A phase I and pharmacologic study of weekly gemcitabine in combination with infusional 5-fluorodeoxyuridine and oral calcium leucovorin.

Purpose: Since preclinical studies have shown more than additive cytotoxicity and DNA damage with the combination of gemcitabine and 5-fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine (FUDR), we studied this combination in a phase I trial.

Methods: Gemcitabine alone was given in cycle 1 as a 24-h, 2-h or 1-h i.v.

MRA of the thoracic vessels.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is well suited for the noninvasive evaluation of the thoracic vasculature, and with improvements in scanner technology, the ability of MR to illustrate the thoracic vessels has significantly improved. Dedicated vascular software and pulse sequences have become commercially available, and fast imaging, in particular, has facilitated the time-efficient and comprehensive MR evaluation of most thoracic vascular lesions. Over the years, a host of black and bright blood MRI methods have evolved into practical tools for illustration of the thoracic vessels.

Thrombosis of the proximal greater saphenous vein: ultrasonographic diagnosis and clinical significance.

Eleven of 985 (1.1%) patients referred for leg ultrasonographic examinations to evaluate for deep venous thrombosis over a 3 year period were found to have isolated proximal greater saphenous vein thrombosis. Retrospective review of their treatments and sequelae showed that six patients (55%) initially treated with anticoagulant medication or high vein ligation had no further sequelae.

[2 cases of Whipple disease with different outcomes].

Whipple's disease is a rare infectious disease with systemic manifestation on different organs. In 1992 the typical rod-shaped bacillus was identified as a gram-negative actinomycete with distinctive morphologic characteristics and named as Tropheryma whippelii. The diagnosis is established by demonstrating the presence of PAS-positive macrophages in the mucosa, with large cytoplasmatic granules.

Influence of age, gender, hormonal status and smoking habits on colonic transit time.

The factors that influence colonic transit time in healthy humans are not yet clearly defined. The aim of this study was therefore to determine (a) if there are differences in colonic transit time between men and women and (b) if age, female hormonal status or smoking habits are associated with alterations in these parameters. Colonic transit time was measured in 164 asymptomatic subjects (80 males, 84 females) by a radio-opaque marker technique with one single plain abdominal X-ray.

Intraosseus ganglia of the wrist.

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of intraosseous ganglion cysts in patients with unexplained wrist pain and evaluate the radiographic methods used for their detection.

Materials And Methods: Four hundred patients with unexplained wrist pain were prospectively examined. All patients underwent standard three-view radiography of the wrist.

Effect of a liquid diet with and without soluble fiber supplementation on intestinal transit and cholecystokinin release in volunteers.

The effect of adding fiber to liquid formula diets on gastrointestinal transit is still controversial. Different fiber types (soluble vs insoluble) and different methodology of transit time measurements yielded variable results. Factors affecting transit include colonic fermentation, neural, and hormonal factors.

[Grand-mal epilepsy as initial manifestation of a parenchymal neuro_cysticercosis].

The case of a 29-year-old male immigrant from India with parenchymal neurocysticercosis is reported. Epileptic seizures were the first clinical manifestation of the disease, which was successfully treated with praziquantel. The follow-up covers a period of three years.

[Age- and sex-specific standard values of colonic transit time in healthy subjects].

Use of radiopaque markers with a plain X-ray of the abdomen is a simple technique to measure mean segmental and total colonic transit time. We evaluated 128 healthy volunteers with a mean age of 40 years (range 20-81 years) from three different parts of Switzerland to assess age and sex specific normal transit times. In men and women colonic transit time was not influenced by age.

[Combined oral and endoscopic mepacrine therapy in therapy-resistant symptomatic giardiasis].

A case of extremely refractory infection with Giardia lamblia is described. A 28-year-old male patient with a 7-year history of mushy diarrhea and epigastric pain was repeatedly treated orally and intravenously, without success, with metronidazole, tinidazole, ornidazole, and mepacrine. The rate of success for these drugs is generally more than 90%.

[Comparative efficacy of sonography, computed tomography, ERCP and angiography in the diagnosis of primary papillary carcinomas].

In a patient group of 19 patients suffering from a primary carcinoma of the papilla of Vater that had been confirmed by surgery and histology, the preoperative diagnoses arrived at by the four imaging methods of sonography, CT, ERCP and angiography were compared on the basis of the intraoperatively produced tumour findings, and the accuracy of the methods was assessed. It was found that ERCP is superior to all the other diagnostic methods in respect of carcinomas of the papilla of Vater, diagnosis being correct in more than half of the cases. Sonography yielded the diagnosis of a space-occupying growth in barely one-half of the cases, whereas CT reported a mass in two-thirds of the cases, but no clear organotopic diagnosis was possible.

[A comparison of the efficacy of sonography, computed tomography, ERCP and angiography in the diagnosis of primary bile duct carcinoma].

Sonography, CT, ERCP and angiography were carried out in 22 patients with operatively and histologically confirmed primary carcinomas of the bile duct and the findings were compared with the appearances at operation. ERCP proved to have an accuracy of about 79% and is markedly superior to the other diagnostic methods. Sonography had an accuracy of about 39%, CT 42% and angiography 55%.