Annals of surgery
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A method of quantifying the anatomic extent of injury to the heart, Penetrating Cardiac Trauma Index, (PCTI) and other thoracic organs has been proposed. The total extent of thoracic injury, Penetrating Thoracic Trauma Index (PTTI), was measured. When associated abdominal injury was present, it was assessed by the Penetrating Abdominal Trauma Index (PATI) of Moore et al. ⋯ Analysis of 112 patients with penetrating cardiac injuries (1973-1983) revealed that the indices, PCTI and PI, showed an excellent correlation with survival (R2 = 0.827 and 0.928, respectively) as did the total extent of trauma (PTI). A composite prognostic score of the sum of PI and PTI demonstrated a significant separation of survivors from nonsurvivors (p less than 0.001). It is concluded that these anatomic (PCTI and PTI) and physiologic (PI) indices are valid and, with additional confirmation, may provide an objective method of evaluating penetrating cardiac injuries.
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Thirty-nine renal allograft recipients were prospectively studied to determine the quantitative effects of different immunosuppression protocols on T-cell subsets (total lymphocytes [T3], helper/inducer [T4] and suppressor/cytotoxic [T8]). Eighteen patients were initially immunosuppressed with only azathioprine and prednisone but required subsequent treatment for rejection by the addition of antithymocyte globulin (ATG) (Upjohn, Kalamazoo, MI) or conversion to cyclosporine. Three of these patients had ATG-resistant rejections and were treated with the monoclonal antibody ORTHO OKT3 (ORTHO Pharmaceuticals, Raritan, NJ). ⋯ This depression was independent of the plasma level of cyclosporine. Finally, the pan T-cell monoclonal antibody OKT3 led to severe depletion of all T-cell subsets but resulted in a normal T4/T8 ratio. In conclusion, immunosuppressive agents have a variable effect on T-lymphocytes and their subsets that cannot be adequately characterized by the T4/T8 ratio alone, but which should be quantitatively assessed by examining all subsets.
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In recent years many reports have attributed improved patency and improved vein utilization with lower extremity arterial bypass to infrapopliteal arteries to the use of the in-situ vein graft technique (ISVB). This report describes 110 reversed vein bypasses (RVB) to infrapopliteal arteries performed from 1980-1986. Thirty-three per cent of these patients did not have an intact ipsilateral greater saphenous vein. ⋯ These figures for patency, vein utilization, and limb salvage for modern RVB to infrapopliteal arteries are clearly equal to or superior to any reported figures for ISVB. Results for RVB are greatly improved when compared with historic controls, as are results for ISVB. There is no evidence to date demonstrating superiority of one technique versus another.
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Resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock by infusion of isotonic (normal) saline (NS) is accompanied by a transient elevation in intracranial pressure (ICP), although cerebral edema, as measured by brain weights at 24 hours, is prevented by adequate volume resuscitation. The transient increase in ICP is not observed during hypertonic saline (HS) resuscitation. The effect of colloid resuscitation on ICP is unknown. ⋯ ICP returned to baseline values of 3.0 +/- 1.73 mmHg in the HS group with initial resuscitation and remained at baseline values throughout resuscitation. NS and D-40 ICP were greater than HS ICP at 1 hour (p less than .001) and 2 hours (p less than .05) after resuscitation. These results demonstrate that NS or colloid resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock elevates ICP and that HS prevents elevated ICP.