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To evaluate the effect on liver function of therapy with massive doses of synthetic female sex hormones a study was performed on the alterations in levels of serum zinc turbidity test, bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase and glutamic pyruvic transaminase following antiandrogenic treatment with castration and synthetic female sex hormones in patients with prostatic carcinoma. Results included: 1) Irrespective or response to treatment the zinc turbidity test level tended to increase. 2) After 1 week of treatment some increase was observed in the alkaline phosphatase level and was more pronounced in poor response cases than in the fair ones. However, in general, no definite fluctuation was observed. 3) The bilirubin level tended to decrease in general but in poor response cases an early increase was observed. 4) The glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase level was significantly increased in the early phase and more pronounced in poor response cases than in the fair ones. 5) An increased glutamic pyruvic transaminase level was observed after 2 weeks of treatment but was not significant to the pre-treatment level and later returned to the neighborhood of the pre-treatment level. After 1 week of female sex hormone therapy many indices studied showed abnormality. However, except for a steady increase in the zinc turbidity test level no serious damage on liver functions evaluated was encountered during a year of massive dose therapy with female sex hormones.

As the computerization of patient care becomes more widespread, hospitals are likely to experience increasing liability for computer-related patient injuries. With physicians' exclusive responsibility for the quality of care giving way to one that, for inpatients, is shared with the hospital, this increased computerization complicates the determination of liability for patient injuries. However, potential liability can be minimized if hospitals control the use of new computerized equipment, such as through the privileging process, manager equipment wisely, and train personnel in its proper use.

Three cases of iatrogenic compartment syndrome of the upper extremity are reported. Each was the result of the use of hypertonic saline solution in the administration of intravenous regional anesthesia. Two patients were left with residual problems after resolution of the compartment syndrome despite early surgical intervention in one of these cases. This mechanism may explain other previously reported occurrences of severe swelling in an extremity after intravenous regional anesthesia.

Increasing experience with the diagnosis of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) tears has led to expanded recognition and understanding of this clinical entity. The authors report 18 RPE tears followed for an average of 28 months; 16 were associated with age-related macular degeneration and 2 with presumed ocular histoplasmosis syndrome. Retinal pigment epithelial dehiscences fell into four categories: nine spontaneous tears associated with choroidal neovascularization, one tear associated with an RPE detachment without choroidal neovascularization, four iatrogenic tears occurring at krypton treatment of choroidal neovascularization, and four iatrogenic tears developing weeks to months after laser treatment of choroidal neovascularization. Eight patients had a final visual acuity of 20/100 or better, four were 20/200, and six were 20/400 or worse. Photocoagulation, particularly with the use of krypton red laser, may be modified on the basis of possible RPE tear formation. Heightened awareness of the possibility of inducing pigment epithelial rips should improve diagnosis and management of these cases.

Two iatragenic complications, granuloma formation in the fat pad, and fat pad herniation through the extensor fascia, occurred in a 20-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man. Granuloma formation may be induced by deposits of talc in the fat pad. Fat pad excisional surgery and repair of the hernia are generally effective.

Modern medicine with its manifold therapeutic possibilites brings many side effects which might result in tissue damage. 8 cases of iatrogenic tissue damage seen over a period of 5 years are presented and discussed. Measures for correction and reconstruction are proposed.

In the current legal climate, the recognition of cerebral palsy or other major brain dysfunction in a child is likely to lead to a malpractice action against the obstetrician who delivered the child. Perinatal asphyxia is usually considered the most likely cause of the brain damage, and the obstetrician is presumed by the lawyer either to have failed to recognize the fetal asphyxia or to have ignored it. In this essay, the illogic in this reasoning is discussed. While fetal asphyxia clearly can cause fetal brain damage, the infrequency of this relationship is stressed. The dilemma faced by the obstetrician as a result of modern perinatal care is discussed.

A case of a ventilation-perfusion mismatch seen post-operatively in a patient with chest pain is reported. There was absence of perfusion to the right lung, with relatively normal ventilation. The study was initially interpreted as indicating a high probability of pulmonary embolus. It was then discovered that the injection had been inadvertently made into a Swan-Ganz catheter, with its tip in the left main pulmonary artery. The mismatch was therefore iatrogenic and not related to pulmonary embolus. The false-positive lung imaging which resulted has not been previously reported in the literature.

A study of the thyroid and hypothalamo-pituitary functions was undertaken in 14 children having been irradiated for tumors of the neck and head. The following anomalies were found: S.T.H. deficiency: 8 cases, A.C.T.H. deficiency: 2 cases, T.S.H. deficiency: 4 cases, primary thyroid insufficiency: 4 cases. Growth was severely impaired since the height of 10 out of 14 patients was less than or equal to 2 S.D. These results emphasize the frequency of endocrine lesions related to radiotherapy, as the lesions were essentially extracranial. They also show a repercussion on growth, which worsen the long-term prognosis of these diseases.

Attempted puncture of the internal jugular vein in a 53 year old patient was followed by a reversible hemisyndrome. Therapy and course are described. Neurological complications caused by puncture of the jugular internal vein and measures for prevention are discussed.

A retrospective study of 140 babies who survived the first week of life and who had endotracheal intubation showed that 65 of them had either or both of the following complications of endotracheal tube therapy: (a) Collapse of one or more lobes with the tube in place or within the first two days following extubation and lasting less than 24 hours. When collapse lasted more than 48 hours, it often required repeated intubation for tracheal cleansing. The right lung, especially its upper lobe, was predominantly affected. (b) Tracheal lesions and nasal necrosis. A statistical comparison with intubated babies of similar age without complications showed the following factors to predispose to lobar collapse: younger gestational age, maximal high oxygen concentration administered, and prolonged duration of intubation. The results of endotracheal tube cultures bore no relation to the complication rate.

In 58 patients among 166 cases of esophageal trauma who developed an intrathoracic complication, the cases are studied of 26 esophageal instrumental perforations, 10 vomiting or effort ruptures, 14 ingestions of foreign bodies (observed in a surgical unit), 5 corrosions by acids or alkalis and 3 esophageal injuries after closed chest trauma. Some complications occurred or were recognized after a delay of 1 to 16 days. In 22 cases treated after the second day, 9 patients survived and in 18 cases treated after 4 days, 6 patients nevertheless survived. The outcome is difficult to assess initially but hope must be entertained even in the most severe cases. The discussion focuses on symptoms and signs, modes of clinical presentation and the different types of fistulas (4 intramural, 31 esophago-mediastinal, 15 esophago-pleural, 5 esophago-tracheal, 1 esophago-aortic, 1 esophago-pericardial). Treatment varies with the delay in diagnosis and is often complex. In cases requiring reoperation the mortality is very high.

After 101 transurethral resections, iatrogenic postoperative urethral strictures have occurred in 10 cases due to pathologic changes in the bladder and bladder neck. Urethral stricture after transurethral resection (TUR) thus has represented the most common postoperative complication. No morbidity increase of urethral strictures after TUR could be demonstrated in one of the analysed groups. Fifty per cent of the incidence rate of strictures was localized in the pars pendulans urethrae. Factors causing the stricture have been demonstrated, and the incidence rate of strictures was reduced when these factors were taken into consideration. Preference is given either to conservative or surgical therapy depending on the localization of the stricture, even though endoscopic methods are used more frequently now in the treatment of stenoses of the urethra.