Annals of surgery
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One hundred consecutive patients with femoropopliteal autogenous vein grafts for limb salvage were reviewed five years later. In this group 40% died and 30% of the limbs had been lost at the end of five years. ⋯ Temporary graft patency was effective in preserving ischemic tissue by facilitating healing of ulcers or limited amputations. Femoral-popliteal bypass grafting in the presence of advanced ischemia is capable of improving the quality of life for many of these patients.
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Between January 1965 and August 1977, 122 patients with 135 arterial emboli were treated on the Peripheral Vascular Service at the Ohio State University Hospital. The heart was the source of the embolus in 94 patients (77%), one-third of whom had experienced a myocardial infarct. Thirteen patients died after the operation, which in 102 patients (84%) consisted of embolectomy only, making the hospital mortality 10.6%. ⋯ An aggressive approach to the patient with an arterial embolus, regardless of the duration of symptoms, is urged. Embolectomy under local anesthesia is advocated in all cases after prompt correction of fluid and electrolyte imbalance and stabilization of the underlying cardiac disorder, except in patients with frank gangrene and irreversible rigor. In the absence of distal pulses or obvious revascularization, an intraoperative arteriogram is mandatory.
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One hundred ninety serum samples from 51 burned patients were tested for immunosuppressive activity which might explain decreased host immune competence following thermal injury. The serum from a variable but significant percentage of these patients suppressed the response of normal human peripheral blood lymphocytes to phytohemagglutinin. The occurrence of immunosuppressive activity paralleled the severity of the injury. ⋯ Immunosuppressive activity did not correlate with serum cortisol levels, blood transfusion, protein-calorie malnutrition, or anesthesia. Suppressive sera were not cytotoxic. A majority of the active serum factor(s) was contained in a low molecular weight (less than 10,000 daltons) polypeptide subfraction.