[Experience with percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in the nutrition of a patient with 3rd and 4th degree facial burns]. / Percutan endoszkópos gastrostomán át táplált III-IV. fokú arcégett beteg kezelésével nyert tapasztalataink.

Recovery after thermal injury depends in great proportion on nutrition. A major problem is accounted in patients with facial burn, because they can not be nourished per vias naturales. Eliminating disadvantages of parenteral nutrition, but utilizing the advantages of enteral nutrition, we have tried a new method of treatment in a patient whose case is presented. On the second day after injury a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy was made. On the 7th day after injury and on the 4th day from the beginning of enteral nutrition complete intake of food and liquid was assured through the percutaneous endoscopic gastrostoma. We had no complication related to the gastrostoma. Nutrition through the percutaneous endoscopic gastrostoma at our patient provided a "natural" route to assure liquid, electrolite and energy balance, prevented atrophy of intestinal mucosa and its metabolic and immunologic complications. With the use of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostoma the possible complications of central line catheter were omitted. Our opinion is that percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy is a safe and effective method for the clinical nutrition of burned patients.

Modified Blalock-Taussig shunt using allograft saphenous vein: six years' experience.

BACKGROUND: The occurrence of life-threatening late infectious complications after the use of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene conduits as modified Blalock-Taussig shunts prompted us to apply allograft saphenous veins instead. METHODS: In 23 cyanotic patients (age, 1 week to 18 years) allograft saphenous veins were used for performing Blalock-Taussig shunts from July 1989 onward. Veins stored in Hank's solution were implanted in 8 patients and cryopreserved ones in 15. All patients were followed up regularly up to 15 months. RESULTS: There were two early and two late deaths: none were related to shunt occlusion. Clinical, angiographic, and echocardiographic studies proved that, except for one early occlusion, all shunts were patent and functioning well after an average of 41 months. Donor cells disappeared 1 to 3 days after implantation, and several months after the operation both the wall and the luminal surface of the grafts were repopulated with cells possibly of recipient origin. No difference was found between veins stored in Hank's solution only and cryo-preserved grafts, concerning clinical outcome and histology. CONCLUSIONS: Allograft saphenous veins function well as modified Blalock-Taussig shunts at least up to 6 years. Owing to the good results and lack of complications their clinical use is recommended.

[Morphologic studies of emdomyocardial biopsy specimens]. / Endomyocardiális biopsziák morphológiai vizsgálata.

Authors have studied 153 heart biopsies of 120 patients and results of 133 endomyocardial biopsies studied by light and electron microscopy are described. In addition to typical morphological picture of myocarditis, in majority of cases non-specific changes appearing also in idiopathic cardiomyopathy were observed and their ultrastructure is fully stated. Results are compared to relevant data of literature. Indications, informative value, practical and scientific research significance of myocardial biopsies are briefly overviewed.

Further evidence for endogenous hypothalamic serotonergic neurons involved in the cimetidine-induced prolactin release in the rat.

The aim of the present work was to further explore the possible relationship between the prolactin-releasing effect of cimetidine and hypothalamic serotonergic neurons controlling pituitary hormone secretion. In a first approach, the prolactin-releasing effect of the drug was determined in adult male rats with total deafferentation of the hypothalamus. Cimetidine injection (60 mg/kg) produced a significant rise in prolactin, but not in luteinizing hormone (LH), both in deafferented rat and in sham-operated controls; by 15 min there was a 5-6 fold increase in prolactin titers. Methysergide, a serotonin receptor blocker, used in a dose (2.5 mg/kg), route (i.p.) and time (50 min earlier) which did not modify the hormone basal level in rats with total deafferentation of the hypothalamus, was able to prevent completely the prolactin release evoked by cimetidine. The same preventive effect on prolactin release was observed with the serotonin receptor blocker ketanserin (5 mg/kg, i.p., 30 min earlier). It is concluded that the prolactin-releasing effect of cimetidine is located at a hypothalamic level related to serotonergic neurons.

Sodium and potassium concentrations in red blood cells and plasma in children with congenital heart defect.

The sodium and potassium concentrations of the red blood cells and plasma were investigated in 93 children with cardiac disease, most of them with congenital heart defect, and in 48 healthy children of the same age. The red blood cell sodium and potassium concentrations were constant within a narrow range in normal subjects, but varied profoundly in pathological conditions. Digitalis treatment caused RBC Na+ and plasma K+ levels to increase and the RBC K+ level to decrease by blocking the Na+-K+ pump. The highest RBC Na+ concentration was observed in critically ill patients with congestive heart failure treated with digoxin. An augmented RBC sodium value was found in heart malformations with left to right shunt and in congestive cardiomyopathy that was not treated, whereas in patients with right to left shunt lower RBC sodium, higher RBC potassium and plasma potassium values were registered without any treatment. In cases of hyperkinetic circulation without any congenital heart defect the value of RBC sodium was definitely low. A low sodium and a high potassium level of the RBC were found after total correcting heart surgery. It is concluded that measurement of changes in sodium and potassium concentrations of the red blood cells is not a reliable method for assessment of the efficacy of digitalis treatment. The results point to the accompanying phenomena at a cellular level in heart disease.

Autopsy study of cerebral complications of congenital heart disease and cardiac surgery.

Detailed histological investigation of the brains of 45 neonates, infants and children who had died of various congenital heart defects revealed that the damage to the white matter occurred mostly below 3 months of age, while that to the grey matter occurred above this age. The lesions (glial fatty metamorphosis, telencephalic leucoencephalopathy, focal white matter necrosis, focal nerve cell pyknosis and symmetrical cortical necrosis) were often combined with each other. The necroses were generally not a consequence of microembolization. Various cerebral complications occurred in most of the patients who had undergone cardiac surgery. However, the various cerebral lesions each had several causes and in general the accumulation of predisposing damaging noxae resulted in more serious changes.