Outpatient tonsillectomy in children: a 7-year experience.

OBJECTIVES: To report our centre's experience of outpatient tonsillectomy in children over a 7-year period and to evaluate the postoperative complication rate in this type of procedure compared to tonsillectomy performed in the context of conventional hospitalisation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective review of medical charts. RESULTS: From May 2002 to April 2009, 276 tonsillectomies were performed on an outpatient basis, i.e. 55.4% of all paediatric tonsillectomies, in children with a mean age of 5.28 years. Ninety-six children (34.8%) presented clinical OSAS. Development of an early postoperative complication (before H8) required conventional hospitalisation on D0 in six (2.1%) of these 276 children operated on an outpatient basis: early postoperative bleeding in four cases (1.4%), which required reoperation to control bleeding in three cases, refusal to feed in one case (0.3%), and a parental problem in one case (0.3%). Postoperative complications occurring after H8 required readmission in six cases (2.1%): pain and feeding difficulties in two cases (0.7%) on D1 and D5, respectively, bleeding in four cases (1.4%) with reoperation before H24 for one patient, D5 for two patients and D7 for one patient. Only one case of bleeding occurred between H8 and H24. No perioperative respiratory complications were observed in children with clinical OSAS. CONCLUSION: The results of this study show that, in line with international publications and meta-analyses, post-tonsillectomy complications between H8 and H24 postoperatively, mainly bleeding, are exceptional. Respiratory complications usually occur in high-risk clinical settings that are not eligible for outpatient surgery. Outpatient tonsillectomy is therefore a safe procedure in children presenting all of the required medical, social and organizational conditions.

Comparative ventricular electrophysiologic effect of racemic bupivacaine, levobupivacaine, and ropivacaine on the isolated rabbit heart.

BACKGROUND: Numerous local anesthetics have an asymmetric tetrahedron carbon, which confers stereoselective differences between the isomers. The authors attempted to quantify the depressant effect of racemic bupivacaine, levobupivacaine, and ropivacaine on myocardial ventricular conduction and on myocardial contractility. METHODS: The authors studied the pharmacokinetics (outflow concentration) and pharmacodynamics (QRS widening) of the three drugs infused in an isolated rabbit heart preparation. All data were fitted simultaneously with use of mixed-effect modeling, thus allowing precise statistical comparison between the three drug parameters. The rate dependence of QRS widening was fitted separately. RESULTS: Racemic bupivacaine, levobupivacaine, and ropivacaine induced a calculated maximum increase in QRS duration in the ratio 1:0.4:0.3. Css50, the dose which caused half the maximum increase in QRS duration at steady state, was similar for all three drugs (22 micrometer free concentration). A rate dependence of QRS widening was observed, which was in the ratio 1:0.5:0.25 for racemic bupivacaine, levobupivacaine, and ropivacaine, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In the isolated rabbit heart, racemic bupivacaine, levobupivacaine, and ropivacaine induce an increase in QRS duration in the respective ratio of 1:0.4:0.3, which was rate dependent in approximately the same ratio.

[Organ procurement from cardiac arrest donors: outcome of kidney grafts and recommendations]. / Prélèvements d'organes sur donneurs décédés à coeur arrêté: devenir des greffons rénaux, propositions.

OBJECTIVES: To compare literature data with results obtained with organs procured from donors who died from cardiac arrest and to make proposals for this mode of organ procurement in France. METHODS: Over the last 10 years, 10 organ donors (2%) among a series of 486 donors in a state of brain death, had died of cardiac arrest. The arrest were perfused with double-balloon catheters. The outcome of the subsequent kidney grafts was compared with data in the literature. RESULTS: Fifteen of the 18 kidneys from cardiac arrest donors were functioning 1 month after implantation compared with 17 of the 20 kidneys from braindeath donors with beating hearts. The rate of acute tubular necrosis was 55% in the cardiac arrest kidneys and 40% in the beating-heart kidneys. Serum creatinine at 1 yeart was 145 +/- 69 mumol/l 17 +/- 29 mumol/l respectively. DISCUSSION: These results and those reported in the literature demonstrate that kidney procurement from cardiac arrest donors is feasible. If intensive care and surgery units are well organized, this type of organ procurement could provide a larger number of organs for transplantation. Emergency teams must be available for preparing and transferring the organs.

Application of HPLC to counting of colored microspheres in determination of regional blood flow.

Colored microspheres have become popular compared with radioactive microspheres because they do not use radioactivity. However, they suffer from a much greater variability in their determination. We have developed a new method for assaying the dye using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with internal standard. This technique permits accurate determination of < or = 400 spheres in rat blood, heart, kidney, liver, and brain with a relative error [coefficient of variation (CV)] < 10%. To date, only three colors (white, yellow, and red) may be used because, of the five colors tested, one (violet) served as internal standard and another (blue) exhibited marked degradation during extraction. Compared with the classical spectrophotometric technique, HPLC allows a three to five times improvement in reproducibility with a relative error significantly lower (P < 0.01) than with direct spectrophotometry. Although this new technique appears to be more time consuming than the classical method, its use seems to be preferable because of the improvement in measurement sensitivity.

[Significance of organ donor characteristics in renal function at 1 month: reflection on the allocation of renal transplant]. / Importance des caractéristiques des donneurs d'organes sur le devenir de la fonction rénale à 1 mois: réflexion sur la répartition des greffons rénaux.

In a series of 731 kidneys taken from brain-dead donors for renal transplantation, 652 were grafted, and the renal function at 1 month is known for 490 of them. The results show that some donor-related factors influence the outcome of the transplant. In particular, haemodynamic instability refractory to medical treatment is responsible for a 50 mumol increase of serum creatinine one month after transplantation and the use of UW solution during organ collection is responsible for an improvement of serum creatinine compared to other preservation solutions. Haemodynamic instability is a criterion which must be added to those already demonstrated in donors, such as the cause of death, age and sex. The authors propose that donor-related factors be taken into account in the allocation of organs in the same way as immunological factors which, at the present time, constitute the only criterion for kidney allocation.

[Impact of weight difference between donor and recipient on the function of the transplanted kidney]. / Effet de la différence de poids entre donneur et receveur sur la fonction du rein greffé.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this retrospective study was to determine whether the difference between the donor's weight (wd) and the recipient's dry weight (wr) could influence the function of renal transplants. METHODS: Between 1987 and 1994, 185 patients with a mean age of 43.3 years +/- 12 were transplanted with a locally harvested cadaver kidney, corresponding to 120 men (42.2 years +/- 1.4) and 65 women (45 years +/- 12.8). The weight variation between donors and recipients (wd - wr) was 0.06 for men and 0.22 for women. The serum creatinine of recipients at 1 year was 147 mumol +/- 41.7. We used analysis of variance for univariate statistical analysis and multiple linear regression for multivariate analysis. RESULTS: On univariate analysis, the serum creatinine at 1 and 2 years was significantly higher (p < 0.02 and p < 0.035 respectively) when the donor's weight was 10% lower than the recipient's weight. Multivariate analysis, taking into account the donor's age and sex and the recipient's serum creatinine, confirmed the influence of the donor-recipient weight difference on serum creatinine at 2 years (p0.03), but also the role of the donor's age at 1 and 2 years (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.0004, respectively). CONCLUSION: In our study, the donor-recipient weight difference was a factor influencing the recipient's serum creatinine at 2 years. The donor's age also influences the recipient's serum creatinine, 1 and 2 years after renal transplantation.

[Cadaver donor nephrectomy. Surgical technique in the context of multi-organ donation]. / Prélèvement de reins sur donneur décédé. Technique chirurgicale dans le cadre d'un multiprélèvement.

95% of renal transplantations performed in France use cadaver donor kidneys. Two donor nephrectomy techniques are proposed: a beating heart technique and an arrested heart technique. In the very great majority of cases (80%), donor nephrectomy can be performed during multi-organ removal, performed according to bioethical regulations: unrelated, anonymity between donor and recipient, security, traceability and evaluation. The urologist has a role to play at each step of organ donation, in which he is the main protagonist. The first steps are performed in close collaboration with the intensive care unit which established the diagnosis of brain death of the potential donor. The following steps, guided by the French transplant establishment, are the urologist's responsibility: He is responsible for abdominal exploration looking for a tumour or any other abnormality. A strictly aseptic technique is essential to prevent contamination of the organ. He is responsible for removing kidneys in such a way as to ensure the shortest possible warm ischaemia time, the best storage solution, and the best preservation of their anatomical structure. He must be familiar with the outcome of transplants in order to adapt his technique to the results of transplants.

[Double kidney-total pancreas transplantation with bladder reimplantation. 25 cases]. / La double transplantation rein-pancréas total avec implantation vésicale. A propos de 25 observations.

Twenty five double kidney-pancreas transplantations were performed according to the total pancreas transplantation technique with drainage of exocrine secretions into the bladder via a vesicoduodenostomy. 72% of kidney-pancreas grafts were functional at one year and 59% were functional at four years. The authors observed a slightly higher rejection rate (0.56 versus 0.34) and a higher incidence of urinary tract infection (60% versus 35%) following double pancreas and renal transplantation than after isolated renal transplantation. Complications were rare: two venous thromboses and two cases of urethritis requiring of rediversion of the duodenum into the intestine. These good results, comparable to those reported in the international registry, reflect the value of the pancreatic and renal transplantation technique using a total pancreas drained into the bladder. It would probably be preferable to transplant patients earlier, when chronic renal failure secondary to insulin-dependent diabetes induces end-stage renal failure and the need for haemodialysis.

[Neoplastic ureteral obstruction: drainage by percutaneous nephrostomy or double J catheterization]. / Obstruction urétérale néoplasique: drainage par néphrostomie percutanée ou par sonde double J.

OBJECTIVES: Neoplasic obstruction of the ureter is observed in patients with pelvic or extra-pelvic cancer. Indications of upper urinary tract drainage need to be clarified. METHODS: Percutaneous nephrostomy or double J catheter drainage was performed in 104 patients with ureteral obstruction due to pelvic cancer (bladder, prostate, uterus, ovary, rectum) or extra-pelvic cancer (usually breast and digestive cancers). Percutaneous nephrostomy or double J catheter was the first drainage procedure in 85 and 76 patients respectively. RESULTS: Success rate in first intention drainage was 74.5% with the double J catheter. When this procedure was impossible, percutaneous nephrostomy was always performed. In 52 cases we attempted to convert the nephrostomy to double J catheter drainage. Success rate was 68.8%. The main complications observed were ineffective drainage (12.5%) and infection (10.5%). CONCLUSION: These patients have a mean survival of 6.8 months despite the chemotherapy which is facilitated by the improved renal function.

[The social protection of pregnant women and young mothers in Europe]. / La protection sociale de la femme enciente et de la jeune mère en Europe.

Through the study of perinatal legislation in 24 European countries, the authors have analyzed Social Protection for pregnant women and young mothers. For maternity leave, the durations of pre- and post-natal leaves were compared, including its possible variations according to the obstetrical pathology and the number of births in different countries. Maternity benefits vary from 50 to 100% of the previous salary and a payment curve shows considerable differences in salaries or the global benefits attributed. Parental leave, which has only recently been created in some countries, is subject to great variations from one country to another and sometimes even within the same country, according to the public or private sectors of activity. Protection of the single parent and the benefits or allowances at birth are studied as well as benefits for infants. The latter were pioneered by France and have not been emulated in many other countries. In the discussion the authors try to establish the motivations leading to the various perinatal measures in Europe, be they social, medical or demographic. They consider the possibility of harmonization, but homogeneity, which has to respect existing sociological, cultural and ideological particularities. This work continues according to the guidelines laid down by the European Parliament, which could, in due course, comprise the whole continent, bearing in mind the probable transfer of populations expected in the last years of this century.