Search

350 children treated for cleft palate at the children's Hospital of Cape Town, have been followed by periodic examination at the Audiological Unit of the Groote Schuur Hospital over a period of 7 years. The incidence of middle ear disease has been found to be over 60%. Its frequency and severity has been assessed and the progress of the hearing loss in individual cases during childhood years has been followed in many instances. The causation is discussed and methods of management described. The incidence is correlated with the type of operation performed for cleft repair and with the age at which it was done.

Two direct branches of the brachiocephalic artery are frequently present in the dog. These are described in 33 dogs and their incidence recorded. One supplies the lower cervical trachea and esophagus and the other the thymus gland and sometimes the pericardium. Suggested names are “Tracheoesophageal” and “Thymopericardial” branches of the brachiocephalic. The embryology of the blood vessels of the esophagus is discussed and the identification of the tracheoesophageal with a secondary anastomotic vessel is considered most likely. Occasional branches from the brachiocephalic artery in man are reviewed. The Arteria Thyroidea Ima seems to bear the closest relationship to this vessel described in the dog. The value of this study in relation to heart-lung preparations and to experimental surgery of the esophagus is suggested.

Experiences with 147 laryngectomies, 49 with en bloc neck dissection, are presented. One patient died, and 36 suffered postoperative complications serious enough to delay rehabilitation and to prolong hospitalisation.