Physical symptom reporting is associated with a tendency to experience somatosensory distortion.

Objective: Theory suggests that a tendency to experience distortions in somatosensory awareness is associated with physical symptom reporting (i.e., somatization) but empirical evidence for this is lacking.

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy and ventriculoperitoneal shunts: a dangerous combination?

Background: We report the largest European series of patients in whom both ventriculoperitoneal shunts (VPS) and percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomies (PEG) have been inserted with the aim of determining if this combination is safe or if there is an increased risk of VPS infection.

Patients And Methods: The paper and electronic records of 302 patients who had a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt inserted in the regional Neurosciences unit at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust between 2002 and 2007 were reviewed.

Results: A total of 24 patients with VP shunts had 26 PEG inserted.

Challenges in diagnosing acute pancreatitis in renal transplant patients.

Acute pancreatitis is a recognized occurrence in patients with end-stage renal disease, those on dialysis and those who have undergone renal transplantation. The incidence is significantly increased in comparison to the general population and carries significant mortality. We report two cases of acute pancreatitis that occurred in stable renal transplant recipients, and in which there was diagnostic difficulty.

Small bowel angiodysplasia in a patient on haemodialysis: difficulties in diagnosis and management.

Angiodysplasia is a common cause of gastrointestinal blood loss in patients with end stage renal disease. Diagnosis is especially difficult when the angiodysplastic lesions are concentrated in the small bowel. This report describes a case of a patient on haemodialysis who had transfusion-dependent anaemia from small bowel angiodysplasia.

Topiramate-induced psychosis in two members of the one family: a case report.

Introduction: The use of topiramate has increased in recent years. It is now used by various specialties to treat a wide range of medical conditions. A small number of case reports describe psychosis as an adverse event of topiramate but most are in patients being treated for epilepsy and none describe a family history of this side effect.