Fenestrated endografts: are they the solution for visceral and aortic neck issues?

Many patients with short neck or no neck juxtarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms are not candidates for open surgical repair. Current treatment options for such patients include fenestrated endograft repair, placement of chimneys and snorkels (parallel grafts) or use of physician modified endografts. The purpose of this review is to examine the reported literature on the use of fenestrated aortic endografts for juxtarenal aortic aneurysms. A systematic review of the literature, to include clinical trials, case series, and meta-analyses was performed to report the outcomes of the use of fenestrated endovascular repair. The early and midterm results of fenestrated endografting is quite promising. As expected with real world use of the device, many patients do not meet the inclusion criteria of the initial pivotal clinical trials. As such, the results are not as good with respect to morbidity, re-intervention, and device related problems. However, despite such issues, in this difficult to treat population the initial and mid-term results as outlined below are quite acceptable. Fenestrated endografts will continue to gain acceptance and will become the treatment of choice for juxtarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms in the future.

Paediatric chronic suppurative otitis media in the Free State Province: clinical and audiological features.

BACKGROUND: Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is a chronic infection of the middle ear cleft. In sub-Saharan Africa >50% of cases occur in children <10 years of age. OBJECTIVES: To describe the otological, audiological and bacteriological findings in children with CSOM. METHODS: We conducted a prospective study at the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Clinic at Universitas Academic Hospital between August 2009 and December 2010. We included all children with CSOM over this period. Patients underwent ENT and paediatric examination, and were tested for HIV. Pus swabs were taken after an ear toilet for routine microbiology, fungal and Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture. We performed audiological testing after the otorrhoea had resolved. RESULTS: Eighty-six children (113 ears) were included, with a median age of 4.6 years (range 1 - 12 years). The mean duration of otorrhoea was 161.7 weeks (range 4 - 572 weeks). Nine patients (10.5%) presented with coalescent mastoiditis and/or intracranial complications of CSOM. Of the 153 organisms identified; Gram-negative bacteria were present in 93 (82.3%) ears, with 94.8% of these being sensitive to quinolones. Only 1 case of tuberculous otitis media was identified. HIV infection was present in 54.6% of patients tested. There was a hearing loss in 44 (66.7%) of the tested affected ears. CONCLUSIONS: There was a long delay between the onset of symptoms and accessing ENT services. Most cases of CSOM were due to quinolone-sensitive Gram-negative aerobes. There was a high prevalence of cholesteatoma, hearing loss and other complications in children in this study.