PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

B R Lawton

Publications and source records attributed to B R Lawton.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Axillo-axillary bypass for subclavian steal syndrome.

Since 1972, 14 patients with subclavian steal and four with primary vascular insufficiency of the arm have been operated on using the axillo-axillary bypass graft. Two grafts have been replaced, one after nine months for threatened erosion, and the other after three years for thrombosis due to disease progression in the donor artery. The new grafts were patent at three and at 2 1/2 years. One graft was occluded at six months and was not replaced. All other patients under observation in 1978 have grafts patent at one month to 6 1/2 years (average 2.2 years). Life table analysis shows the probability of graft patency (20 grafts) is 76% at three years. In the subclavian steal group steal on the left side predominated 2:1. Cerebral symptoms predominated with arm symptoms less often seen, although six patients had both. Associated vascular disease and hypertension were common. There was no mortality and few complications. Axillo-axillary bypass grafting is considered the operation of choice for patients with subclavian steal syndrome.

Aged

The coin lesion story: update 1976. Twenty years' experience with thoracotomy for 179 suspected malignant coin lesions.

We reviewed 179 patients who had undergone thoracotomy and resection of a suspected malignant coin lesion of the lung over the past 20 years to see if a policy of early thoracotomy was therapeutically valid. The average diameter of all lesions was 1.6 cm; the average diameter of 27 malignant lesions (15 percent) was 1.8 cm. Follow-up of the 27 patients with malignant neoplasms was 100 percent. The present survival rate of the 19 patients with primary lung cancer is 89 percent (17/19). Of 12 cases of primary lung cancer followed for five years, ten (83 percent) survived. The five-year survival of the eight patients with metastatic lesions was 25 percent (2/8). There were no postoperative deaths and few serious postoperative complications (four patients or 2 percent). Very small primary lung cancers detected and treated early do have the same poor prognosis as larger primary cancers.

Adenocarcinoma

Pulmonary mycotoxicosis.

Mycotoxicosis is a term used to define a toxic reaction due to the ingestion of toxins produced by fungi. Oral ingestion, however, may not be the sole means of exposure. We have recently observed ten patients who had inhaled massive amounts of fungi, which resulted in an apparent toxic pulmonary reaction. Immunologic studies showed no sensitivity to various fungal antigen preparations and histologic study of the lung showed a multi-focal acute process, with primary involvement of the terminal bronchioles containing large numbers of various spores. Cultures from lung biopsy material revealed at least five fungal organisms. A one to ten year followup indicates that avoidance of massive reexposure to fungal dust is the key to the prevention of recurrent pulmonary mycotoxicosis.

Adolescent