[An analysis of the demand for laboratory tests from primary care in a health area].

Objective: To quantify the primary care demand for laboratory tests in a health area and to evaluate the variations in use in relation to the characteristics of the doctors, of organisation and of the population seen.

Design: Crossover.

Setting: A health area in the Community of Valencia with 110125 inhabitants.

[Spontaneous primary peritonitis due to Pasteurella multocida].

We present a new case of bacterial spontaneous peritonitis cirrhosis, associated to an extremely rare germ as it is Pasteurella multocida. We describe its clinical characteristics and evolution after treatment.

[Syndrome of allopurinol hypersensitivity. Report of a new case and review of the Spanish literature].

Allopurinol is a drug of wide clinical use and good tolerance. Some patients develop severe hypersensitivity due to immunologic reaction to the drug. A new case which fulfills all the diagnostic criteria of the syndrome of allopurinol hypersensitivity with associated clinical manifestations of multiple mononeuritis and evidence of granulomas and vasculitis in liver biopsy as the most significant data is reported.

[Pneumatocele as a form of presentation of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia].

Pulmonary infection by Pneumocystis carinii in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) can result in different radiological patterns with an ever expanding spectrum. A 40-year-old male, infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), presented with toxic symptoms and multiple pulmonary cystic lesions in the context of a Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. The rarity of this radiological presentation is discussed and literature is reviewed.

Diltiazem in the treatment of the irritable bowel syndrome.

A short-term double-blind study has been conducted to evaluate the clinical efficacy of diltiazem in 18 patients with irritable bowel syndrome, divided into two groups: group A, on the sequence placebo-diltiazem-placebo for three weeks. Group B, diltiazem-placebo-diltiazem for an identical period. The substance was administered in three daily doses of 60 mg prior to meals.