Root surface caries: a complication of the jejunoileal bypass.

BACKGROUND: A patient developed root surface caries and loss of teeth following the jejunoileal (JI) bypass. We attempted to confirm the association of root surface caries with the JI bypass and explore the mechanisms by which it occurs. METHODS: The number of root surface caries per year after, and an equal period of time before, a JI bypass was determined in 18 patients. These 18 patients and 5 normal controls gave stimulated saliva samples for measurement of chloride, bicarbonate and pH. 4 JI bypass patients and 4 normal controls gave timed stimulated saliva samples for measurements of volume. RESULTS: 7 of 18 JI bypass patients had >0.5 root surface caries per year after the operation but none before (p<.01). Salivary chloride was > 12 meq/l in 3 of the 18 JI bypass patients but in none of 5 controls (p<.05). The salivary pH and bicarbonate were 6.38+/-0.48 vs 6.92+/-0.21 and 2.81+/-2.1 meq/l vs 5.8+/-1.2 meq/l in the JI bypass group and the control group respectively (p<.05). The stimulated saliva was 2.3+/-1.2 vs 4.5+/-1.4 cc/min in the JI bypass group and control group, respectively (p<.02). CONCLUSIONS: Root surface caries are more frequent after JI bypass. This may be due to decreased saliva flow and a reduced salivary buffering capacity.

Clinical subtypes of Crohn's disease according to surgical outcome.

Patients with Crohn's disease are typically classified into perforator or nonperforator groups. The perforator group includes those who present with acute perforation, fistulas, or abscess formation. The nonperforator group presents with stricture, obstruction, or unresponsiveness to medical therapy. Our purpose was to investigate whether perianal disease constitutes a separate predictor of surgical outcome. The form of presentation was classified as perforator, nonperforator, or perianal disease in 91 patients undergoing 232 operations for Crohn's disease. Those with perforating complications presented with the highest Crohn's Disease Activity Index, followed by those with nonperforating complications, and then the perianal disease group. However, the perianal disease group appeared to have the most rapid rate of recurrence and subsequent surgery, followed next by the perforator, and then the nonperforator group. Recurrence rate and subsequent operation intervals for the perforator group appeared to lengthen when those patients were treated with steroids and/or immunosuppressants, as compared to nonsteroidal and/or antimicrobial agents. Recurrence rate and subsequent operation intervals appeared to lengthen for the nonperforator and perianal disease groups when they were treated with nonsteroidal and/or antimicrobial therapy, as compared to steroids and/or immunosuppressants. Our data indicate that perianal disease, as a form of presentation of Crohn's disease, has independent predictive value, although this is not accurately reflected by the Crohn's Disease Activity Index.

Topical insulin in wound healing: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Two studies were carried out to assess the relative roles of insulin and zinc in the acceleration of wound healing. In the first study, six diabetic and five non-diabetic human volunteers had two uniform cuts created, one on each forearm. One forearm wound was treated with topical regular insulin (Iletin-II) and the other with normal saline four times a day until healed. Treatment was double-blind and forearms were assigned randomly. The wounds treated with insulin healed 2.4 +/- 0.8 days faster than the wounds treated with saline (P < 0.001 by paired t-test). Zinc is used to crystallise insulin. When wounds are treated with insulin, they are therefore also being treated with zinc. If insulin accelerates wound healing, it is not clear if the increase in the rate of healing would be due to insulin (a known growth factor), the zinc it contains, or a combination of the two. The second study used a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled design to compare the efficacy of insulin with that of a solution containing the same amount of zinc in accelerating the healing of standardised wounds in rats and humans. Although these pilot investigations did not have the power to define the relative roles of insulin and zinc with accuracy, the results suggest that zinc does play a role in the wound healing process. It is concluded that topical insulin accelerates wound healing in humans. More importantly, however, this study describes a method of creating uniform wounds in humans acceptable to an institutional review board, thus solving one of the major impediments to the scientific evaluation of human wound healing.

Treatment of depression with cyproheptadine.

We evaluated the antidepressant activity of cyproheptadine HCl in six patients diagnosed with major depression. This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial with treatment order balanced and randomly assigned. The patients received 4 weeks of treatment with cyproheptadine HCl 4 mg 4 times/day or placebo, followed by 4 weeks of cryproheptadine HCl 8 mg 4 times/day or placebo, followed by a crossover to cyproheptadine HCl or placebo. Each subject had a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale assessment and a 1-mg dexamethasone suppression test completed immediately before treatment and at 4-week intervals throughout the study. Two patients had nonsuppressible dexamethasone suppression tests and could not tolerate cyproheptadine due to anxiety and irritability. Four patients had suppressible dexamethasone suppression tests and had lower scores on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale during treatment with cyproheptadine (p < 0.01, Student's t test for paired observations). Cyproheptadine HCl may be useful in treating a subset of patients with major depression who have a suppressible dexamethasone suppression test.