Treatment of refractory distal ulcerative colitis with short chain fatty acid enemas.

Objectives: To determine the efficacy and safety of short chain fatty acids (SCFA) in the treatment of refractory distal ulcerative colitis (UC).

Methods: Ten patients with distal UC who had failed to respond to rectal and oral therapy with 5-ASA and corticosteroids were treated with twice daily enemas containing sodium acetate 60 mM, sodium propionate 30 mM, and sodium butyrate 40 mM titrated to a pH of 7. Patients were assessed clinically (rectal bleeding, tenesmus, bowel motions), endoscopically, and histologically before and after 6 wk of therapy.

Is duodenal ulcer a seasonal disease? A retrospective endoscopic study of 3105 patients.

The monthly pattern of distribution of endoscopically diagnosed duodenal ulcer disease was evaluated for the years 1975-1989. A retrospective review of 3105 endoscopies performed for peptic disease was recorded and analyzed. Among them, 2020 endoscopies revealed duodenal bulb deformity, and 1035 revealed the presence of acute duodenal ulcer.

Effect of clonidine on gallbladder contraction and small bowel transit time in insulin-treated diabetics.

Cholelithiasis is more prevalent in diabetics than in nondiabetics. Gallbladder dysmotility is supposed to be one of the causative factors. Reduced alpha-adrenergic tone has been demonstrated in the enterocytes of diabetic rats, and its correction by clonidine might explain the beneficial effect that the drug has on diabetic diarrhea.

Successful treatment of pancreatic pseudocyst with a somatostatin analogue and catheter drainage.

We report a patient with bile duct stone-induced pancreatitis who subsequently developed a large pseudocyst that became infected after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) was done for extraction of the stones. Percutaneous external drainage allowed control of the infection, but failed to seal the pseudocyst. We then treated the patient with a long-acting somatostatin analogue which shrunk the cyst within a week.

Campylobacter pylori in Israel: prospective study of prevalence and epidemiology.

Antral biopsy samples were taken from 147 patients undergoing gastroscopy. Campylobacter pylori was cultivated from 100 of these patients. C.