A woman with 'year rings' on her nails

A 50-year-old woman developed Mees' lines on her nails after chemotherapy for infiltrating lobulair carcinoma of the breast.     

Health-related quality of life in patients treated for incisional hernia with an onlay technique

Background  

An incisional hernia is a frequent complication of abdominal surgery. The repair of incisional hernias comes with a high risk of reherniation and serious complications. With the introduction of mesh repair, recurrence rates have decreased and subsequent clinical outcomes have improved. Whereas further research needs to be done to improve complication rates and recurrence, the focus has now been placed on quality-of-life outcomes in patients undergoing these repairs. The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term health-related quality of life (HRQL) of patients who were treated for incisional hernias using an onlay technique.     

Impingement syndrome of the shoulder in patients younger than 40 years, treated with partial acromion resection

A retrospective analysis is reported of the results of partial acromioplasty of 22 shoulders in 19 patients with impingement problems. The population is younger than 40 years (mean 31). Four patients did not improve (18%). One (5%) showed a poor result and 14 patients (17 shoulders) (77%) had good or excellent results. The mean follow-up period was almost 3 years.     

Feasibility of a Predeposit Autologous Blood Donation Program in Colorectal Cancer Patients: Results from a Randomized Clinical Study

The hematologic and transfusion data of a multicenter randomized trial investigating the effect of blood transfusions on the 5-year survival were used to study the feasibility of an autologous blood donation program in colorectal cancer patients. Three hundred and ten patients were randomized for autologous blood transfusions (predeposition of 2 units) or homologous blood transfusions, and transfusion rules were standardized. The Hb level in the patients who donated blood decreased by 20.1 +/- 1.3 g/l (mean +/- SEM) preoperatively and 4.5 +/- 1.8 g/l postoperatively, and in controls 3.7 +/- 1.1 g/l and 16.5 +/- 1.9 g/l (significantly different between the two groups, both pre- and postoperatively: p less than 0.01). Because blood loss and number of transfusions were similar in both groups, this indicated that either preoperative or postoperative erythropoiesis is stronger in patients who had donated blood. Twenty-three percent of the autologous patients and 61% of the homologous patients were exposed to homologous blood. The effectiveness of the procedure differed per tumor localization. In patients with a right-sided colon carcinoma, 22% of the control patients needed homologous blood, compared to 10% of the autologous patients. In patients with other colon carcinomas, this was 52 and 16%, respectively, and in patients with a rectal carcinoma 85 and 41%. We conclude that predeposition of 2 units of blood for colorectal cancer surgery is feasible and useful to prevent homologous blood usage in a significant number of patients with left colon carcinoma or rectal carcinoma.     

Adenocarcinoma of the gastric cardia. Recurrence and survival after resection.

Between January 1, 1983, and December 31, 1988, operations were performed on 112 patients with adenocarcinoma of the gastric cardia. Resection of the primary tumor was performed in 93 patients. For these 93 patients, follow-up until July 1, 1989, averaged 24 months, during which time 59 patients died. Positive resection margins carried a greater risk for the development of a local recurrence but did not correlate with survival. The cumulative overall 5-year actuarial recurrence rate was 69%. The cumulative 5-year recurrence rate for metastases was 64% and for locoregional recurrence it was 36%. The overall 5-year survival rate was 24%. Differences in survival were observed between patients with carcinomas of the various subgroups of the 1987 TNM classification system (T1-T2 versus T3-T4, N0 versus N1-N2, M0 versus M1, Stages I-II versus Stages III-IV, Grades 1-2 versus Grades 3-4). In particular, lymph node status as correlated with histopathologic grade showed remarkable differences in survival: patients with no positive lymph nodes in the resection specimen and a Grade 1 or 2 tumor had a significantly better 5-year survival rate (53%) than the other subgroups (N0/Grades 3-4: 21%; N1-N2/Grades 1-2: 12%; N1-N2/Grades 3-4: 14%).