Lumbar sympathectomy for lower extremity vasospasm.

Ten patients, 8 female and 2 male, with refractory episodic lower extremity vasospasm were encountered during a 15 year period in which over 600 patients with upper extremity vasospasm were studied. Seven patients had associated upper extremity vasospasm. No patient had evidence of autoimmune disease. Lower extremity reserpine Bier block produced symptomatic relief for 1 to 3 days in all patients in whom it was used. Oral medications were ineffectual. A diagnostic toe photoplethysmographic pattern was noted in these patients, consisting of a normally pulsatile tracing after warming and a flat, nonpulsatile or minimally pulsatile tracing after cooling. Each patient underwent lumbar sympathectomy. During follow-up, which averaged 4 years, each patient remained free of episodic vasospasm on the side of surgery. We conclude that lumbar sympathectomy is an effective and durable treatment for lower extremity vasospasm.

The treatment of state I melanoma of the extremities with regional hyperthermic isolation perfusion.

One hundred twenty-two clinically Stage I malignant melanoma patients were treated prospectively in a nonrandomized trial by hyperthermic isolation perfusion with l-phenylalanine mustard (l-Pam), regional lymphadenectomy (RL), and wide local excision (WLE) between April 1965 and July 1980. There were 31 males and 91 females. All primary lesions were retrospectively microstaged by Clark's levels and Breslow's thickness criteria by one of the senior authors. Morphologically, 71% were superficial spreading melanomas (SSM), 16.5% were nodular melanomas (NM), and 11.9% were acral lentiginous melanomas. Survival by microstaging and morphology are reported in Table 1. Eighty-one per cent of all patients were disease-free at five years. Twenty-three patients (18.8%) recurred and of these, 15 died of their disease. This included six of the seven patients with histologically positive lymph nodes. Complications were not only acceptable but preventable and will be discussed. Microstaging provides a valid basis by which to compare treatment regimens and, more importantly, a valid criteria by which to select treatment for a given patient. These data compare favorably with other reported series. At the time these studies were initiated, five-year survivals for clinically Stage I and II melanoma were roughly 55% and 15%, respectively. Existing data clearly indicate that hyperthermic isolation perfusion with RL is superior to WLE and warrants further study in selected patients.