Bilateral recurrent nerve paralysis associated with multinodular substernal goiter: a case report.

Substernal goiter is an infrequent occurrence and is found in two to five per cent of all patients undergoing thyroid surgery. These lesions are well known to cause respiratory symptoms and alterations in phonation due to direct compression of airway structures. Infrequently, unilateral recurrent nerve palsy has been reported in patients with substernal goiter. We report a case of bilateral recurrent nerve palsy associated with multinodular substernal goiter in an 89-year-old female who presented in respiratory distress.

Technical approach for reanimation of the chronically denervated larynx by means of functional electrical stimulation.

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) of the posterior cricoarytenoid (PCA) muscle to produce vocal fold abduction offers an alternative approach to current surgical therapies for bilateral vocal fold paralysis. The purpose of this study was to characterize the application of FES to chronically denervated PCA muscles. Specific goals were to develop a stimulus delivery system for the PCA muscle, determine a practical means of implantation, and identify stimulus parameters effective in activating chronically denervated muscle. Seventeen dogs were implanted with planar electrode arrays 3 months after unilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve resection. A nail-bed electrode array allowed discrete activation of the PCA muscle and gave the greatest abductions, with minimal charge dissipation. Muscle mapping revealed hot-spot regions on the PCA muscle surface, in which stimulation produced maximum abduction. A conservative stimulus paradigm effective in activating chronically denervated muscle was a 1-second pulse train of 2-millisecond-duration pulses, delivered at a tetanizing frequency of 30 Hz and an amplitude of 4 to 14 mA.

Neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis: experience with 100 consecutive surgical patients.

One hundred newborns with neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) were treated surgically according to a uniform protocol between July, 1980 and June, 1988. The infants (53 females, 47 males) weighed between 600 and 3,800 g, averaging 1,500 g. Twenty-eight weighed less than or equal to 1,000 g, 38 weighed from 1,001 g to 1,500 g, and 34 weighed more than 1,500 g. Median age at the time of surgery was 14 days. Surgery was performed for pneumoperitoneum in 40, a "positive" paracentesis in 51, and for other reasons in 9 infants. A paracentesis was performed if intestinal gangrene was suspected clinically. Resection of gangrenous bowel with exteriorization was the usual procedure; in only 5 patients was primary closure performed. The hospital survival for the infants was 54% for the group weighing less than or equal to 1,000 g, 74% for the group weighing from 1,001 g to 1,500 g, and 79% for the group weighing more than 1,500 g. Overall hospital survival was 70%; it was 81% for those having a definitive procedure (excluding 14 infants with NEC "totalis"). There were 3 late deaths from causes unrelated to NEC. Significant long-term complications included failure-to-thrive in 23% and stricture formation in 30% of the survivors. Long-term follow-up showed gastrointestinal status to be normal in 74%; only 8% have persistent major gastrointestinal dysfunction. Mental and motor development was considered grossly normal in only 53% of the patients.