Conservative nonsurgical treatment of early detected tubal pregnancies with intra-amniotic methotrexate.

Four cases of early detected tubal pregnancies were managed conservatively by aspiration and administration of 20 mg methotrexate into the amniotic sac during laparoscopy. All three women for whom hysterosalpingograms are available had patent tubes on the side of the former ectopic pregnancy six months after treatment. Spontaneous menstruation occurred within six weeks after methotrexate application in all cases.

[Pharmacologic arrest of lactation. Comparison of Deprenon, lisuride, terguride and mestranol].

The authors compared the arrest of lactation by terguride, lisuride and deprenone. Terguride was administered to 14 women 2 X 0.5 mg by the oral route or 4 X 0.

Hepatic osteodystrophy in primary biliary cirrhosis: a possible defect in Kupffer cell mediated cleavage of parathyroid hormone.

Twelve of fourteen female patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, receiving vitamin D supplementation, exhibited unequivocal signs of osteoporosis but not of osteomalacia. Vitamin D treatment reproduced normal 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in all but two patients and the 1,25 and 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D metabolic pathways appeared to be unimpaired. A possible mechanism for the vitamin D resistant osteoporosis has been identified following the observation that, in those patients with severe cirrhosis, the circulating concentration of intact PTH was elevated.

[Differential diagnosis of chronic hepatitis. Active chronic hepatitis--chronic destructive cholangitis?].

Analysis of the enzyme pattern in 34 patients with liver histology indicating porto-periportal inflammation showed two statistically well differentiated groups: 20 patients with clinical suspicion of early chronic active hepatitis and 14 patients with suspected chronic destructive cholangitis. The course of the disease and the response to immunosuppressive treatment were quite different in the two groups. For differentiation of the early stages of chronic active hepatitis and chronic destructive cholangitis correct interpretation of the enzyme pattern is of great importance.

[Immunosuppressive treatment of the early stages of active or inactive chronic hepatitis: results of a pilot study (author's transl)].

Immunosuppressive treatment with prednisolone and azathioprine was administered to a small group of nine patients in the early stage of chronic active or inactive hepatitis about six months after onset of the disease. There occurred a relatively rapid improvement in the active liver process, including biochemical and histological findings, compared with ten patients in a control group who, with the same liver condition, were not given immunosuppressive treatment. There were no side-effects in the treated group.

[Immunosuppressive treatment of chronic active hepatitis (author's transl)].

Early-stage chronic active hepatitis treated with prednisolone and azathioprine has a good prognosis. In most of the 20 patients investigated improvement occurred already after 3 months of treatment, by 6 to 9 months the laboratory findings had become normal and after 12 months there was no definite evidence histologically for the initial aggressive form of liver disease. However, in the late stage of chronic active hepatitis the effect of immunosuppressive treatment seems questionable.

[Influence of (+)-cyanidanol-3 on the course of acute viral hepatitis (author's transl)].

A double-blind study was conducted in four hospitals to test the effect of (+)-cyanidanol-3 (Catergen) on the course of acute viral hepatitis. Activities of a number of enzymes, bilirubin levels and gamma-globulin concentrations, as well as elimination of HBs antigen in blood were measured serially in 73 patients with viral hepatitis, 37 being treated with the drug, 36 patients receiving a placebo. In addition, liver biopsies before and after treatment were compared (19 patients treated, 23 patients on placebo).

Electrical potential difference across the mid-term human placenta.

Electrical potential difference across the mid-term human placenta was recorded during hysterotomy. The average value registered was 2.7 mV (S.

[Therapy of chronic hepatitis (author's transl)].

Therapy of chronic hepatitis as practized today is discussed, including general therapeutic procedures, the so-called "liver-protective substances", and drug therapy of chronic aggressive hepatitis and of liver cirrhosis. A causal treatment of chronic hepatitis is unknown; prognosis however can be improved by treatment with glucocorticoids as demonstrated by controlled clinical trials. A combination with azathioprin does have similarly good results with a decreased frequency of the unwanted side effects of the 2 drugs.

[Diagnostic value of cytological investigations in metastatic tumours of the liver: comparison of laparoscopy, histology, and cytology (author's transl)].

Fine needle aspiration biopsy is generally a harmless method if contraindications are considered and provides sufficient tissue for cytological evaluation. The diagnostic value is very high: in 27 cases of metastatic tumours of the liver diagnosed by laparoscopy the diagnosis was confirmed in 26 cases and revised in one case. In a control group of 200 patients with various diffuse liver diseases or morphologically normal findings no false positive results were found.

[Differential diagnosis of acute viral hepatitis and liver cirrhosis with severe activity (author's transl)].

Results of biochemical tests in 61 patients with acute viral hepatitis resp. 63 patients with subacute hepatitis were compared with laboratory findings of 27 patients with liver cirrhosis in the stage of severe activity of the disease. In acute and subacute viral hepatitis was the activity of GPT and CHE significantly higher than in active cirrhosis of the liver.

[Comparison of laparoscopic and scintigraphic findings in chronic hep-titis, liver cirrhosis and liver tumours (author's transl)].

Results of laparoscopy and scintigraphy were compared and contrasted with ultimate clinical diagnosis in 94 patients with chronic hepatitis or liver cirrhosis and 38 with liver tumours. The findings agreed in 77 cases of chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis and 33 of liver tumour. In the remainder either laparoscopy or scintigraphy gave the wrong results.