ABSTRACT
Atelectasis has been reported as a common cause of fever in the first 48 hours after surgery. A group of one hundred patients programmed for elective abdominal surgery were studied with chest roentgenograms, both before and 48 hours after surgery. Thirty-one of them developed atelectasis and eighteen developed fever. Four of the patients with and fourteen without atelectasis, had fever. Five cases had unexplained fever, three of them with pulmonary atelectasis. These findings suggest that atelectasis can cause postoperative fever, but it is not the most common cause of fever in the first 48 hours after surgery.
Subject(s)
Fever/etiology , Postoperative Complications/etiology , Pulmonary Atelectasis/complications , Abdomen/surgery , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Female , Fever/diagnostic imaging , Humans , Lung/diagnostic imaging , Male , Middle Aged , Postoperative Complications/diagnostic imaging , Pulmonary Atelectasis/diagnostic imaging , RadiographyABSTRACT
Phlebography of the inferior vena cava with selective study of the renal veins was performed in 43 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Inferior vena cava thrombosis (IVCT) or renal vein thrombosis (RVT) was found in 3 of 11 patients (27%) with nephrotic syndrome, in 8 of 13 (61.5%) with previous thrombophlebitis, and in 3 of 4 (75%) with suggestive acute clinical picture. In contrast, none of the 20 control patients with SLE had IVCT or RVT. These results show that SLE patients with thrombophlebitis have a very high risk of developing IVCT or RVT; patients with nephrotic syndrome have a smaller risk. Neither IVCT nor RVT was found in SLE patients without antecedent thrombophlebitis or nephrotic syndrome.
Subject(s)
Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic/complications , Renal Veins , Thrombosis/etiology , Vena Cava, Inferior , Female , Heparin/administration & dosage , Humans , Infusions, Parenteral , Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic/drug therapy , Male , Nephrotic Syndrome/complications , Prednisone/therapeutic use , Risk , Thromboembolism/complications , Thrombophlebitis/complications , Thrombosis/epidemiologyABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of endoscopic pancreatocholangiography in a group of patients having undergone surgical operations on bile ducts. This is a retrospective study including 64 patients in whom cholocystectomy was performed both with or without previous exploration of bile ducts. Forty five of these patients were jaundiced and 20 had abdominal pain as main symptoms. Forty nine were females and 15 males, their ages ranging between 18 and 80 years. The canulation of Vate's ampulla and the adequate darkening of the bile ducts was achieved in every case and the cholangiography showed recidual or recurring lithiasis in 75 per cent of the cases; in 67 per cent there was postsurgical stenosis of bile ducts; remnant cystic duct in 74.8 per cent; stenosis of Oddi's sphincter in 50.9 per cent, and in 13.3 a diagnosis of cholestasis was established. This procedure was quite useful in order to establish the correct diagnosis in this group of patients having a postcholecystectomy syndrome.