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Biomedical subjects

H Kjaergaard

Publications and source records attributed to H Kjaergaard.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Treatment of iatrogenic oesophageal perforation diagnosed with delay.

The number of iatrogenic perforations of the oesophagus has increased during the last decade and the condition still carries a high morbidity and mortality. The mortality increases considerably if treatment is delayed for more than 24 hours. In our department all patients with iatrogenic perforation of the thoracic oesophagus are treated in the same way: antibiotics and gastric decompression followed by thoracotomy with cleavage of the mediastinum and closure of the defect if it can be visualized and if the oesophageal wall is vital. During the last decade we have treated 15 patients in whom treatment was delayed for more than 24 hours. Two of the patients (13%) died during the postoperative course. We find that our strategy is associated with a low mortality.

Adult

Aerococcus-like organism--an unnoticed urinary tract pathogen.

Aerococci are only occasionally isolated from urinary tract specimens. A 4-month' survey revealed 29 patients suspected of urinary tract infection (UTI), from whom an Aerococcus-like organism (ALO) was isolated in significant numbers from urinary tract specimens and singly in 11 cases. Approximately 0.8% of all urinary tract specimens examined during the period yielded growth of ALO. The median age of patients was 75 years. Half of the patients were found to have conditions predisposing to UTI. 9 of 11 patients without indwelling catheter, having ALO isolated in pure culture from the urine, showed one or more typical signs of UTI (fever, dysuria and/or pollakisuria and pyuria). A phenotypic comparison was made between 29 strains of ALO and 6 related organisms, including Aerococcus viridans, Streptococcus faecium, Streptococcus sanguis, Streptococcus bovis, Streptococcus Group Q and Streptococcus Group R. ALO and A. viridans showed many similarities, but, owing to characteristic differences with regard to colony morphology, biochemical reactions and antibiotic susceptibility pattern, the strains were easily separated.

Catheterization