Background: Varicose veins of the lower extremities affect about 60% of the adult population in America. In Nigeria varicose veins are highly under reported, despite the fact that the disease is not uncommon. A study of varicose veins of the lower extremities, in our institution is therefore justified.

Background: The heart with its intrinsic and indispensable function is a vital organ in the human body. Surgical management of diseases affecting it was initially thought to be incompatible with life. Surgeons who desired the respect of their colleagues were barred from operating on the heart, on the ground that human knowledge is very limited in that area. This notion was however changed in 1893 when laceration in the left ventricle was successfully repaired at Chicago Provident Hospital in USA. Three years later, the same feat was successfully reproduced several times in Frankfurt Germany. Also by 1938 in Boston Children Hospital, Massachusetts, USA, Robert Gross successfully interrupted a PDA in a 7-yearold child. This was followed by successful repair of coarctation of the aorta and the famous blue baby operation, all in 1944, thus unequivocally, proving that successful operation on the heart was tenable in the western world. On the contrary, in the early 1940s and 1950s, cardiac diseases requiring surgery for whole or part of their management were thought to be rare in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. The establishment of cardiac registry at UCH, Ibadan in western Nigeria, in 1964 revealed all types of cardiac diseases including those requiring surgical intervention. Today, many cardiac diseases are treated by surgery in NCTCE, UNTH, Enugu and other centers in Nigeria. The western world is abandoning the perfected conventional open access cardiac surgery for minimal invasive cardiac surgery with comparable results vis-à-vis efficacy.

Truncus arteriosus, also known as common arterial trunk is an unusual embryologic anomaly. It is characterized by incomplete conotuncal septation resulting in a common aortopulmonary trunk and ventricular septal defect. The first surgical repair was performed in 1962 when Behdtrendt et al. closed the VSD and used a valveless conduit to establish right ventricle-pulmonary artery continuity. Complete repair of this anomaly with a valved conduit was first reported in 1967 by McGoon et al. and remains the procedure of choice for these patients. National Cardiothoracic Center of Excellence was established in 1984. Since then it had carried out significant surgical management of simple CHD. Recently, with the aid of foreign medical missions, it was able to carry out a successful repair of truncus arteriosus type 1, the first of its kind in Nigeria.