Search

Pulmonary dirofilariasis in man is becoming a well-recongnized entity. Its pathogenesis and histopathologenical picture have been well characterized but the preoperative diagnosis still remains a challenge. The roentgenographic picture, usually described as a "coin lesion," is nonspecific and easily mistaken for other inflammatory and neoplastic nodules. Forty-seven clinical instances of pulmonary dirofilariais have been reported in the literature, with most of them in the last two decades. Considering the entire clinical picture, a strong suspicion can be based on serological studies, thus improving the possibilities of a correct preoperative diagnosis.

In a prospective randomized trial, 700 patients with a confirmed histological diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the rectum or rectosigmoid were randomized to receive radiotherapy prior to operation (2000 to 2500 rads in two weeks) or surgery alone. Five year observed survival in the 453 patients on whom "curative" resection was possible was 48.5% in the X-ray treated group compared with 38.8% in controls, while in the 305 having low lying lesions requiring abdominoperineal resection, survival in the treated group was 46.9% compared with 34.3% in controls. Although suggestive of a treatment benefit, neither is considered statistically significant. Histologically positive lymph nodes were found in 41.2% of the control group and in only 27.8% of the patients receiving radiotherapy. Reveiw of all patients who died during the study shows a consistently lower death rate from cancer in the radiotherapy group. Although this study suggests a treatment benefit from preoperative radiotherapy, further studies now in progress by this group and others are necessary to determine the optimal dose regimen.

Infection of an intravenous pacemaker electrode developed in a 78-year-old man after multiple replacements and revisions of the pulse generator and the pacemaker lead. Spread of the infective process to the endocardium was followed by septicemia with Serratia marcescens and Staphyloccus epidermids. Failure of medical treatment and external traction on the pacemaker electrode led to thoracotomy and removal of the pacemaker electrode wires with the use of extracorporeal circulation. The tip of one of the pacemaker electrodes was found imbedded in the wall of the right ventricle and attached to the base of the tricuspid valve. Cultures from the endocardium removed with the electrode rendered the same organisms as cultured preoperatively. There has been no recurrence after 2 years following the removal of the infected electrodes. Although the problem described herein is not frequently found, radical treatment becomes necessary whenever infection and septicemia develop.

In the completed adjuvant chemotherapy lung trials conducted by the Veterans Administration Surgical Group, the cell type was recorded in 2,341 of 2,349 curative resections; extent of lymph node involvement was known in all cases. Nodes were normal in 1,231 patients. Five- and ten-year survival computed by the life-table method was 33.7% and 20.4%, respectively. These rates were significantly greater than the 16.2% and 8.8% recorded in 1,118 patients whose nodes showed metastases. Among patients whose cell type was known, five-year survival in 484 with hilar node involvement was 17.4% and was not significantly different from 20.1% in 364 patients in whom only lobar nodes were involved. The survival was 8.9% in 268 patients with cancer in the mediastinal nodes; this was significantly worse than either of the aforementioned groups. A five-year survival of 26.8% in 1,482 patients with squamous cell carcinoma was greater than the 24.3% in 359 with adenocarcinoma and 22.4% in 500 with undifferentiated cell types, but the differences were not significant. Variations between these groups remained nonsignificant when nodes were normal and were of only borderline significance, at the 5% level, when they showed metastasis. When a curative resection has been accomplished, cell-type as classified in this study has little bearing on long-term survival, whereas the presence of node metastasis as well as its location is of the utmost importance.