The results revealed that complete thymectomy in early infancy reduces the number of circulating T cells and T-cell-mediated immune responses for at least 3 years, suggesting that the thymus should be at least partially preserved during surgery in early infancy to maintain protective immunity.

No abstract

Primary cardiac sarcoma is a rare tumor, found especially in children, particularly in the left side of the heart. This report describes a rare case of primary mitral valve sarcoma in a 7-month-old male infant with hemiparesis and heart murmur who underwent mitral valve replacement because of excessive invasion of the mitral valve by the tumor. The patient remains well, free of recurrence and cerebral metastasis, and without adjuvant therapy 18 months after the operation.

We noted a marked improvement of lymphedema in a patient with recurrence of cancer 3 years after amputatio recti and with post-thrombotic syndrome of the leg, as the result of injection of a suspension of lymphocytes administrated as therapy against advanced cancer. Subsequently lymphocytes-injections were given 39 times to 7 patients with lymphedema of one limb, of various causes. A suspension of lymphocytes was injected repeatedly into the proximal artery of the affected limb. In one patient, lymphocytes were injected 4 times at intervals of 1 or 3 weeks. In most cases, this injection resulted in a marked reduction in the swelling of the affected limb and improvement was seen for several weeks or months. In all cases, there was a marked, continuous softening of the tissue.

A case of congestive heart failure in a neonate resulting from a congenital abdominal arteriovenous fistula is described; an aneurysm of the ductus arteriosus was also found in the patient. Abdominal aortography was performed and demonstrated dilated feeding arteries, including the hypogastric arteries, which communicated with a dilated umbilical vein. Ligation of the feeding arteries and the umbilical vein led to resolution of the heart failure. Transient liver dysfunction occurred, however. Symptoms improved dramatically upon removal of the ligature from the umbilical vein. Although there is one previous report of an arteriovenous fistula involving the umbilical vein, we know of no prior report of a congenital arteriovenous fistula in association with a ductus arteriosus aneurysm.