These results show that FOB is a useful and safe procedure with a low complication rate in our setting.

SummaryBackgroundPaediatric cardiac services in Nigeria have been perceived to be inadequate but no formal documentation of availability and distribution of facilities and services has been done. Objective: To evaluate and document the currently available paediatric cardiac services in Nigeria.MethodsIn this questionnaire-based, cross-sectional descriptive study, an audit was undertaken from January 2010 to December 2014, of the personnel and infrastructure, with their distributions according to geopolitical zones of Nigeria.ResultsForty-eight centres participated in the study, with 33 paediatric cardiologists and 31 cardiac surgeons. Echocardiography, electrocardiography and pulse oximetry were available in 45 (93.8%) centres while paediatric intensive care units were in 23 (47.9%). Open-heart surgery was performed in six (12.5%) centres. South-West zone had the majority of centres (20; 41.7%).ConclusionsAvailable paediatric cardiac services in Nigeria are grossly inadequate and poorly distributed. Efforts should be intensified to upgrade existing facilities, establish new and functional centres, and train personnel.

Acquired diaphragmatic hernias are usually posttraumatic in occurrence. In patients who have blunt trauma and associated diaphragmatic hernia, the diagnosis may be missed or delayed, often leading to poor treatment outcomes. We present a rare occurrence of tension viscerothorax due to missed traumatic diaphragmatic rupture in a 25-year-old woman whose condition was complicated by gangrene and perforation of the fundus as well as questionable viability of the anterior wall of the body of the stomach. The patient had a successful emergency transabdominal suture plication of the diaphragm and gastroplasty and has remained symptomless 3 months postoperatively.

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Early recognition of psychosocial distress is important to prevent deliberate self-harm. Counter-intuitively, a previous history of psychopathology limits esophageal injury by early presentation and therefore improve chances of a good surgical outcome.

Background: Extremity arterial injuries are an important cause of loss of life/limb after trauma. Early intervention is important for the good outcome. Objectives: The objective of this study is to review the pattern of presentation and study the factors that influences the outcome of extremity arterial injuries in our hospital. Patients and Methods: This is a retrospective study of all patients with injuries to the extremity arteries requiring surgical intervention from July 2007 to June 2015. Data obtained included biodata, ischemic time, arteries involved, surgical intervention, and outcomes and analyzed using SPSS version 22. Setting: Our hospital is the main referral hospital for vascular trauma serving four adjoining states in Nigeria and is linked to major cities by at least 3 Trunk-A federal roads. Subjects: The subjects are patients who were managed in our cardiovascular surgical unit for the study duration (July 2007–June 2015) who had extremity arterial injuries. Results: A total of 36 patients presenting with 40 arterial injuries in 37 limbs were studied. The mean age was 28.4 ± 10.3 years with male preponderance (88.9%). Gunshot injuries were the most common cause of arterial injuries (37.8%), followed by assault (27%). The mean time from injury to presentation for acute injuries was 20.4 h but 23 of the patients (63.8%) presented to the accident and emergency department within 12 h of injury. A limb salvage rate of 64.9% was achieved though ischemic times of ≥12 h were associated with poor outcomes. Conclusion: Prolonged ischemic time is associated with poor outcomes. Efforts should be put in place to reduce the limb ischemic times.

Leg ulceration is a debilitating chronic complication of sickle cell disease (SCD) the pathogenesis of which is yet to be fully elucidated. We hypothesized that SCD patients with histories of previous leg ulcers would have intima hyperplasia of the common femoral artery (CFA). We enrolled 44 SCD patients and 33 age-matched and sex-matched controls with hemoglobin AA. Anthropometric measurements, biochemical parameters, and sonographic intima-media thickness (IMT) of the CFA were determined. The median CFA IMT in SCD limbs with history of leg ulcers (SWLU) was 1.0 mm, whereas it was 0.7 mm in SCD limbs with no history of leg ulcer (SNLU) and 0.60 mm in controls (P < .001). Among the SNLU, 70.3% had CFA IMT <0.9 mm, whereas only 29.7% had CFA IMT ≥0.9 mm. Conversely, only 20.8% of SWLU had CFA IMT <0.9 mm, whereas the remaining 79.2% had CFA IMT ≥0.9 mm. All the controls had CFA IMT <0.9 mm. Binary logistic regression to determine the odds of having leg ulcer among SCD limbs with CFA IMT of ≥0.9 mm yielded an odds ratio of 9, indicating that SCD limbs with CFA IMT ≥0.9 mm had a 9 times greater risk of having leg ulcer compared with those with CFA IMT <0.9 mm. There is a significant increase in the CFA IMT of SCD limbs with ulcer compared with controls and SCD limbs without ulcer, suggesting that arterial vasculopathy plays a major role in the formation of these ulcers.

It is unusual but not uncommon for foreign bodies to be missed at bronchoscopy. This case report highlights the importance of the clinical history in the diagnosis of aspirated foreign bodies and the usefulness of chest imaging modalities. A 6-year-old boy presented with recurrent breathlessness and cough of 2 months. He was said to have aspirated the base cap of a pen at about the time symptoms started. He had two sessions of rigid bronchoscopy and a session of flexible bronchoscopy at three different hospitals. He had an initial rigid bronchoscopy which failed to show the foreign body (FB). A chest computerized tomographic scan demonstrated the FB, which was retrieved at combined flexible/rigid bronchoscopy. Although rigid bronchoscopy is the gold standard for managing airway foreign bodies, there remains a false negative rate for this procedure and where necessary, appropriate imaging may compliment rigid bronchoscopy, especially where there is some confusion.