In Reply.—
Figure 2, left and right, are of the same female patient. As a matter of fact, this was the first patient in whom we established the diagnosis of reperfusion pulmonary edema with all its typical components. The patient was a 60year-old woman. The preoperative chest roentgenogram was taken on Septmiber 1,1987, in the erect position and the postoperative chest film was taken on September 3, 1987, at 6:05 PM in the supine position in the surgical intensive care unit. Luckily enough, I have retained copies of the negatives, both indicating the patient's name.Changes in proportions and position lead to the impression that the postoperative film (Fig 2, right) is of a different, male patient. In fact, the breasts are clearly seen on the negative (mastectomy was not performed as Dr Najarian suggests), but this is not clear enough in the printed version.