Christo Beyers-Sy Tydgenote en Geskrifte

After a brilliant career at the Old Victoria College, Stellenbosch, where he gained a B.A. in Zoology, Christo Beyers proceeded to St Bartholomew Hospital, London, to study Medicine in 1909. On his return to South Africa, he worked at Pretoria Hospital for a short while before returning to Great Britain to join the South African Field Ambulance and saw action in France. After the war he gained the F.R.C.S. before settling in Johannesburg, first as a general practitioner and later as a surgeon on the staff of the lohannesburg Hospital where he remained until his untimely death in 1933 at the early age of 45 years. During his active career, Beyers published 11 papers and translated 2 books into Afrikaans. His medical colleagues in Johannesburg honoured the memory of this great surgeon by naming the medical branch of the faculty of medicine of the South African Academy of Arts and Science after him.S. Afr. Med. J., 48, 468 (1974

Gastric Outlet Obstruction at Bugando Medical Centre in Northwestern Tanzania: A Prospective Review of 184 Cases.

Gastric outlet obstruction poses diagnostic and therapeutic challenges to general surgeons practicing in resource-limited countries. There is a paucity of published data on this subject in our setting. This study was undertaken to highlight the etiological spectrum and treatment outcome of gastric outlet obstruction in our setting and to identify prognostic factors for morbidity and mortality. This was a descriptive prospective study which was conducted at Bugando Medical Centre between March 2009 and February 2013. All patients with a clinical diagnosis of gastric outlet obstruction were, after informed consent for the study, consecutively enrolled into the study. Statistical data analysis was done using SPSS computer software version 17.0. A total of 184 patients were studied. More than two-third of patients were males. Patients with malignant gastric outlet obstruction were older than those of benign type. This difference was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Gastric cancer was the commonest malignant cause of gastric outlet obstruction where as peptic ulcer disease was the commonest benign cause. In children, the commonest cause of gastric outlet obstruction was congenital pyloric stenosis (13.0%). Non-bilious vomiting (100%) and weight loss (93.5%) were the most frequent symptoms. Eighteen (9.8%) patients were HIV positive with the median CD 4+ count of 282 cells/μl. A total of 168 (91.3%) patients underwent surgery. Of these, gastro-jejunostomy (61.9%) was the most common surgical procedure performed. The complication rate was 32.1 % mainly surgical site infections (38.2%). The median hospital stay and mortality rate were 14 days and 18.5% respectively. The presence of postoperative complication was the main predictor of hospital stay (p = 0.002), whereas the age > 60 years, co-existing medical illness, malignant cause, HIV positivity, low CD 4 count (<200 cells/μl), high ASA class and presence of surgical site infection significantly predicted mortality ( p< 0.001). The follow up of patients was generally poor as more than 60% of patients were lost to follow up. Gastric outlet obstruction in our setting is more prevalent in males and the cause is mostly malignant. The majority of patients present late with poor general condition. Early recognition of the diagnosis, aggressive resuscitation and early institution of surgical management is of paramount importance if morbidity and mortality associated with gastric outlet obstruction are to be avoided