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Biomedical subjects

H C Grillo

Publications and source records attributed to H C Grillo.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

Repair of inflammatory tracheoesophageal fistula.

Benign acquired tracheoesophageal fistula is uncommon. Erosin of the membranous wall of the trachea and the anterior esophageal wall by the high-pressure cuff on a tracheostomy tube, often against the anvil of a nasogastric tube, may produce such fistulas. Techniques for closure have included patching the tracheal defect with muscle and, often, multiple staged procedures, planned or unplanned. Since any cuff lesion severe enough to cause a fistula necessarily damages the trachea circumferentially at the same level, definitive correction must include circumferential tracheal resection as well as closure of the fitstula. Five patients with tracheoesophageal fistula due to cuff perforation had repair by such a single-stage procedure. Through an anterior approach the involved trachea was resected, primary anastomosis was done, and the esophagus was closed in layers. In 3 of these 5 patients muscle was interposed for added security. One patient had undergone a prior attempt at repair elsewhere. One required a second resection of trachea for subsequent stomal stenosis. Repair in 2 additional patients with fistulas of complex origin related to direct trauma, sepsis, and foreign body involved adaptation of the basic technique to the special problem; 1 of these procedures was necessarily staged. Results in all 7 patients have been good.

Adult↗

Esophageal repair following late diagnosis of intrathoracic perforation.

Multiple techniques, often complex, have been used to repair the esophagus following spontaneous, instrumental, or postsurgical perforation, especially when the diagnosis of perforation has been delayed. We have closed such perforations by wrapping a pedicled pleural flap around the esophagus, suturing it firmly over the area of leakage and around its margins. Due to inflammatory changes secondary to perforation, the flap is thickened and easily applied. Four patients were treated with this technique with success in every case. One patient with achalasia had sustained perforation three days prior to repair, another 30 hours following leakage at an esophageal suture line, the third 20 hours following esophagoscopic extraction of a necrosing foreign body, and the fourth 8 hours following hydrostatic bougienage for achalasia.

Adult↗