Background: Encrustation of urinary catheters is a frequent problem in patients with long-term indwelling catheters colonised with urease-positive bacteria such as Proteus mirabilis. Catheter blockage may follow catheter encrustation, potentially leading to systemic infection. Prevention of encrustation is difficult and avoidance of recurrence often unsuccessful. One possible preventative strat...

NOVEMBER 2004 37 W hen applying silicone coatings, it is essential to view the final product, not as a series of separate product processing steps and components, but as an integrated system. The functional performance of the silicone coating is affected not only by the physical properties of the silicone, but also by the application process and the performance characteristics required by the f...

BACKGROUND Characteristic complications have been reported for transconjunctival sutureless vitrectomy, such as postoperative sclerotomy leakage and postoperative hypotony. Particular attention to sclerotomy closure is required in cases of silicone oil tamponade, because postoperative supplementation of silicone oil implies reoperation, whereas postoperative supplement of gas is comparatively e...

BACKGROUND Topical silicone gel sheeting has been used for more than 20 years to help reduce the size of hypertrophic scars and keloids. Its clinical efficacy and safety is well established. OBJECTIVE To determine whether topical silicone gel sheeting can be used to prevent hypertrophic scars and keloids from forming following dermatologic skin surgery. METHODS Patients undergoing skin surg...

Silicone models of cerebral aneurysms are used for evaluation of devices, training, or hemodynamic studies. We report preoperative simulations of endovascular treatment for a case with an unruptured wide-neck aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery using a patient-specific silicone model. Using a rapid prototyping system, we created a silicone model based on the vascular image obtained by...

INTRODUCTION A foreign body reaction due to silicone where it is infiltrated or at the places to which it can migrate is known as siliconoma. The use of silicone in breast augmentation procedures can provoke this reaction at the neck level in cases of leakage from mammary implants. METHODS We reviewed the cases of patients with increased size neck lymph nodes who had previously undergone plas...

BACKGROUND To describe one modified method of having machine-independent removal of 5,000 centistokes silicone oil through 23-gauge trocar-cannulas. METHODS Consecutive patients with silicone oil tamponade for more than four months and with complete retinal reattachment were included. Two 23-gauge trocars were used to make sclerotomies while the microcannulas remained in situ for intravitreou...

PURPOSE To describe vision loss associated with the use or removal of silicone oil retinal tamponade. METHODS Records were reviewed of all patients with a decrease in visual acuity of at least 3 Snellen lines from best acuity with 5000 centistoke silicone oil in place or after removal of silicone oil at a single retina-only practice between 1996 and 2006. RESULTS Nine patients (6 men, 3 wom...

In the aphakic eye, with intact iris diaphragm, silicone oil has frequently caused a pupillary block. In this situation aqueous humour accumulates behind the iris and forces silicone oil through the pupil into the anterior chamber. An iridectomy at the 6 o'clock position can effectively prevent this pupillary block. The iridectomy allows free passage of aqueous to the anterior chamber which rem...

PURPOSE To evaluate the tamponade effect on the retina of a heavier-than-water silicone oil mixture and to compare it with the effect of silicone oil. METHODS Prospective, non-randomised, comparative pilot study. Phakic/pseudophakic patients with retinal detachment undergoing vitrectomy with Densiron 68 or silicone oil were recruited. The 'separation volume', defined as the relative volume of...