The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Oct 1978
Use of microporous expanded polytetrafluoroethylene grafts for aorta-pulmonary shunts in infants with complex cyanotic heart disease. A report of seven cases.
Seven cyanotic infants in our institution have undergone central aorta--pulmonary artery shunt operations with a microporous expanded polytetrafluoroethlene (PTFE) graft. All of these patients have had pulmonary atresia, in four cases associated with endocardial cushion type defects. ⋯ Congestive heart failure and kinking of the pulmonary artery, frequently seen with other types of central aorta-pulmonary shunts, have not been a problem. Until further experience is gained with this procedure, however, we reserve its use to the occasional cyanotic infant in whom neither open-heart repair or the Blalock-Taussig shunt is feasible.
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Oct 1978
Sequential evaluation of DNCB reactivity in patients with primary lung cancer. Correlation with prognosis.
Delayed hypersensitivity reactions before therapy in 137 patients with lung cancer and in 50 patients with benign thoracic lesions were evaluated by 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) contact sensitization using the patch test. Ninety-eight percent (49/50) of control patients and 46 percent (62/137) of patients with lung cancer were sensitized by 250 mug of DNCB. There was an excellent correlation between the initial reactivity to DNCB and resectability. ⋯ In 15 of 74 patients with resectable disease, the conversion was noted postoperatively, and among 12 patients followed for 2 years, only two patients had died. Conversion from a reactive to nonreactive status to DNCB occurred only in the terminal stage of the disease. From these observations, we found that, in order to evaluate the afferent limb of cellular immunity in patients with lung cancer who have once expressed reactivity to DNCB, one must use some new sensitizing agents which show no cross-sensitivity with each other thereafter.