Colonoscopy in the diagnosis of antibiotic-associated colitis. A prospective study.

Colonoscopic findings among 16 patients with histologically proved antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis (PMC) were analyzed. The characteristic endoscopic changes of PMC with pseudomembranes were observed in only 5 (31%) out of 16 patients by sigmoidoscopy but in 11 (85%) out of 13 patients in whom colonoscopy was also performed. The findings suggest the importance of colonoscopy in the early diagnosis of PMC and indicate that the typical endoscopic changes of PMC are limited to the colon above the rectosigmoid area in most patients with antibiotic-associated colitis.

Intestinal metaplasia with colonic-type sulphomucins in the gastric mucosa; its association with gastric carcinoma.

The occurrence of intestinal metaplasia with colonic-type sulphomucins: (abbreviated: s-IM or s-positive IM) in the gastric mucosa was studied in 125 patients with gastric carcinoma (GCA), 62 patients with pernicious anemia (PA), 301 and 183 first-degree relatives of GCA and PA patients, 406 outpatients and in 358 controls matched from a large population sample. The sulphomucins (s-mucins) were demonstrated histochemically in endoscopic biopsy specimens by using high iron diamine and Alcian blue (pH 1) methods. The prevalence of s-IM, especially the strongly s-positive IM, was significantly higher in GCA patients than in other series or controls of the same age group.

Light microscopical and fluorescence histochemical observations on the endocrinological activity of human pulmonary neoplasia.

Light microscopical histochemical methods known to demonstrate the hormone storage granules of the hypophyseal ACTH/MSH cells were applied to study 14 oat cell carcinomas of human lung with special reference to assessment of the applicability of these techniques in the detection of the reported endocrinological activity of these tumors. Lead-hematoxylin, masked metachromasia and PAS reactions gave negative results for hormone storage granules in all cases studied. Argyrophilic granules were found in two tumors.

Tumor-host interrelationships in carcinoma of the female breast.

Three hundred and two carcinomas of the female breast were studied histologically with special reference to the morphologic aspects of the tumor, its surrounding host tissue and the regional lymph nodes. The nuclear grade of the tumor was positively correlated with the five year survival rate of the patient. Tumor metastases in the regional lymph nodes were observed to be a sign of a poor prognosis.