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The perioperative mortality rate in elective aneurysmectomy progressively declined to 2%; despite the fact that the percentage of patients with risk factors has increased. Important is that this perioperative mortality is not related to the age of the patients. In acute situations the perioperative mortality has increased to 30 à 50%. This can be explained by the increasing number of ruptured aneurysms and the influence of increasing age at the time of surgery. These results support the concept of elective resection of abdominal aortic aneurysms.

1. The overall operative risk for the palliative procedures for Tetralogy was 3,2% (93 cases). The Blalock-Taussig shunt remains the intervention of choice in older children. The Waterston shunt gives optimal results in the infants under six months of age but on long term the hasard of pulmonary hypertension still exists. 2. Before 1965, the mortality rate for the total repair was 43,7% (16 cases). During the last 8 years, the mortality rate decreased to 5,7% (36 cases). One operative death after total correction with a Potts shunt is not included in this figure. This type of shunt was replaced by the Waterston shunt after 1966, because of the high operative risk total correction and the high frequency of pulmonary hypertension on long term. 3. The long-term results were excellent in 85% of the survivors (mean follow-up of 4,1 years). A pulmonary insufficiency was found on clinical examination in 35% of the cases. This insufficiency was well tolerated by all patients. The long-term consequences, however, are uncertain. 4. It seams rational to proceed to an earlier total correction in these cases when well defined criteria are fullfilled, as the mortality figures of the palliative and corrective procedures have a tendency to reach each other: (3,2 versus 5,7%).

437 patients who underwent surgery for abdominal aortic aneurysm have been studied. Of these, 206 patients (medium age 63 years) had elective surgery, 231 patients (medium age 73 years) had acute surgery. The five-year survival rate was 65% for the elective group and 40% for the acute group, but these percentages are influenced by the perioperative mortality. When the survival curves of the 198 survivors of elective surgery and the 153 survivors of acute surgery were compared with these of a demographically similar population, we noted lower survival probabilities than for the standard population in the elective group, whereas the patients who underwent emergency surgery have similar survival probabilities as the standard population. The influence of age is especially related to the perioperative period and arteriosclerosis is the most determining factor for long time survival.

In the period 1961--1971, 41 patients with a squamous-cell carcinoma were operated upon. The absolute 5-year survival is 47.6% for the lobectomy and 20% for the pneumonectomy. In the period 1971--1976 (6 years), 211 resections for carcinoma (all types) were performed including 19 cases of squamous cell carcinoma, operated in 1971 and also studied in the first part of the work. They represent only 15.2% of all the hospitalized lungcancer patients. The lobectomy/pneumonectomy ratio is 60/40. The postoperative mortality is respectively 4% and 9.5% and the major surgical complications (bleeding, broncho-pleural fistula, empyema) are 0.8% and 3.6%. The causes of postoperative death are examined. Remarkable is the low incidence of bronchial fistulisation: 1 in 211 resections for malignant tumors, i.e. 0.47%. These results are discussed and compared with the literature.