Bronchial obstruction after upper lobectomy: kinked bronchus relieved by stenting.

Post resectional kinking of the lower lobe bronchus caused obstructive symptoms in 2 patients following upper lobectomy. Exaggerated upward displacement of the remaining lower lobe seemed to be causative. Intrabronchial stenting relieved the obstruction in each case with satisfactory intermediate term results.

Survival of a recipient of renal transplantation after pulmonary phycomycosis.

A 48-year-old nondiabetic man maintained on prednisone, azathioprine, and cyclosporine after cadaveric renal transplantation developed multiple unilateral phycomycotic pulmonary abscesses. Despite treatment with amphotericin B the patient remained febrile. Surgical resection of these pulmonary abscesses was performed and the patient remains free of disease 1 year after operation. To our knowledge, this patient represents the first reported case of pulmonary phycomycosis in a recipient of renal transplantation without diabetes mellitus.

Five-year changes in coronary arteries of medical and surgical patients of the Veterans Administration Randomized Study of Bypass Surgery.

Progression of coronary artery disease was evaluated after 5 years of follow-up in 119 medically and 109 surgically treated randomized patients who adhered to their assigned therapy. Progression was defined as the appearance of a new lesion (greater than or equal to 50% stenosis) or worsening of a preexisting lesion in a coronary artery. Progression occurred in 36% (97 of 268) of the arteries in medical patients, in 38% (35 of 93) of the ungrafted arteries in surgical patients, in 74% (72 of 97) of the arteries with patent grafts at 5 years, and in 63% (29 of 46) of the arteries with closed grafts. After adjustment for the vessel system and the severity of disease at baseline, the risk of progression was three to six times higher in grafted arteries than in ungrafted arteries (p less than 0.01). For grafted arteries, the risk of progression was twice as high in arteries with patent grafts compared with those with closed grafts (p = 0.14). The majority (78%) of the progression in grafted arteries was to 100% occlusion. Proximal and distal progression rates in arteries with patent grafts were 74% and 11%, respectively. In the majority of arteries with closed grafts that progressed, the site of progression could not be determined. Regardless of treatment, the risk of progression was two times higher in the right coronary artery than in the left anterior descending or circumflex arteries. Progression risk was also twice as high in arteries with moderate disease at baseline compared with those with minimal or severe disease.

Coronary artery bypass grafts: increased flow in the early postoperative period.

The long-term outcome of coronary artery bypass operations is contingent upon the patency of aortocoronary bypass grafts. Flow measurements taken at operation may not truly reflect the capacity of the graft to carry glow because the heart may not have fully recovered from the consequences of ischemic arrest, despite the protective effects of hypothermic cardioplegia. During a three-year period, we observed increases of up to 200% in the flow rate of 8 of 11 saphenous vein grafts in 7 patients who underwent reoperation for bleeding or cardiac tamponade in the early postoperative period. At initial operation, flow rates ranged from 25 ml/min to 130 ml/min (mean value, 66.8 +/- 10.3 ml/min [standard error of the mean]). At reexploration, flow measurements ranged from 0 ml/min (graft clotted) to 260 ml/min (mean value, 110 +/- 22.8 ml/min). This difference was statistically significant (p less than 0.02). This study documents that flow rate measurements in saphenous vein aorotocoronary bypass grafts can increase in the early postoperative period although the exact mechanism by which this occurs is not known.