Perforated colorectal neoplasms: correlation of clinical, contrast enema, and CT examinations

Results of clinical, contrast enema (CE), and computed tomographic (CT) examinations in 39 patients with perforated colorectal neoplasms were retrospectively reviewed. Twenty patients were toxemic at initial presentation, but in only four patients was the diagnosis of perforated colorectal neoplasm initially suspected clinically. CE study was performed in 22 patients and enabled the diagnosis of perforated neoplasm in 11 cases, neoplasm alone in eight, and neither neoplasm nor perforation in three. CT was performed in 38 patients and enabled the diagnosis of perforated neoplasm in 36; pericolic phlegmon but no mass lesion was evident in two. In 16 patients, CT also demonstrated metastatic disease. Because of its reliability in establishing the diagnosis and staging the extent of the inflammatory and neoplastic disease, CT is indicated in cases of suspected or proved perforated colorectal neoplasm and in cases in which CE study findings are indeterminate or suggestive of perforated neoplasm.     

Long-term engraftment of normal and post-5-fluorouracil murine marrow into normal nonmyeloablated mice [see comments]

We report the successful long-term engraftment of normal male donor bone marrow (BM) transfused into noncytoablated female mice, challenging the assumption that "niches" need to be created for marrow to engraft. We have used chromosomal banding and Southern blot analysis to identify transplanted male marrow cells, and shown the long-term stability of the chimeric marrows. Balb/C, BDF1, or CBA-J female hosts (no irradiation) received for 5 consecutive days 40 x 10(6) male cells (per day) of the same strain, and repopulation patterns were observed. Parallel studies were performed using tibia/femur equivalents of normal marrow or marrow from Balb/C mice pretreated 6 days previously with 150 mg/kg 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Chromosome banding techniques showed that 5% to 46% of marrow cells were male 3 to 9 months posttransplant with normal donor marrow. Southern blot analysis, using the pY2 probe, showed continued engraftment at 21 to 25 months posttransplant, ranging from 15% to 42% male engrafted cells in marrow. Normal donor male marrow engrafted significantly better than 5-FU-pretreated male marrow as shown 1 to 12 months posttransplant in non-cytoablated female recipients. Percentages of male engrafted cells in BM ranged from 23% to 78% for recipients of normal donor marrow and from 0.1% to 39% for recipients of 5-FU marrow. Mean engraftment for 6 mice receiving normal marrow was 38%, whereas that for 6 mice receiving post-5-FU marrow was 8%, as assayed 1 to 3 months posttransplant. At 10 to 12 months, mean engraftment for the normal donor group was 46%, compared with 16% for the 5-FU group. The patterns of engraftment with normal and 5-FU marrow were similar for spleen and thymus. These results show that long-term chimerism can be established after transplantation of normal donor marrow to normal nonirradiated host mice and indicate that marrow spaces do not have to be created for successful engraftment. They suggest that transplanted marrow competes equally with host marrow for marrow space. Finally, these data show that post-5-FU Balb/C male marrow is markedly inferior in the repopulation of Balb/C female host marrow, spleen, and thymus, and suggest that this population of cells may not be the ideal population for gene transfer studies.     

Avoidant personality disorder and social phobia: distinct enough to be separate disorders?

OBJECTIVE: Existing evidence from anxiety disorder research indicates that social phobics (SP) with avoidant personality disorder (AVPD) experience more anxiety and show more impairment than patients with SP alone. The purpose of this study was to examine whether in patients diagnosed with AVPD, the co-occurrence of SP adds to its severity. We hypothesized that the addition of SP will not add to the severity of AVPD alone. METHOD: Two groups of patients (AVPD=224; AVPD/SP=101) were compared at baseline and 2 years later on multiple demographic and clinical variables. RESULTS: Patients with AVPD and an additional diagnosis of SP differed little from patients with AVPD alone. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that AVPD and SP may be alternative conceptualizations of the same disorder.     

Left ventricular volumes measured by MR imaging

We assessed the potential of proton magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for accurately measuring left ventricular volumes using 15 latex casts of excised human left ventricles. The casts were submerged in water to stimulate the endocardial left ventricular cavity interface in in vivo imaging conditions. Tomographic image sections perpendicular to the long axis of the cast were obtained, spanning each cast from apex to base. Simpson's rule was used to calculate the cast volumes. Correlation between the actual cast volumes (as measured by the displacement method) and the calculated volumes using MR imaging for the 15 casts was excellent. Our data demonstrate that MR imaging accurately measures cardiac chamber volumes in this in vitro model.     

Adjuvant postoperative radiation therapy in the management of adenocarcinoma of the colon

Between April 1976 and January 1981, 80 patients with completely resected adenocarcinoma of the colon who were at high risk for local tumor recurrence received adjuvant postoperative irradiation to the tumor bed. Doses of 4300 to 6300 cGy were delivered to the tumor bed, with no chronic toxicity in 70 of 80 patients. Only two patients required operative intervention for treatment complications. Treatment protocol, selection criteria, and details of irradiation are discussed. Actuarial local failure rates at 3 years were 6%, 5%, 17%, 43% for Stages B2, B3, C2, and C3, respectively, and actuarial survival rates at 3 years were 84%, 84%, 73%, and 49%, respectively. The survival figures for Stages B3, C2, and C3 appear superior to published historic controls as well as to data from the study institution, and suggest an advantage to the use of adjuvant radiation therapy in patients with moderately advanced colonic carcinomas.     

Femoral lengthening might impair physical function and lead to structural changes in adjacent joints: 10 patients with 27 to 34 years’ follow-up

Background and purpose — Literature describing long-term functional outcome and osteoarthritis (OA) in adjacent joints after femoral lengthening is rare. We evaluated physical function and the presence of radiographic OA in adjacent joints in 10 patients ≥ 27 years after femoral lengthening.Patients and methods — We conducted a cross-sectional study of 10 patients treated by unilateral femoral lengthening. Follow-up was between 27 and 34 years. Physical function was evaluated by the 30-second sit-to-stand (30sSTS) and a stair test and was compared with reference values. 4 single-legged hop tests were used to assess difference in physical function between the lengthened and contralateral limb. Radiographic OA was evaluated by joint space width (JSW) and Kellgren and Lawrence (KL) classification.Results — The patients scored worse compared with reference values on the 30sSTS and stair test, and worse on the lengthened limb on the single- and triple-hop test. Radiographic OA was found in the hip or knee in the lengthened limb in 3 of 10 patients based on JSW and 4 of 10 based on KL. No radiographic OA was found in unlengthened limbs.Interpretation — Our results showed impaired physical function both in general and of the lengthened limb. Additionally, we found a possible association between femoral lengthening and radiographic OA in adjacent joints in the long term. However, the sample size of the current study is small.

Limb lengthening by the callotasis technique is a well-established method for treatment of leg length discrepancy (LLD). However, literature describing the long-term functional outcome and eventual late side effects such as osteoarthritis (OA) in adjacent joints is rare. Previous studies have investigated whether femoral lengthening impacts muscle strength in the lengthened limb, but results are inconsistent (Bhave et al. 2017, Krieg et al. 2018). Concerns have been raised regarding whether limb lengthening might lead to OA in adjacent joints (Herring 2008, Sneppen et al. 2014). However, to our knowledge there is only 1 published article describing articular damage after femoral lengthening by the callotasis technique. In this animal study, Stanitski (1994) found cartilage injury in the knees of all included canines after completing 30% distraction of initial femoral length. Even though this animal research showed knee OA after limb lengthening this is yet to be studied in humans. We evaluated physical function and the presence of radiographic signs of OA in the adjacent hip and knee joints ≥ 27 years after unilateral femoral lengthening by the callotasis technique. We hypothesized that femoral lengthening was associated with reduced physical function and OA in adjacent joints.