Percy Pease’s research while affiliated with Starship Children's Hospital and other places

The acute scrotum in the paediatric population is a clinical dilemma where a definitive diagnosis can only truly be made at surgical exploration. We postulate that surgical exploration in all cases allows truly accurate diagnoses, treats the torted appendage testes and enables the validity of clinical signs associated with scrotal pathology to be assessed. We retrospectively reviewed all boys less than 15 years old who presented to our institution with scrotal pain over a 2 year period. A total of 121 patients attended of whom 113 had exploratory surgery, 31 (27%) had testicular torsion, 64 (57%) had a torted appendage testis, 12 (11%) had epididymitis, 1 (1%) had fat necrosis and 5 (4%) had no abnormality detected. On exploration 9 (29%) of the torted testis were unsalvageable and thus required excision. The initial clinical impression was frequently demonstrated to be flawed. Two patients with testicular torsion presented with a painless swelling and two further patients had necrotic testes despite a history of pain for less than 4 h. A normal cremasteric reflex and a visible blue dot were detected in boys with testicular torsion. Doppler ultrasound scans were not reliable with 50% sensitivity to clearly differentiate between torsion of the testis and that of the appendage testis. Absolute dependence on clinical features can lead to a misdiagnosis of testicular torsion. The surgical treatment of torted appendage testis is safe, allowing accurate diagnosis and pain relief with minimal morbidity. Early scrotal exploration of all cases with testicular pain ensures maximal testicular salvage.

Surgery has previously been the mainstay of treatment for lymphatic malformations but has attendant problems of marked scarring, high chance of recurrence and potential nerve damage. Alternative management for these lesions involves the intralesional injection of OK-432. The present paper reviews OK-432 use in lymphatic malformations in children. A retrospective chart review was carried out of children undergoing intralesional OK-432 therapy from the Departments of Paediatric Surgery, Paediatric Otolaryngology and Plastic Surgery at Starship Children's Hospital, Auckland. Over the past 4 years, seven children under the age of 5 years underwent OK-432 therapy as day-case procedures requiring between one and seven procedures each. Four children had lesions involving the axilla/chest wall, two involved extra-mylohyoid tissues in the neck and one child had lymphatic malformation involving tongue, floor of mouth and an extra-mylohyoid component. Spontaneous haemorrhage into a cystic space may be the cause of the observed partial resolution of the lymphangiomas in two. A predictor of a successful outcome was the ability to aspirate fluid prior to injection. Ultrasound guidance was useful to localize the lesions for aspiration and injection. Macrocystic lesions respond well to OK-432 therapy but the response of microcystic or cavernous lesions to OK-432 is disappointing and surgery remains the definitive treatment for these microcystic lesions. OK-432 appears to be a safe and effective treatment for the macrocystic component of lymphatic malformations.