In this retrospective matched pair analysis of 52 patients undergoing emergency coronary artery bypass grafting for acute ischaemia, levosimendan reduced morbidity. The reduced morbidity did not translate into reductions in mortality or length of stay. A larger, prospective randomized trial is warranted to confirm the potentially beneficial effects of levosimendan in patients with acute ischaemia.

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12 plasmaphereses were carried out in 5 patients with antibodies to F VIII (3 haemophilic antibodies; 2 spontaneous antibodies). Plasmapheresis led in all instances to a marked reduction of the antibody level and there was a good correlation between the amount of plasma exchanged and the decrease of the antibody level. About 40 ml of plasma/kg body weight have to be removed to reduce the antibody level to half. In patients with low titre antibody who need treatment for serious bleeding, plasmapheresis is a more rapid and less expensive procedure than neutralisation of the inhibitor by high doses of F VIII. In one haemophiliac repeated plasmaphereses and subsequent high dose F VIII treatment eliminated the antibody within a short time. Plasmapheresis should always be considered when patients with antibodies to F VIII have to be treated because of severe bleeding.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:One of the dilemmas facing clinicians treating patients with thyroid cancer is the evaluation of postthyroidectomy patients with rising serum thyroglobulin levels and indeterminate or normal findings on neck sonography. In this study, we examine the role of MR imaging in this subgroup of patients.