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| August
10, 2000 |
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Neurologic
and Developmental Disability after Extremely Preterm Birth
Neurologic and developmental examinations were performed at a median age
of 30 months in 283 infants born at a gestational age of 25 weeks or less.
These infants represented 92 percent of the surviving children in the United
Kingdom and Ireland who were born at these gestational ages during 10 months
in 1995. The study found that severe disability is common among children
born preterm. |
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Stenting versus Thrombolysis
In patients with acute myocardial infarction, immediate restoration of coronary
blood flow has important clinical benefits. This study compared two reperfusion
strategies: thrombolysis with the tissue plasminogen activator alteplase
and coronary stenting plus platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor blockade
with abciximab. As compared with thrombolytic therapy, stenting plus abciximab
resulted in a greater degree of myocardial salvage and a better clinical
outcome. |
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Sutures
or Mesh for Repair of Incisional Hernia?
Incisional hernias are an important complication of abdominal surgery, and
the optimal method of repair is not known. In this study, patients with
incisional hernias were randomly assigned to undergo hernia repair with
use of either sutures or mesh. The three-year cumulative rates of recurrence
after repair of a primary hernia or a first recurrence were significantly
lower with mesh repair (23 percent rate of recurrence) than with suture
repair (46 percent rate of recurrence). |
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Separation
of Conjoined Twins with the Twin Reversed-Arterial-Perfusion Sequence
Congenital anomalies associated with multifetal pregnancies include conjoined
twinning and absence of the heart (acardia) in one twin fetus, whose blood
supply comes from the other (cardiac) twin. Conjoined twins are usually
separated several weeks or months after birth, whereas an acardiac twin
is usually sacrificed in utero. In this case of a twin pregnancy in which
the twins were conjoined and one had no heart, prenatal magnetic resonance
imaging was used to plan the surgical separation, which was successfully
accomplished immediately after birth. |
