Late mortality after cardiac interventions over 10-year period in two Cameroonian government-owned hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac surgery is a growing activity in Sub-Saharan Africa, however, data related to long-term mortality are scarce. We aimed to analyze outcome data of cardiac interventions in two hospitals in Cameroon over 10 years' period. METHODS: we conducted a retrospective analytical and descriptive study at the Douala General Hospital and Yaoundé General Hospital. All patients operated between January 2007 and December 2017, or their families were contacted by phone between January and April 2018 for a free of charges medical examination. RESULTS: Of a total of 98 patients operated during the study period, 8 (8.2%) were lost to follow-up. Finally, 90 patients [49 (54.4%) women and 41 (45.6%)] men were included. The mean age was 49±22 years (range, 13-89 years). The surgical indications were valvular heart diseases in 37 (41.1%) cases, congenital heart diseases in 11 (12.2%) cases, chronic constrictive pericarditis in 4 (4.4%) cases, and intra cardiac tumor in 1 (1.1%) case. Valve replacement was the most common type of surgery carried out in 37 (41.1%) cases-mostly with mechanical prosthesis. Pacemaker-mostly dual-chambers were implanted in 36 (40.0%) patients. The median follow-up was 26 months. The overall late mortality was 5.7%, and the overall survival rates at 5 and 10 years were 95.5% and 94.4% respectively. The overall survival rates at 5 and 10 years for mechanical valve prosthesis were 93.3% and 90% respectively. The survival at 10 years was 100% for patients with bioprosthesis. The survival rates at 10 years were 94.1% and 100% respectively for dual and single chamber pacemaker. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term outcome of cardiac surgery in hospitals in Cameroon are acceptable with low mortality rate. However, outcome metrics beyond mortality should be implemented for a prospective data collection.

Application of the Canadian C-Spine rule and nexus low criteria and results of cervical spine radiography in emergency condition.

INTRODUCTION: The Canadian C Spine Rule (CCR) and the National Emergency X-Radiography Utilization Study (Nexus) low criteria are well accepted as guide to help physician in case of cervical blunt trauma. METHODS: We aimed to evaluate retrospectively the application of these recommendations in our emergency department. Secondly we analyzed the quality of cervical spine radiography (CSR) in an emergency setting. RESULTS: 281 patients with cervical blunt trauma were analyzed retrospectively. The CCR and the NEXUS rules were respected in 91.2% and 96.8% of cases respectively. No lesions were found in 96.4% of patient. A lesion was present in 1.1% of patient and suspected in 2.5% of patient. The quality of CSR was adequate in only 37.7% of patient. The poor quality of CSR was due either to the lack of C7 vertebrae visualization in 64.6% or other lower vertebrae in 28%. Other causes included the absence of open mouth view (8%), the absence C1 vertebrae visualization (3.4%), artifact in 2.3% and the absence of lateral view in 0.6% of patient. CONCLUSION: CCR and NEXUS are widely used in our emergency department. The high rate of inadequate CSR reinforces the debate about it's utility in emergency condition.

Hypoxemia after pneumothorax exsufflation: a case report.

We describe a 36-year-old patient who was admitted to the emergency ward for acute dyspnea due to a spontaneous pneumothorax. He was successfully drained but shortly after presented a severe hypoxemia due to pulmonary oedema secondary to pulmonary re-expansion. The physiopathology behind this complication is still unknown. We will try to describe this complication and its predictive factors.