[Management software for reports of digestive endoscopies: an 8-month experience with 3500 tests]. / Logiciel de gestion des comptes rendus d'endoscopies digestives: une expérience de 8 mois portant sur 3.500 examens.

A program using a 5 M-byte hard disk microcomputer system has been used routinely for eight months in our digestive endoscopy center, both to prepare medical reports and to store patient data. This program has been written by computer engineers in close collaboration with members of our medical staff. Using the program does not need any special training. The system is based on three main files: a) a text file contains text fragments of variable length (max. 300 characters), identified by a three character alpha-numeric code. These phrases, always the same, allow to standardize the reports; however, new formulations may be added at any time; b) a patient file stores medical data concerning the patients (max. 20,000 patients) in coded form. This file allows statistical studies and multifactorial sorting; c) a physician file stores the references of the correspondents (max. 1,000 physicians). Three main functions are available: a) report construction, b) statistical studies, c) fast edition of complete reports (available for the 45 last reports). Using this program should allow substantial savings by assuring a complete independence of report writing, which is done by the endoscopist himself. By establishing a thesaurus of keywords and keyphrases in digestive endoscopy, the method should facilitate multicenter studies.

[Does the finding of a bilious mucous lake during endoscopy have physiopathological significance? Study of gastric pH during 24 hours]. / La constatation d'un lac muqueux bilieux en endoscopie a-t-elle une signification physiopathologique? Etude du pH gastrique pendant 24 heures.

The aim of this study was to determine if there was any relationship between the presence of bile in the stomach at endoscopy and the nycterohemeral variations of the gastric pH. Endoscopy and 24 hour gastric pH monitoring with radiotele-pHmetry were performed in 38 patients. These patients were then divided into two groups according to the color of the mucous lake at endoscopy: group A (15 patients) in which there was a clear mucous lake and group B (23 patients) in which a bilious mucous lake was found. In group A, spontaneous alkalinizations (SA) were uncommon and almost always lasted less than 30 min. In group B, SA were more frequent and more prolonged (p less than 0.01), especially those lasting more than 30 min (p less than 0.001). In this group, the number and duration of SA were significantly higher during the night. These results suggest that duodenogastric reflux may be responsible for the SA observed in patients with a bilious mucous lake. This hypothesis, however, needs further confirmation especially concerning the analysis of the gastric contents during the periods of alkalinization.