Reoperation for aortic coarctation: techniques, results, and indications for various approaches

To define the safety and efficacy of operation for recurrent thoracic aortic coarctation, we reviewed the hospital records and subsequent courses of 53 patients who underwent such procedures over a 23-year period. Previous operations included end-to-end anastomosis, prosthetic patch or subclavian flap aortoplasty, and prosthetic interposition or bypass grafts, performed in patients ranging from 1 day to 44 years old. Several different reoperative procedures were used, including an ascending-descending aortic bypass graft in 4 patients who had had two previous repairs. There were no hospital or late deaths and only 3 relatively minor complications. Only 2 patients have hypertension requiring drug therapy at follow-up, which now averages 7 years. We conclude that operative management of severe, recurrent coarctation is both safe and effective, and that several techniques of reconstruction may have a place in such therapy.     

Scleral buckling in 2 1/2- to 11-month-old premature infants with retinal detachment associated with acute retrolental fibroplasia

The authors' experience over the past five years in the cryosurgical management of retinal detachment in ten eyes of eight premature infants with retrolental fibroplasia, whose ages at the time of detachment surgery ranged from 2 1/2 months to 11 months with an average of 5 1/2 months, is reported. Postoperative follow-up, ranging from eight to 61 months, has revealed that scleral buckling was successful in six eyes (60%). The ERG responses are slow to become established postoperatively, and VER testing is of questionable value in these cases.     

Chondrosarcoma of the trapezium: a case report.

Roentgenograms of a 46-year-old Caucasian man with progressive swelling and pain at the base of the thumb who had been treated for arthritis showed an enlargement of the trapezium. The entire bone and surrounding ligaments were removed and an iliac bone graft was used to fuse the trapezoid to the first metacarpal. Sections of the tumor were diagnosed as chondrosarcoma. No recurrence is apparent 3 years after excision.