Subject(s)
Emergency Service, Hospital , Epilepsy/therapy , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Ambulances , Humans , Middle AgedABSTRACT
The Rapignost-Amylase urinary test strip (Behringwerke Laboratories) provides an estimation of urine amylase which takes a few minutes and is easy to perform. During a period of 9 months, 84 patients had their urine tested with this strip by casualty officers in the Accident and Emergency Department of St George's Hospital, London. In addition, urine amylase, and plasma amylase and creatinine were measured in the chemical pathology laboratory. In all but one instance, the result of the strip test agreed with the laboratory result. The Rapignost strip should prove useful in screening for acute pancreatitis in situations where there is likely to be a delay in obtaining a laboratory amylase result.
Subject(s)
Amylases/urine , Indicators and Reagents , Reagent Strips , Acute Disease , Amylases/blood , Creatinine/blood , Humans , Pancreatitis/urineABSTRACT
The role of the argon laser for the treatment of port wine stain (PWS) is reviewed in relation to the Southampton regime, which is based on finding the minimal blanching power. Both the advantages and limitations of this form of treatment are discussed, stressing the importance of first obtaining a satisfactory test patch.
Subject(s)
Hemangioma/surgery , Laser Therapy , Skin Neoplasms/surgery , Humans , Prognosis , Wound HealingSubject(s)
Prader-Willi Syndrome/therapy , Adult , Body Weight , Gallbladder/surgery , Humans , Ileum/surgery , Jejunum/surgery , Male , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Prophylactic metronidazole was compared with no treatment in a randomly allocated study of patients undergoing appendicectomy. A 1-g suppository of metronidazole was given with the premedication and 200 mg t.d.s. orally for 7 days thereafter. There were 4 hospital wound infections in the 87 patients receiving metronidazole and 11 out of 83 in the no-treatment group (P < 0.05). However, 60 per cent of wound infections occurred at home and the overall infection rates were not significantly different. The duration of postoperative hospital stay was longer in the control group (5.8 days +/- 3.0 s.d.) than in the treated group (4.8 +/- 2.3; P < 0.01). Only one anaerobic infection occurred in a patient receiving metronidazole but late infection was not prevented. Blood levels of metronidazole taken at the end of operation showed a wide variation but there was no correlation with subsequent infection. Culture of the appendix showed aerobic organisms in 88 per cent of cases and anaerobes in 72 per cent. It is suggested that an antibiotic which is effective against both aerobic and anaerobic organisms might have an advantage over metronidazole in appendicitis.
