Surgical management of epiretinal membrane in young patients.

PURPOSE: To report the outcome of epiretinal membrane (ERM) surgery in young patients. DESIGN: Interventional case series study. METHOD: A retrospective review of 20 young patients who had undergone vitrectomy and epiretinal membrane removal. All patients had a preoperative examination, including fundus biomicroscopy, red free photographs, and fluorescein angiography. RESULTS: Nine patients were males and 11 females (age: 7-26 years; mean: 16.3 years). Follow up ranged from 4-96 months (mean: 21.2 months). The 20 patients comprised 13 cases of idiopathic ERM, six cases in which ERM was associated with ocular inflammation and one case of combined hamartoma of the retina and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). In 13 cases, the ERM was especially white, thick, and opaque, with localized constriction and severe retinal distortion. Final best-corrected visual acuity (VA) was significantly better than preoperatively (20/50 vs. 20/112), (P = 0.0002). Mean improvement in VA was 4.25 lines and 17 patients gained two or more lines. This improvement was better in secondary than idiopathic ERM (6 lines vs. 3.3). During follow up, five cases of recurrence were observed (25%). In another case, postoperative persistent ocular hypertension required filtering surgery. CONCLUSION: The characteristics of ERM in young patients are quite different in many cases from those in adults in terms of thickness and adherence. Removal of ERM in young patients is feasible and safe although the membrane may focally adhere strongly to retinal vessels. VA usually improves significantly after surgery, but recurrences are more frequent than in adults.

[Pseudoxanthoma elasticum. A rare cause of upper digestive hemorrhage]. / Pseudoxantoma elastico. Rara causa di emorragia digestiva alta.

Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum (PXE) is a rare inherited elastic tissue disorder with degeneration of elastic fibres involving mainly skin, eyes and the cardiovascular system. Upper gastro-intestinal hemorrhage occurs in 13% of cases and is often resistant to non-surgical methods of treatment. One case report involving recurrent gastric hemorrhage in a young patient with PXE and treated with total gastrectomy is presented. Diagnosis was made, after surgery, by biopsy of skin lesions of the neck. The characteristics of PXE are reviewed and the case is discussed.

The "Kergin pneumonectomy".

Out of a series of 211 stage III (A and B) lung cancers radically resected with routine lymphadenectomy from 1971 to 1987, a total of 11 were squamous cell carcinomas invading the right main bronchus and lateral portion of the trachea. These patients were managed using a particular technique that we have always arbitrarily called, "Kergin pneumonectomy," after the Toronto surgeon who described it in 1952. These patients, today, are staged III B. There was no operative mortality and only 2 minor complications. Two patients survived 3 years and 1 is alive and free of disease 7 years from surgery. This technique should be considered before embarking on more perilous surgery such as "sleeve pneumonectomy," a procedure which still carries high mortality and morbidity rates and requires special equipment and intensive postoperative care.

Acute sectorial choroidal ischemia.

Four eyes (of three patients) with sectorial choroidal ischemia by temporal arteritis or carotid obstruction underwent fluorescein angiography during and after the acute phase. In all cases hypoperfusion affected the whole temporal choroid; however, disturbance of retinal pigment epithelium was much less extensive. In two cases the retinal pigment epithelium became necrotic and scarred within a limited area that was typically triangular in shape; in the third case scarring was limited to some pigmented streaks, and in the fourth case, retinal pigment epithelium remained normal. The triangular scar that appeared after episodes of choroidal hypoperfusion did not seem to be a true reflection of the extent of the choroidal artery obstruction in the acute phase. Our observations suggest that the deficient choroidal perfusion involved more than the choroidal artery supplying the triangular area of pigment epithelium disturbance. Several mechanisms (for example, retrograde venous filling, restoration of perfusion) reduce the deleterious effects of ischemia. Thus the necrosis of the retinal pigment epithelium would appear in only those sectors where ischemia was particularly severe or prolonged.

Aorto-enteric fistulae: spontaneous and after aorto-iliac operations.

Ten case of arterio-enteric fistula are presented, 3 spontaneous and 7 following surgery on the aorta. In the majority of cases "herald bleeding" allows enough time to study the patient. Spontaneous fistulae are very rare and their diagnosis can be very difficult if the aneurysm is not palpable. In any case of gastrointestinal haemorrhage in a patient who has undergone an aortic operation an A-E fistula will be suspect. The only useful diagnostic procedure is gastroduodenoscopy which usually does not show any organic cause for the bleeding. Arteriography seems only a dangerous waste of time: emergency explorative laparotomy, if a fistula is suspected, is surely harmless and preferable. The only sure surgical technique consists in removal of the prosthesis followed by an extra-anatomic by-pass.

[Renal transplantation in Bologna]. / Il trapianto renale a Bologna.

From october '76 to march '79 at the Clinica Chirurgica I of the University of Bologna 50 renal graft have been performed with living donor in 8 cases and with cadaver donor in 42. In the living donor group there was one death for rejection and sepsis. The remaining 7 patients are all alive with normal renal function. Among the 42 patients with cadaver donor 6 died: 3 early (one for gastric hemorrage, one for necrosis of the ascending colon, and one for rejection) and 3 late (two following many rejection episodes and one for miocardial infarction). 6 more patients underwent transplantectomy (4 for acute and 2 for chronic rejection). The 27 remaining patients have normal renal function. The only early important surgical problem was one urinary fistula in the 15th postoperative day successfully reoperated. The major late surgical complication was a renal artery stenosis distal from the arterial anastomosis followed by difficult but effective surgical correction. The authors regret not having been able to use more than half of the possible cadaver donors for refusal of the relatives.

Clinical results of lumbar sympathectomy alone or as a complement of direct arterial surgery.

Six hundred and eighty patients underwent conservative surgery for chronic obliterative arterial disease of the lower limbs during a 15 year period ranging from 1960 to 1974. Two hundred and fifty-three lumbar sympathectomy were performed in 240 patients, 339 patients had direct surgery and in 133 cases lumbar sympathectomy was added to direct surgery. From this experience the authors conclude: 1. Lumbar sympathectomy has a low mortality rate (3 deaths or 1.18%) and no important after effects: in particular no sexual problems are reported. 2. Lumbar sympathectomy for intermittent claudication seems to be useful since it apparently improves symptoms and prognosis of the operated leg. 3. Lumbar sympathectomy for rest pains or necrosis can be useful in 1/3 of the patients with proximal arterial lesions and in 2/3 of the patients with only peripheral lesions. 4. Lumbar sympathectomy should always be added to direct arterial surgery above the inguinal ligament since it improves the patency rate of arterial reconstruction without increasing the operative risk.