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This study aims to develop the first Latin-American risk model that can be used as a simple, pocket-card graphic score at bedside. The risk model was developed on 2903 patients who underwent cardiac surgery at the Spanish Hospital of Buenos Aires, Argentina, between June 1994 and December 1999. Internal validation was performed on 708 patients between January 2000 and June 2001 at the same center. External validation was performed on 1087 patients between February 2000 and January 2007 at three other centers in Argentina. In the development dataset the area under receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was 0.73 and the Hosmer-Lemeshow (HL) test was P=0.88. In the internal validation ROC curve was 0.77. In the external validation ROC curve was 0.81, but imperfect calibration was detected because the observed in-hospital mortality (3.96%) was significantly lower than the development dataset (8.20%) (P<0.0001). Recalibration was done in 2007, showing excellent level of agreement between the observed and predicted mortality rates on all patients (P=0.92). This is the first risk model for cardiac surgery developed in a population of Latin-America with both internal and external validation. A simple graphic pocket-card score allows an easy bedside application with acceptable statistic precision.

Eleven patients with diagnosis of possible neurocistycercosis were studied in our Department since 1986. All of them were adults. Eight were Bolivian citizens. The commonest neurological clinical manifestation were seizures and/or headache. Brain CT scans showed cystic lesions and calcifications in 5 patients, only calcifications in 3, enlarged ventricles in 2 and an isolated frontal cystic lesion in 1. Six out of 7 patients who were submitted to spinal fluid ELISA test showed positive response for cysticercosis. Patients were put on praziquantel (50 mg/Kg/d) or albendazol (15 mg/Kg/d) with good outcome for all them. Surgery was carried on for treatment of enlarged ventricles (2 patients) and for a like-expansive lesion (1 patient). The aim of this work is to underscore the fact that in Buenos Aires city, which previously was not within the endemic latin american area for cysticercosis, is now possible to find patients with the neurological manifestations of this parasitosis, most probably due to migration of people coming from the north provinces or from countries situated at its border where the disease is endemic.