Comparison of plants used for skin and stomach problems in Trinidad and Tobago with Asian ethnomedicine

This paper provides a preliminary evaluation of fifty-eight ethnomedicinal plants used in Trinidad and Tobago for skin problems, stomach problems, pain and internal parasites for safety and possible efficacy. Thirty respondents, ten of whom were male were interviewed from September 1996 toSeptember 2000 on medicinal plant use for health problems. The respondents were obtained by snowball sampling, and were found in thirteen different sites, 12 in Trinidad and one in Tobago. The uses are compared to those current in Asia. Bambusa vulgaris, Bidens alba, Jatropha curcas, Neurolaena lobata, Peperomia rotundifolia and Phyllanthus urinaria are possibly efficacous for stomach problems, pain and internal parasites. Further scientific study of these plants is warranted.

Jejuno-gastric intussusception

Three cases of jejuno-gastric intussception are described. The radiological appearances are demonstrated and the aetiology and surgical management are discussed. Gastroscopy was also found to be useful in diagnosis and clinical assessment (AU)

Experience with 100 cases of gastroscopy with the GTFA gastrocamera

100 gastroscopic examinations were performed on 39 females and 61 males using the GFTA Olympus Gastrocamera with fibrescope. In 27 cases (27 percent) the Gastrocamera correctly diagnosed lesions which were misinterpreted at X-Ray. There were no complications from the procedure. Gastroscopy and gastrophotography are considered to be indispensable tools in the proper evaluation of gastric pathology (AU)

Concomitant gastric and duodenal ulcers

Three thousand eight hundred consecutive barium meal examinations performed in the X-ray Department of the University Hospital of the West Indies are analysed. A high percentage of the cases with gastric ulcers were found to have concomitant duodenal ulcers. The relationship between the gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer in cases with concomitant ulcers is discussed and evidence from the present series and the literature suggests that the gastric ulcer is secondary to the duodenal ulcer in these cases. Two theories of the cause of gastric ulcer, (a) the retention theory and (b) the reflux theory, especially in relation to concomitant gastric and duodenal ulcers, are reviewed. The reflux theory appears to be the most acceptable, and on the basis of this theory, gastric ulcers are classified into (a) primary and (b) secondary (concomitant) to duodenal ulcer or pyloric channel disease (pyloric ulcer or hypertrophic pyloric stenosis). The high incidence of concomitant gastric and duodenal ulcers in Jamaica is compared with the incidence in other countries. It is shown that the incidence of these concomitant ulcers depends upon two factors, which are, the duodenal ulcer, gastric ulcer ratio and the incidence of gastric ulcers which are secondary to duodenal ulcers. In Jamaica, both these factors are high which accounts for the high incidence of concomitant ulcers. (AU)

The Jamaican alimentary tract - abstract

Some variations in the normal anatomy and in the picture of some disease processes were presented. The relative frequency of malignancies of the mid one-third of the oesophagus was noted, the occurence of post-bulbar duodenal ulcers, the frequency of entero-bilary, the rarity of the malignancies of the sigmoid colon and of the diverticulosis were also stressed (AU)