Rectal perforation as a complication of urethral instrumentation: 2 case reports

A review of the complications of urethral instrumentation performed at our institution during the last 15 years revealed 2 cases of urethrorectal perforation. These patients were managed with loop colostomy and suprapubic cystostomy diversion with excellent healing and no evidence of fistula formation at 24-month followup. This rare complication is described and the principles of diagnosis, prevention and prompt aggressive management are emphasized.     

Caring for elderly people at home: the consequences to caregivers

The emphasis on home-based care is one important aspect of health services restructuring initiatives in Canada. Fundamental to the preference for home-based care over institutional care is the expectation that family caregivers will be available in the home to support patients who would otherwise be in an institution. The authors explore the potential impact of this devolution of services from institutions to the home in 2 vulnerable patient populations--elderly patients with dementia and elderly patients with terminal illnesses. Community-based surveillance strategies are needed to determine the true health, quality-of-life and economic outcomes of these restructuring initiatives.     

Man the risk taker

Most approaches to preventing chronic disease involve changing personal behavior. Appeals to change are often made on the grounds that certain behavior incurs a risk to health, but evaluative studies of health education suggest that this may not be a persuasive argument. Humans have always lived with risks and do not necessarily equate risk with personal danger. Many forces, both social and psychological, underlie the willingness to tolerate risks, and altering familiar behaviors may seem to the individual to be more of a loss than a benefit. If we seek to change health behavior, we must acknowledge this and recognize that factual information on risks will not encourage change unless the change forms part of a broader reappraisal of the person's values. Individual appeals for change will have little impact as long as broader social forces continue to encourage health risk behavior.     

A case of dark urine,hyperpigmentation and hepatomegaly

We report a case of malignant melanoma in which the presenting feature was melanuria. Melanuria should be considered in the differential diagnosis of any patient presenting with dark urine.