Heat shock protects kidneys against warm ischemic injury.

The present work confirms previous observations made by others that heat shock is followed by a period of protection against tissue injury. Furthermore, this protection against associated with HSP 72 production. We have identified some detrimental effects of heat shock as a technique for induction of the HSR. Clearly there exists in living tissues a highly conserved, latent cellular mechanism that can be rapidly activated by stress, which can provide useful protection against additional stressful conditions. The ability to control the expression of this response should enable one to protect cells, tissues, and organisms against situations in which tissue injury is anticipated.

Ventricular pseudoaneurysm associated with cardiopulmonary resuscitation 6 weeks after mitral valve replacement.

Trauma to the heart and mediastinum is associated with external cardiac massage. A patient had undergone a redo mitral valve replacement and experienced an uneventful postoperative course. During a visit to her physician 6 weeks after operation, she experienced ventricular fibrillation that required external cardiac massage and subsequent defibrillation. Postresuscitation evaluation revealed a posterior pseudoaneurysm of the ventricle. This was repaired via a transthoracic approach with the use of profound hypothermia.

Retroperitoneal fibrosis presenting as colonic dysfunction: CT diagnosis.

In a patient who presented with pelvic pain and changed bowel habits, barium enema and sigmoidoscopic examinations demonstrated a nonspecific asymmetric narrowing of the colon at the rectosigmoid junction with normal mucosal appearance. Computed tomography revealed the etiology to be retroperitoneal fibrosis with pelvic extension and entrapment of the colon at this level. The importance of CT in diagnosis of this unusual manifestation of retroperitoneal fibrosis is discussed.