An abdominal cocoon is a rare condition in which the small bowel is encased in a membrane. The diagnosis is usually established at surgery. Here we describe the sonographic features of this condition. (+info)
A 48-year-old man presented with idiopathic spinal cord herniation associated with calcified thoracic disc extrusion at the T7-8 intervertebral level, manifesting as Brown-Sequard syndrome at the thoracic level persisting for 20 years. Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography myelography revealed ventral displacement of the spinal cord and extrusion of a calcified disc at the T7-8 intervertebral level. At surgery, the spinal cord herniation at this level was released from the dura mater and carefully returned to the dural sac. An extruded calcified thoracic disc was found just below the dural defect at the same level. The development of idiopathic spinal cord herniation is associated closely with a defect in the ventral dura mater of unknown etiology. In our case, the etiology of the ventral dural defect was probably associated with the calcified thoracic disc extrusion. (+info)
A case-control study of the etiology of Ewing's sarcoma.
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An interview case-control study was undertaken to search for risk factors for Ewing's sarcoma. The 208 cases, aged 5 months to 22 years at diagnosis and all white but one, were identified from hospitals participating in the Intergroup Ewing's Sarcoma Study therapeutic trials. Two controls were sought for each case: a sibling control and an age-matched regional population control identified through random-digit dialing telephone procedures. A questionnaire was administered to the parents of cases and controls. Parents were more likely to have smoked during the pregnancy with the case than during the pregnancy with the unaffected sibling. Risks rose with the number of cigarettes the mother smoked per day during the pregnancy. Concepti exposed to less than 1 pack/day were at 3.2 times the risk, and those exposed to 1 pack or more were at 6.7 times the risk of the nonexposed. However, risks associated with smoking were lower and not statistically significant in analyses using the region-matched controls. Hernias, mostly umbilical and inguinal, were diagnosed six times more frequently among the cases compared to region-matched controls. However, hernias occurred in just 10% of cases, and the matched siblings had hernias diagnosed with the same frequency as the cases. An apparent excess of heart disorders among cases versus siblings seems likely to be an artifact of increased medical surveillance of cases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) (+info)
Uterovaginal agenesis.
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Experience in the diagnosis and treatment of certain developmental anomalies of the reproductive tract is described, with particular reference to uterovaginal agenesis and the operation of vulvavaginaplasty. (+info)
Peritoneal bypass in the treatment of hydrocephalus: historical review and abdominal complications.
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The development of intraperitoneal shunting systems is presented chronologically and a review is made of the wide variety of intraperitoneal complications which have occured to date. (+info)
Gynecological aspects of obstetrical delivery.
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Parturition should be looked upon as a physiological exercise, and ideally the multiparous state should be one of asymptomatic change associated with comfortable function. However, because obstetrics is a field in which serious complications may suddenly occur, the ideal is not always possible. Among the delayed effects of delivery is a group of gynecological complications which may affect the well-being of the woman so involved in later life. Such complications as uterine prolapse, cystocele, rectocele, enterocele, and genital fistula may be the grim aftermath of poor obstetric practice.The article reviews some of the advances in the prevention of maternal mortality and morbidity and emphasizes the important place of intelligent conservative obstetrics in the hands of both general physicians and specialists. (+info)
An analysis of surgical cases in a Nigerian mission hospital.
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Approximately 315 major surgical cases were treated in one year in a one-doctor 80-bed mission hospital in Nigeria. The hospital serves a population of 137,000. One hundred and forty-three of the cases were herniorrhaphies: 19 of these cases were strangulated, of which seven required bowel resection. A case of a strangulated inguinal hernia containing uterus, Fallopian tubes and ovaries is reported. Other interesting surgical cases are also discussed. (+info)
A new concept of the aetiology and surgical repair of paraumbilical and epigastric hernias.
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The aetiological factors concerned in the production of paraumbilical and epigastric hernias have been reviewed along structural--functional lines. A positive relation between the aponeurotic pattern and herniation was demonstrable at operation in 25 patients with paraumbilical or epigastric hernias. The effect of abdominal distension, obesity, and straining are discussed. A new type of surgical repair planned on this basis is described. The preliminary results obtained with this technique are reported, with a discussion of other previously described types of surgery. (+info)