Interferon alfa-2a in the treatment of Behçet's disease.

BACKGROUND: There is no definite treatment for Behçet's disease. New drugs are being evaluated in cases unresponsive to conventional treatment modalities. OBJECTIVE: In this study we investigated the efficacy of interferon alfa-2a on skin lesions in 18 Behçet's disease patients who had predominantly mucocutaneous involvement. METHODS: Eighteen patients with Behçet's disease were treated with interferon alfa-2a at 3 million IU/day in the first week (three times a week), 6 million IU/day in the second week (three times a week), 9 million IU/day in the third week and thereafter (three times a week). Interferon alfa-2a was administered subcutaneously for a total of 12 weeks. RESULTS: At the end of the treatment the efficacy of the drug was found to be good in 9 patients and very good in 7 patients. Interferon alfa-2a is particularly effective in skin manifestations such as genital ulceration and erythema-nodosum-like lesions. It was also found to be effective in systemic manifestations such as fever, diarrhea and eye involvement. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that interferon alfa-2a is a promising drug in the treatment of Behçet's disease.

Free oxygen radicals in restraint-induced stress gastritis in the rat.

In this experimental study, the role of free oxygen radicals (FOR) in stress gastritis (SG) was investigated in a restraint stress model for rats. Allopurinol, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were tested as single agents in controlled groups. The portal blood pH values, the ratio of the mucosal erosion area to the gastric mucosal area (EA/MA), the ratio of the depth of mucosal erosions to the concomitant gastric mucosal wall (ED/MD), and concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA)--a lipid peroxidation coproduct--in the gastric mucosa were used as parameters in the experiment. The EA/MA between the treated and untreated control groups were found to have no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05). ED/MD, a crucial determinant for bleeding probability, was found to be decreased in the SOD group (P < 0.05). SOD, allopurinol, and DMSO reduced the mucosal MDA concentration to lower values than the untreated group (P < 0.05). We concluded that although FOR may not play a dominant role in stress-induced gastric lesions, SOD may be a good candidate for a clinical trial on SG prophylaxis.

A contemporary evaluation of enteric perforations in typhoid fever: analysis of 257 cases.

Of the 257 typhoid enteric perforations analysed at the Departments of General and Paediatric Surgery, Ankara University Hospital, through the years 1979-1986, 74.9% were males, while the patients mean age was 35.8 years. The early signs and symptoms averaged 5.9 days. The corresponding percentages for the occurrence of abdominal pain, fever, nausea and vomiting and central nervous system disorders which constituted the clinical findings were 97.27, 51, 61.2 and 18 respectively. While the mean value for the white blood count ranged around 6600, only 61.9% of the cases had diagnostic findings in their erect abdominal roentgenograms. The standard method for the treatment of typhoid enteric perforations is still presently primary suturing of the perforated viscus and peritoneal drainage. Despite the use and misuse of a large variety of antibiotics, typhoid perforations still have a high morbidity of 74.1% and a mortality of 31.4%. Generalized peritonitis (78.4%), is considered to be to the most important cause in both situations.

[Peritoneal lavage and blunt abdominal injuries in childhood]. / Peritonealspülung und stumpfe Bauchverletzungen im Kindesalter.

Traffic accidents are increasingly responsible for mortality in childhood in Turkey. Between 1982 and 1984, 197 children were admitted for contused abdominal injuries to the surgical casualty ward at the School of Medicine of Istanbul University. Most of these children had been involved in traffic accidents, and peritoneal lavage was applied to all of them. The diagnosis on admission was confirmed by laparotomy in 90 per cent of all cases. 20 children died (10.1 per cent). Uncontrollable abdominal bleeding was the cause of ten deaths and massive brain lesion of another six.