Trends in myocardial infarction in Middle Dalmatia during the war in Croatia.

The aim of this study was to determine the pattern of myocardial infarction (MI) incidence with regard to age, gender, infarction site, and the most important risk factors. All 3,454 patients hospitalized in coronary care units of Clinical Hospital Split between 1989 and 1997 were analyzed. In the 3-year period preceding the war, from 1989 to 1991, 1,024 patients were hospitalized because of MI. During the 3 years of full war activities, from 1992 to 1994, there were 1,257 patients (significantly more; p < 0.05). And in the 3-year period after the war, from 1995 to 1997, there were 1,173 patients. In the war period, there were 151 (12%) patients younger than 45 years of age (p < 0.05); of that number, 143 (95%) were men (significantly more than in the other two periods; p < 0.05) and 8 (5%) were women. In the period preceding the war, there were 66 (6.5%) patients younger than 45 years: 60 (91%) men and 6 (9%) women. In the period after the war, those numbers were 88 (7.5%), 81 (92%), and 7 (8%), respectively. The patients younger than 45 years (305) more often had MI of an inferior than an anterior site (49% vs. 28%; p < 0.001), whereas there was no difference in patients older than 45 years (36% vs. 37%; p > 0.05). The patients older than 45 years had significantly greater hospital mortality (21% vs. 4%; p < 0.001) and were more likely to have hypertension (51% vs. 15%; p < 0.001) as well as hypercholesterolemia (54% vs. 14%; p < 0.001). Smokers prevailed among those younger than 45 years (75% vs. 51%; p < 0.001). The number of hospitalized patients with MI was greatest during the war period. It included a significant increase in the incidence in men younger than 45 years (12% vs. 7%; p < 0.05), with smoking as the most important risk factor, especially for infarctions of inferior sites.

Ultrasonographic appearance of colon taeniasis.

We present the case of a 50-year-old woman with abdominal pain, nausea, loss of appetite, and frequent stools in whom the routine ultrasonographic examination demonstrated a double-reflective, ribbon-like structure in the lumen of the initial segment of the ascending colon, which suggested colon taeniasis. Because the initial parasitologic analysis yielded negative results and application of albendazol did not have any therapeutic effect, the diagnosis was confirmed by barium enema and subsequently by parasitologic examination of proglottids passed in the stool after application of niclosamide. The double-reflective, ribbon-like structure in the lumen of the intestine seems to be specific to the ultrasonographic appearance of intestinal taeniasis. Transcutaneous ultrasonography of the gastrointestinal tract, performed as a screening method before conventional radiologic or endoscopic examination, can point to the ultimate diagnosis of colon taeniasis.

Liver angiosarcoma and hemangiopericytoma after occupational exposure to vinyl chloride monomer.

Various malignant tumors of the liver, especially liver angiosarcoma, have been described after occupational exposure to vinyl chloride monomer. We present the case records and pathologic findings of two plastic industry workers who had been exposed to high concentrations of vinyl chloride. These workers developed hepatic neoplasms, angiosarcoma, or hemangiopericytoma. We discuss the histogenesis of these tumors; the common vascular origin and the mutual transformation of these two tumors suggest that the hemangiopericytoma may also have developed during occupational exposure to high concentrations of vinyl chloride monomer.

Popliteal artery entrapment syndrome: diagnosis and management, with report of three cases.

Popliteal artery entrapment syndrome is an important albeit infrequent cause of serious disability among young adults and athletes with anomalous anatomic relationships between the popliteal artery and surrounding musculotendinous structures. We report our experience with 3 patients, in whom we used duplex ultrasonography, computed tomography, digital subtraction angiography, and conventional arteriography to diagnose popliteal artery entrapment and to grade the severity of dynamic circulatory insufficiency and arterial damage. We used a posterior surgical approach to give the best view of the anatomic structures compressing the popliteal artery. In 2 patients, in whom compression had not yet damaged the arterial wall, operative decompression of the artery by resection of the aberrant muscle was sufficient. In the 3rd patient, operative reconstruction of an occluded segment with autologous vein graft was necessary, in addition to decompression of the vessel and resection of aberrant muscle. The result in each case was complete recovery, with absence of symptoms and with patency verified by Doppler examination. We conclude that clinicians who encounter young patients with progressive lowerlimb arterial insufficiency should be aware of the possibility of popliteal artery entrapment. Early diagnosis through a combined approach (careful physical examination and history-taking, duplex ultrasonography, computerized tomography, and angiography) is necessary for exact diagnosis. The treatment of choice is the surgical creation of normal anatomy within the popliteal fossa.

Surgical treatment of kinked internal carotid artery.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The aim of this study was to provide information on the diagnosis and treatment of kinking -- bends in the extracranial internal carotid artery (KICA), a rate but major and treatable cause of cerebral ischemia. PROJECT: A retrospective review of the seven-year experience in Split Hospital. ESSENTIAL DATA: The role of the surgical correction of carotid artery kinking has not yet been precisely defined. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Of the 86 carotid revascularization operations performed in 76 patients from 1988 to 1994, 21 (29%) patients underwent surgery owing to symptomatic kinking of the internal carotid artery. This group included 8 females and 13 males with a mean age of 57.3+/-5.5 years (range 44-70). Symptoms included cerebrovascular insults in 43%, hemispheric transient ischemic attacks in 33%, reversible ischemic neurological deficit in 24% of patients. The diagnosis was made using two-dimensional ultrasound scan and Doppler, computerised tomography and angiographic evaluation. Two methods were used: the elimination of kinking and graft of the internal artery onto the common carotid artery with excision of the kinked section of the artery and end-to-end anastomosis. Dense fibrous tissues around the kinked artery were removed and the artery was freed along its entire course. The anomalous relationship between the internal carotid artery, occipital artery and hypoglossal nerve was corrected. RESULTS: After surgery seventeen patients fully recovered without neurological complications. One patient died, one patient suffered permanent neurological deficit, two suffered from transient ischemic attacks. CONCLUSIONS: Anatomic reconstruction together with the correction and elimination of the affected segments of the carotid artery may prevent progressive cerebrovascular symptoms and is associated with a low morbidity and mortality rate.

Dermatological indicators of coronary risk: a case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the association of dermatological signs such as baldness, thoracic hairiness, hair greying and diagonal earlobe crease with the risk of myocardial infarction in men under the age of 60 years. METHODS: A hospital-based, case-control study included 842 men admitted for the first non-fatal myocardial infarction, the controls were 712 men admitted with noncardiac diagnoses, without clinical signs of coronary disease. The relative risks were estimated as odds ratios. Logistic regression was used to control for the confounding variables. RESULTS: Baldness, thoracic hairiness and earlobe crease were approximately 40% more prevalent in cases (P<10(-6) in each case). In both cases and controls, baldness and thoracic hairiness were frequently coexistent, as well as hair greying and earlobe crease (P<10(-4) in each case). After allowing for age and other established coronary risk factors, the relative risk of myocardial infarction for fronto-parietal baldness compared with no hair loss was 1.77 (95% CI 1.27-2.45) and it was 1.83 (95 CI 1.4-2.3) for men with thick, extended thoracic hairiness. The presence of a diagonal earlobe crease yielded a relative risk of 1.37 (95% CI 1.25-1.5), while hair greying was associated with myocardial infarction only in men under the age of 50 years. CONCLUSION: It appears that baldness, thoracic hairiness and diagonal earlobe crease indicate an additional risk of myocardial infarction in men under the age of 60 years, independently of age and other established coronary risk factors.

Two new cases of liver angiosarcoma: history and perspectives of liver angiosarcoma among plastic industry workers.

In this report of two new cases of liver angiosarcoma (ASL) among plastic industry workers, the authors present the history and perspectives of this problem. The first cases of ASL have been registered since 1974, and in 1984, the European register of angiosarcoma was founded. In this register, 11 cases of ASL and one case of haemangiopericytoma have been registered from Croatia, all from a single plastics plant near Split. Two new cases of ASL (in retired autoclave cleaners, who were exposed to a concentration of 500-1000 ppm vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) during the working process) in the same plant are represented. They were detected with combined techniques of ASL detection, and both are still alive. The diagnoses have been histologically confirmed: one of them was surgically treated with segmental liver resection. The appearance of new cases of ASL confirms the perspective presented in the last report by the same authors.

Triggers of acute myocardial infarction regarding its site.

We have studied the incidence of possible triggers of the myocardial infarction regarding its site in 750 patients with anterior and 731 patients with inferior infarction. Infarctions occurred most frequently without recalling any triggering activity, especially in patients with anterior infarction (67 vs. 44%). Physical effort as the possible precipitator was also more frequent in anterior infarctions (22 vs. 16%). However, the onset of inferior infarction was more frequent during meteorological stress (9 vs. 2%), emotional stress (10 vs. 3%), after overeating (13 vs. 3%) and nicotine abuse (6 vs. 1.5%). These triggers were independent and highly significant (P < 0.02 in each case) discriminators of the site of myocardial infarction. Bimodal circadian rhythm, with primary peak between 6 and 9 h a.m. and the secondary peak between 3 and 6 p.m. was observed in patients which did not recall any triggering activity, and this was more pronounced in patients with inferior infarction. These results support the hypothesis that the influence of the vegetative tone is most pronounced in the onset of myocardial infarction of inferior wall.

[Significance of right ventricular dimensions in the differential diagnosis of primary and secondary dilated cardiomyopathy]. / Znacenje promjera desne klijetke u differencijalnoj dijagnostici primarnih i sekundarnih dilatacijskih kardiomioptija.

Numerous analyses are used in the differential diagnosis between primary and secondary dilated cardiomyopathy (PDC, SDC). The aim of this study was to assess the dimensions of heart cavities in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DC) by 1-D and 2-D echocardiography. Thirty-six consecutive patients who satisfied the PDC criteria, and 103 patients with criteria of SDC, were followed-up clinically, radiographically, electrocardiographically and by 1-D and 2-D echocardiography, in the period from December 1991 to April 1994, at the Department of Internal Medicine of the Clinical Hospital Split. The patients with PDC were significantly younger than those with SDC (44.4 +/- 10.4: 64.4 +/- 8.4 year). There were significantly more males than females in both DC subgroups. NYHA classification, sinus rhythm and atrial fibrillation did not differ considerably in both DC subcategories. The etiologic factor was ischaemic DC in 85.4% (88/103), systemic arterial hypertension in 11.6% (12/103), and thyrotoxicosis in 2.9% (3/103) of patients with SDC. Alcoholic DC in one patient, peripartal DC in two female patients and viral myocarditis in six patients with PDC were suspected. In the total of 75% (27/36) patients with PDC, a clear etiological factor in case histories was not defined. Left ventricular ejection fraction, diameter and myocardial thickness, as well as left atrium diameter, did not differ significantly in patients with PDC, at variance with SDC patients. Right ventricular enddiastolic diameter (31.55 +/- 4.8 mm: 26.62 +/- 8.6 mm, p < 0.05) and the ratio between enddiastolic diameters of the right and left ventricle were significantly larger in patients with PDC than in those with SDC (0.45 +/- 0.03: 0.37 +/- 0.05, p < 0.05). We conclude that right ventricle is significantly wider in PDC than in SDC patients. Compared with other noninvasive methods, 1-D and 2-D echocardiography is probably the method of choice (particularly in our environment) in the differentiation of primary and secondary DC.

War injuries of the femoral artery and vein: a report on 67 cases.

During the war in Croatia (from May 1991 to December 1995), 67 patients with war injuries of the femoral vein and/or artery were treated at the Surgical Clinic of Split Clinical Hospital. All the wounded were admitted directly from the battlefield or from front-line hospitals. There were five women and 62 men with a median age of 29 (range 15-54) years. There were 70 arterial (28 isolated) and 49 venous injuries (six isolated). Forty-six arterial injuries were repaired by reverse vein graft. Four proximal profound femoral arteries were reconstructed. Major venous injuries were repaired, 11 by compilation autogenous vein graft. No synthetic grafts were used. Repair of veins with large defects using compilation saphenous vein grafts gave good results. Six profound femoral veins and two superficial femoral veins were ligated. Vein ligation should be avoided unless another life-threatening injury demands priority. Twenty-one patients required open prophylactic fasciotomy. Two patients died (3%) and three ultimately underwent amputation (5%). Intermittent hyperbaric oxygen therapy was given to 18 heavily wounded patients with beneficial effect. The results support an immediate and coordinated approach to femoral vascular trauma with repair of arterial and venous injuries.

[Blunt heart injuries and diagnostic difficulties]. / Tupe ozljede srca i dijagnosticke teskoce.

The authors present their experiences with blunt heart injuries treated in the University Surgical Hospital in Split, Croatia. The diagnostic approach hospitalization and follow-up of these patients are described. The heart contusion was diagnosed using several repeated electrocardiographic and enzymatic tests combined with two-dimensional echocardiography. We treated 67 patients with heart contusions within two-year period. Out of them, 63 (94%) were dismissed from the hospital as cured, and 4 (6%) of them died. Results of treatment depend on the severity of injury, but also on a timely and adequate management.

Advances in diagnostics and successful repair of proximal posttraumatic superior mesenteric arteriovenous fistula.

Posttraumatic arteriovenous fistulas affecting the superior mesenteric artery and vein are extremely rare. Twenty-four cases of posttraumatic superior mesenteric arteriovenous fistulas (SMAVFs) have been reported. We presented two cases of SMAVFs occurring in a young woman and man secondary to a gunshot and a grenade shrapnel wound in the epigastrium, respectively. Nausea, heartburn, emesis, and cramping abdominal pain were the clinical signs of SMAVF. Abdominal pains, particularly after meals, tense and meteoristic abdomen, frequent liquid bowel movements, oliguria, subfebrility, abdominal thrill, and bruit were also present. Abdominal duplex ultrasonic scanning and computed tomograms with a contrast agent were especially useful screening tools. As our results demonstrated, those methods were not only suitable for clinical use, but were also as good as arteriography in defining both the exact location and the extent of the mesenteric vessel involvement. However, the superior mesenteric arteriogram remains mandatory for complete preoperative evaluation. Arteriovenous fistulas were successfully treated by suturing the arterial and venous sides of the fistula in one case, and resectioning the fistula and end-to-end anastomosis in the other case.

[Relation between the quantity, type and duration of alcohol drinking and the development of alcoholic liver cirrhosis]. / Meduovisnost kolicine, vrste i duzine pijenja alkohola u nastanku alkoholne ciroze jetre.

Patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis in Dalmatian region are presented in this paper and their social and medical characteristics are reviewed. The alcohol drinking habits of 211 patients with established clinical-laboratory criteria of alcoholic liver cirrhosis were investigated. The obtained results have been compared with the results of the control group. The average age of the patients was 51.6 years. Males were more numerous (2/3 of all examinees), while the average duration of alcohol consumption was 25.4 years. Wine was the most frequently consumed beverage (about 90% of cases) and the average daily intake was 151 g of pure alcohol. The authors prove by mathematical model that the occurrence of liver cirrhosis increases exponentially with the increase of the amount of alcohol consumed. Relative risk of the development of alcoholic liver cirrhosis increases many fold with the increase of the amount of alcohol consumed.

[Characteristics of patients with acute myocardial infarction treated in Split 1982-1992]. / Neke osobitosti bolesnika s akutnim infarktom miokarda lijecenih u Splitu od 1982. do 1992. godine.

Three thousand three hundred and fifty-two patients (70% males and 28% females) were hospitalized and treated in Split for acute myocardial infarction (hospital mortality 20%) between 1982-1992. The number of these admissions has been constantly rising from 226 in 1982 to 397 in 1992. Over 45 years of age were 3043 (90.8%) of the patients (70% males and 30% females), while 309 of them (9.2%) were under 45 (93% males, 7% females). The lethality rate was 21% in the first and 8% in the second subgroup. In patients over 45 inferior myocardial infarction was found in 35%, and in patients under 45 in 49%. In the older group there were 40% smokers, 42% hypertensives and 39% hypercholesterolemics, while there were 75% smokers, 35% hypertensives and 33% hypercholesterolemic patients in the younger age group. The results show that the number of patients treated for acute myocardial infarction in the Split region is constantly increasing (p < 0.001). In patients under 45 years of age there is significantly higher inferior infarction prevalence (p < 0.001); a larger percentage of males (p < 0.001) and smokers (p < 0.001), and lower percentage of hypertensives (p < 0.001) and hypercholesterolemic patients (p < 0.05) was observed, as well as lower hospital mortality rate (p < 0.001).