Sir,—Dr Pandit and his colleagues suggest that patients develop a mixed respiratory and metabolic acidosis following a thoracotomy {Brit. J. Anaesth. (1973), 45, 79). However, the results they present do not necessarily support this conclusion. The investigation would have been more convincing if measurements had been made at each stage in all the patients. Incidentally, there are some discrepa...

Pneumothorax by definition is the accumulation of free air or gas in the pleural space. Air may enter the pleural space from any of three sources: the lung itself via a pleuropulmonary leak; the atmosphere via a pleurocutaneous, pleuroesophageal or pleurobronchial communication; or due to the presence of gas-forming organisms in the pleural space. Pneumothorax is classified according to its eti...

The International Registry of Lung Metastases* Writing Committee: Ugo Pastorino, MD Marc Buyse, ScD Godehard Friedel, MD Robert J. Ginsberg, MD Philippe Girard, MD Peter Goldstraw, MD Michael Johnston, MD Patricia McCormack, MD Harvey Pass, MD Joe B. Putnam, Jr., MD Objectives: The International Registry of Lung Metastases was established in 1991 to assess the long-term results of pulmonary lne...

1General Thoracic Surgery, Hoshigaoka Medical Center, Osaka 873-8511, Japan. 2First Department of Surgery, Hamamatsu Medical University School of Medicine, Shizuoka 431-3192, Japan. 3Department of Respiratory Surgery Saitama Cardiovascular and Respiratory Center, Saitama 360-0105, Japan. 4Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Nara Medical University, Nara 634-8522, Japan. 5Departme...

Division of General Thoracic Surgery, Michael E. DeBakey Department of General Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA Correspondence to: David J. Sugarbaker, MD. Professor and Chief, Division of General Thoracic Surgery, Michael E. DeBakey Department of General Surgery, Director, Lung Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, Olga Keith Wiess Chair in Surgery, Baylor College of Medi...

Thoracic-surgery-related unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP) may cause severe morbidity and can cause profound functional impairment and psychosocial stress in patients with pre-existing thoracic diseases. In-office intracordal hyaluronate (HA) injections have recently been applied to improve voice and quality of life in patients with vocal incompetence, but their effect on thoracic-surgery-...

BACKGROUND Chronic thoracic pain after cardiac surgery is a serious condition affecting many patients. The aim of this study was to identify predictors for chronic thoracic pain after sternotomy in cardiac surgery patients by analysing patient and perioperative characteristics. METHODS A follow-up study was performed in 120 patients who participated in a clinical trial on pain levels in the e...