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Postoperative deep vein thrombosis is considered to be rare in Chinese. The 125I-labelled fibrinogen test was used to determine the true incidence of postoperative deep vein thrombosis in Chinese. Deep vein thrombosis was found in 2.6 per cent, a very low incidence compared with Caucasian series.

This is the first report of an unusual fatal complication associated with the Starr-Edwards prosthetic aortic valve holder. The patient died 51 days after replacement of his aortic valve with a Starr-Edwards prosthetic aortic valve. The cause of death was coronary arterial embolus caused by a fragment broken off of the prosthetic aortic valve holder.

A total of 2394 patients with a foreign body in the oesophagus was treated in our unit between 1965 and 1976, including 343 children in whom fish bones (146) and coins (134) were most commonly responsible; in adults, bones (fish and chicken) were commonest. Most of the foreign bodies were impacted in the cervical oesophagus. Pharyngoscopy and oesophagoscopy were carried out under general anaesthesia in all cases except those in which the foreign body was ejected spontaneously or when the patient refused the examination. Oesophageal perforation due to a foreign body was encountered in only one child. Two patients in the series developed the fearsome complication of oesophagoaortic fistula.