Safe Surgery: What Else We Need Except Surgery

Superior vena cava syndrome in a patient with previous cardiac surgery: what else should we suspect?

BACKGROUND Although mediastinal tumors compressing or invading the superior vena cava represent the major causes of the superior vena cava syndrome, benign processes may also be involved in the pathogenesis of this medical emergency. One of the rarest benign causes is a pseudoaneurysm developing in patients previously having heart surgery. CASE REPORT We present the case of a large pseudoaneu...

Refractive surgery: what patients need to know.

OBJECTIVE Most procedures to treat refractive error are based on laser surgery, but other techniques are available. We review the relative advantages and the risk associated with the different surgical options. AREAS OF AGREEMENT Laser refractive surgery is now a safe and effective alternative to glasses or contact lenses. AREAS OF CONTROVERSY Because refractive surgery is an area of rapidl...

Retinitis Pigmentosa: WHAT ELSE WE CAN DO?

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) represents a group of progressive hereditary diseases of the retina that lead to incurable blindness and affect two million people worldwide and principally characterized by progressive rod-dominant photoreceptor degeneration in the initial stage and eventual cone photoreceptor degeneration in later stages. RP has been known to be initiated by photoreceptor apoptosis a...

After safe sex, safe surgery?

Robinson et al found no benefit between those who were treated with steroids and those who were not.'" The results of further studies in patients suffering from combined burns and smoke inhalation injury suggest that giving steroids leads to increased mortality and morbidity, mainly because infection occurs more often." 12 Early treatment of smoke inhalation focuses on keeping the upper airways...

Clinical characteristics of elderly patients with heart failure: what else do we need to know?