RESUMEN
PURPOSE: Cataract surgery in the Aquitaine department in France has been investigated in terms of motivations, technical procedures, and results. METHODS: Observations were made from a retrospective sample of 500 operations performed during the last 3 months of 1999. Information was collected concerning patient motivation, the technical aspects of the operation, inpatient or outpatient management, the major follow-up events and the functional results. RESULTS: The study showed substantially altered visual function in most of the patients before the operation, very few preliminary technical investigations, a phacoemulsification procedure in 97% of the cases, and 95% good or very good results. Outpatient surgery was performed in 33% cases, comparable to the 23% average in France over the same period of time. Two cases of endophthalmia were diagnosed and successfully treated. Secondary cataract appeared in 16 patients during the 6-month follow-up period. CONCLUSION: These results show that practices in Aquitaine comply with current standards. They suggest that all the components necessary to further development of cataract surgery are in place, as long as the surgical supply is able to respond to the increasing demand.
Asunto(s)
Extracción de Catarata , Adulto , Factores de Edad , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Intervalos de Confianza , Femenino , Estudios de Seguimiento , Francia , Humanos , Pacientes Internos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Motivación , Pacientes Ambulatorios , Facoemulsificación , Estudios Retrospectivos , Factores Sexuales , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Factores de Tiempo , Resultado del Tratamiento , Agudeza VisualRESUMEN
Since 1997, mass mortality of the abalone Haliotis tuberculata L. has occurred in the natural environment along the French coast. The outbreak of disease started on the south coast of Brittany near Concarneau in 1997, then spread to the north of Brittany (in 1998) and the west coast of Normandy (Golfe de St. Malo in 1999). Between 60 and 80% of the abalone died. In 1999, mortality also affected a land-based abalone farm in Normandy during the summer. At this farm, a Vibrio sp. was isolated in abundance from abalone that had just died. The disease was experimentally reproduced by inoculation or by introducing the pathogen into the surrounding water. This vibrio, identified by genotypic and phenotypic characters, is related to V carchariae. It is similar to the V carchariae, responsible for mortality in the Japanese abalone Sulculus diversicolor supratexta, but some phenotypic characters differentiate both strains. In 2000, healthy abalone placed in 2 sites on the north and south coasts of Brittany died, and the pathogen V carchariae could be isolated from dead individuals, demonstrating that the pathogen was probably the cause of the abalone disease that has been occurring since 1997 in Brittany.