Atypia of hepatic histiocytes induced by Renografin-60.

Recurrent bouts of abdominal pain in a 12-year-old patient were diagnosed as due to intermittent obstruction of the choledochus. The condition was corrected by choledochostomy. Incidental liver biopsy showed atypia of intrahepatic histiocytes. However, electron microscopy identified associated foreign bodies suspected of being an iodinated compound. Six months later a repeat liver biopsy and extensive search showed no carcinoma present. The hepatic atypia was thought to have been induced by diatrizoate meglumine/diatrizoate sodium (Renografin-60), an iodinated compound (E. R. Squibb, Princeton, NJ, U.S.A.) used during percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography.

Rectosigmoid perforation and intestinal evisceration from transanal suction.

Transanal suction injuries were sustained in 1981 by five children when they sat upon uncovered swimming area drain sites. Tears of the rectosigmoid areas occurred in each with associated evisceration and loss of substantial amounts of small intestine because of mesenteric separation. These cases are reviewed.

Bile acid excretion and patterns of fatty acid absorption in formula-fed premature infants.

Balance studies of individual fatty acid (FA) absorption and bile acid (BA) excretion were performed in 23 healthy premature infants fed proprietary formulas, utilizing gas-liquid chromatography. There was a direct correlation between the amount of BA excreted and absorption. This correlation was valid for total fat and for unsaturated dietary FA. Malabsorption of saturated FAs was in proportion to their hydrocarbon chain length and is best explained by their aqueous solubility, independent of BA. Assays of total FA absorption by gas-liquid chromatography and by the method of van de Kamer appear to be interchangeable.