Temporal assessment of pancreatic blood flow and perfusion following secretin stimulation using noninvasive MRI.

Purpose: To dynamically quantify pancreatic perfusion and flow within the arteries supplying the pancreas in response to secretin stimulation.

Materials And Methods: Twelve healthy male subjects were scanned at 1.5T with arterial spin labeling to measure tissue perfusion and phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure vessel flow.

Colonic diverticular disease.

Introduction: Diverticula (mucosal outpouching through the wall of the colon) are rare before the age of 40 years, after which prevalence increases steadily and reaches over 25% by 60 years. However, only 10% to 25% of affected people will develop symptoms such as lower abdominal pain. Recurrent symptoms are common, and 5% of people with diverticula eventually develop complications such as perforation, obstruction, haemorrhage, fistulae, or abscesses.

The role of routine assays of serum amylase and lipase for the diagnosis of acute abdominal pain.

Introduction: We aimed to evaluate the role of routine measurements of serum amylase and lipase in the diagnosis of acute abdominal pain.

Patients And Methods: We identified all patients who had serum amylase and lipase assays over a 62-day period at a single university teaching hospital and reviewed their case notes.

Results: We excluded 58 of the 1598 patients on grounds of ineligibility (< 18 years of age and those transferred from other hospitals).