A Nightmare Seminar

A surgeon's nightmare: Complications.

OBJECTIVE Our study aimed to determine the physically and psychologically most difficult complication resulting in chronic discomfort and occurring sensationally in the postoperative period of operations performed frequently in the daily surgical routine. MATERIAL AND METHODS We performed a survey among surgeons who participated in the 19(th) National Surgery Congress. The questions were rela...

A father's worst nightmare.

Spina bifida--a vanishing nightmare?

Detailed analysis is presented on the dramatic decline in spina bifida births and other congenital central nervous system defects in the past 12 years, in both Sheffield and the rest of Great Britain. In Sheffield, there was an average of 20 spina bifida births per year up to 1972, but since then there has been a progressive fall to only one in 1984. This decrease may be partly attributable to ...

Pyoderma gangrenosum: A clinician's nightmare

Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is a rare disease and that affecting specifically the sole of the foot, is even rarer. Here, we report the case of a 54-year-old female admitted with a painful ulcer on the sole of the right foot which was initially treated with empirical antibiotics and debridement. The disease was found to spread rapidly after each debridement. The culture reports were negative; rheu...

Prescriber's Nightmare

The precriber's first problem is : On what basis to make the choice? On the basis of the established name of the comapny? On the basis of the retail price of the drug? In the recent past, the drug were required to be prescribed by their pharmacological name, with the prescribing doctor having the option to mention the company's name alongside. For many reasons, this practice did not catch on. O...