OBJECTIVES The extraordinarily high rate of penetrating heart injuries in South Africa provides a substantial denominator from which we derive a subset of patients with intracardiac lesions as a result of these injuries. The surgical literature, which consists largely of case reports and case series, describing various patterns of injury is dated and a review of management in the era of modern ...

objectives: the aim of this retrospective observational study was to identify local and clinical factors related to the need of surgical repair. patients and methods: in this retrospective study, 122 (0.06%) fpas treated among 21060 patients over a period of five years were assessed. patient characteristics and therapeutic procedures were analyzed through hospital records. results: there were 1...

PURPOSE Traumatic esophageal perforations are infrequent. They represent a surgical dilemma for surgeons, especially if diagnosis is made late. Recently, it has been reported that mortality due to perforation of the esophagus has diminished independently of time of presentation. The experience with traumatic perforations of the esophagus is reviewed to determine morbidity-mortality and how it i...

BACKGROUND The risk factors of paraplegia and paraparesis (P/P) after surgical repair of descending thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) are controversial. PATIENTS AND METHODS Seventy five patients underwent surgical repair of descending TAA from 2001 through 2002. The mean age was 64.2+/-5.2 years old (range; 26-81) and 58 patients (77.3%) are male. There were 47 patients (62.7%) with nondissecti...

Malperfusion is a common lethal complication of acute aortic dissection following rupture, for which the optimal management strategy has yet to be clearly established. The objective of this study was to reassess the management of acute type A aortic dissection (Type A-AAD) with malperfusion. We retrospectively analyzed the outcomes of all patients with Type A-AAD with malperfusion at the Univer...

A 58 year old man underwent 6 surgical interventions for various complications of massive biventricular myocardial infarction over a period of 2 years following acute occlusion of a possibly "hyperdominant" left anterior descending coronary artery. These included concomitant repair of apicoanterior post-infarction VSD and right ventricular free wall rupture, repeat repair of recurrent VSD follo...

Neurofibromatosis type I (NF-1) is a rare autosomal dominant genetic disorder occurring in 1 in 3,000 individuals. Vasculopathy is a rarely reported finding in patients with NF-1. Here, we report a case of recurrent aortic pseudoaneurysm after endovascular aneurysm repair in a 49-year-old male patient with NF-1. On the sixth postoperative day following a successful open surgical repair of an ao...

BACKGROUND Rotator cuff tears are a very common condition that is often incapacitating. Whether non-surgical or surgical, successful management of rotator cuff disease is dependent on appropriate rehabilitation. If conservative management is insufficient, surgical repair is often indicated. Postsurgical outcomes for patients having had rotator cuff repair can be quite good. A successful outcome...

Acute posterolateral corner injuries of the knee are rare and, when present, are frequently associated with concurrent ligament injury, neurovascular damage, or fractures of the femur or tibia. Early surgical treatment has been shown to be superior to delayed and nonoperative treatment of multiligamentous knee injuries. Historically, repair has been advocated. High-quality studies comparing rep...