Fatal complications related to diagnostic barium enema.

Thousands of barium enemas are performed in the United States each year without incident. Occasionally complications arise, only a few of which are fatal. Perforation is the most frequent serious complication of this procedure.

Evaluation of the automated leukocyte differential count in emergency department patients.

This study compares the results of the leukocyte three-part differential count as determined by the Coulter S-Plus IV in 104 consecutive patient samples from the emergency department with results obtained by conventional visual differential. A high rate (40%) of instrument rejection was found, reflecting the high prevalence of disease and hematologic abnormalities in the patient population. No clinically significant abnormality went undetected, demonstrating that the automated leukocyte three-part differential is effective as a screening test in the emergency department patient population.

Polypoid nasal pseudolymphoma.

An unusual polypoid lesion of the nasal cavity in a 48-year-old woman with chronic obstruction consisted of aggregated nodules of benign lymphoid tissue with germinal center formation. She had no lymphadenopathy or other evidence of a systemic lymphoid disorder. To the authors' knowledge, this nonneoplastic lymphocytic proliferation, analogous to so-called "pseudolymphoma" at other sites, has not been reported heretofore in the nasal cavity or paranasal sinuses.