Emergency colon surgery: a pilot study

This study was performed to compare the respective outcomes of three different surgical methods in the management of emergency colonic resection and anastomosis: primary repair alone [Group I], primary repair with colostomy [Group II], and primary repair with omental wrapping [Group III]. Methods and Patients: 100 patients with emergency colonic resection were allocated randomly to the three groups according to the type of management. The study was performed during 1992-1996 in three different military hospitals in different regions in Jordan. Two patients were excluded because they did not finally undergo colectomy. Of the 98 patients who matched the criteria of our study, the following results were obtained: anastomosis leak occurred in three patients [two in Group I and one in Group II], there were five prolapsed colostomies [Group II], fourteen patients had wound infection [nine in Group I, three in Group II and two in Group III]. The mean time of hospital stay was 7.0, 7.1, and 6.9 days in the three groups respectively when there were no complications, and when the patients with complications were included, the hospital days were 15.3, 13.5, and 8.3 in the three groups respectively. Total hospital stay and complications were less in loop colostomy than primary repair alone. The fewest complications and the shortest hospital stays tended to be in Group III, primary repair with omental wrapping

Stability indicating methods for the quantitative determination of pseudoephedrine HCl and guaifenesin and dextromethorphan HBR in a cough syrup using HPLC

The determination of three active ingredients in a multicomponent pharmaceutical product by HPLC using two columns is reported. Guaifenesin and dextromethorphan HBr were separated and quantitated simultaneously in a cough syrup using an isocratic reversed phase system. The mobile phase was 45% [v/v] aqueous methanol with ammonium formate as buffer [PH 4.3]. the range of concentrations used in the determination of guaifenesin and dextromethorphan HBr were 202-363 mg/100ml and 30-54 mg/100 ml, respectively. A separate method was developed for the determination of pseudoephedrine HCI using a normal phase system. The mobile phase was 80% [v/v] aqueous ethanol with ammonium acetate as buffer [pH 7.3]. the range of concentrations used in the determination of pseudoephedrine HC1 was 60-108 mg/100 ml. Both methods proved to be repeatable, reproducible and stability indicating