surgery.     

A case of retinopathia oxalogenica and cytomegalic infection

A case of primary oxalosis Type I with characteristic intraocular calcium-oxalate deposition is reported. Both affected eyes show typical pathologic manifestations, which are intensified by a cytomegalic infection caused by cortisone therapy.     

Dysphagia after nissen fundoplication

Nissen fundoplication is a commonly used antireflux operation. After this operation symptoms such as dysphagia, inability to belch and vomit, and gas bloating are frequently reported in the literature. In 32 patients who underwent Nissen fundoplication 3.5–18 years ago, postprocedure dysphagia was studied using conventional manometry and 24 h ambulatory pressure and pH recording. Our study indicates that dysphagia tends to decrease after surgery. Neither conventional nor ambulatory pressure recording revealed motor abnormalities that could be held responsible for the dysphagia. Therefore, the data do not support the concept that dysphagia is a major complication of Nissen fundoplication.     

Ultra-sensitive TSH levels: an aid in the screening for amiodarone-induced thyroid dysfunction

Amiodarone modifies thyroid hormone secretion and hypothyroidism occurs in some cases. The latter diagnosis is often difficult and is of particular importance in these patients as it may have serious consequences for the heart. Early diagnosis is therefore essential but difficult because of the induced hyperthyroxinemia with maintenance of euthyroidism and a hypotriiodothyronemia. The diagnostic performance of an ultrasensitive method of measuring TSH (TSH-U), capable of distinguishing hyper and euthyroidism were compared with standard thyroid function tests and TSH stimulation with TRH in 50 patients treated with amiodarone. Only 6 of the 14 patients with hyperthyroxinaemia had TSH-U values in the hyperthyroid range: only one of these patients had an increased triiodothyronine. In 2 cases the THS-U was low but the T4L was normal. In 4 patients, increased TSH-U allowed diagnosis of latent or patent hypothyroidism. There was a close correlation between results of the TRH stimulation test and those of the TSH-U in all cases. This test may therefore be used as an initial screening test for thyroid dysfunction in patients on amiodarone and is simple, reliable and relatively cheap to perform. It makes it unnecessary to measure all thyroid hormonal parameters and the TRH test simultaneously.     

Temporary and permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis following thyroid surgery. Modifying factors: the educational status of the surgeon

17 of 525 patients (3.2%) showed an laryngoscopically established palsy of the recurrent laryngeal nerve after surgery for struma. The analysis of these operations, performed by five surgeons during or within three years after the period of surgical training, revealed that the operations performed under assistance of the senior surgeons were high grade selected (p = 0.026). Thus 14.8% of the operations performed because of simple goiter but only 4.8% of the operations performed because of thyroid cancer/recurrent goiter/extensive nodular goiter were assisted in this way. On the other hand it was necessary to call for help of a senior surgeon because of intraoperative difficulties in only 1.26% of the cases operated on for simple goiter, but in 19.6% of the more complex forms of goiter (p less than 0.001). The risk of recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy was nearly 10 times higher in the complex forms of goiter than in the simple forms (p less than 0.001). More extensive surgical training in the forms of complex goiters should be able to improve the results.     

A possibility of cutting frozen sections of bone tissue in routine pathology

A low priced, efficient frozen section cutting device is described to produce 5 microns sections of frozen undecalcified bone specimen blocks in routine pathology. The device was developed by combining two commercially-available instruments, namely a frozen section microtome with methyl alcohol cooling and a hard tissue microtome. Bore holes were drilled in the hard tissue knife to permit cooling, using the methyl alcohol system of the other microtome.