Gastrointestinal motility problems in patients with Parkinson's disease. Effects of antiparkinsonian treatment and guidelines for management.

Gastrointestinal (GI) motility disorders are frequent in patients with Parkinson's disease, manifesting mainly as dysphagia, disorders of gastric emptying and constipation. The most likely causes of these disorders are cerebral degeneration and degeneration of the myenteric plexus. Although the effect of antiparkinsonian medication is largely overestimated, it certainly has an influence and should be adapted accordingly in patients with GI motility disorders.

Behavior of different suture materials in the urinary bladder of the rabbit with special reference to wound healing, epithelization and crystallization.

Five urinary bladder incisions were performed in 16 rabbits and the defects closed by plain catgut 4-0, chromic catgut 4-0, polypropylene 4-0, polyglactin 910 4-0 and polyglactin 910 8-0 in the form of an all-layer suture, thereby obtaining a total of 80 suture sites. The running sutures in 8 animals were reviewed by light microscopy after 1, 2, 7 and 15 weeks, and in 8 additional animals after 3 days, 1, 2, 7 and 15 weeks by scanning electron microscopy. Moreover, we analyzed and compared the autopsy findings on gross inspection, the urinary sediments and urinary cultures of the individual animals.

Magnetic resonance imaging of the craniocervical junction in rheumatoid arthritis: value, limitations, indications.

The cervical spine is the second most common location for manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Symptoms are typically related to involvement of the craniocervical junction. Unfortunately, conventional radiographic examination is often unable to demonstrate that RA is the cause of such symptoms.

MR imaging of cerebral tumors: state of the art and work in progress.

MR imaging of the brain has made tremendous progress during the last years. This technique is generally superior to computed tomography (CT) in brain tumors, due to its capability for direct imagining in various planes and its high tissue contrast. Moreover, the detectability and differentiation of extraaxial tumors, previously the domain of CT, has been improved with paramagnetic contrast agents (PCA).

Long-term follow-up of children with magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound after treatment of brain tumors.

This paper compares the results of MRI and US follow-up examinations of 46 children who had undergone surgery for brain tumors. The cases included 42 posterior fossa tumors, 3 supratentorial tumors and 1 upper cervical spinal cord tumor. US examination proved to be less specific and sensitive than MRI.