Feedback in Couple and Family Therapy: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Routine Outcome Monitoring (ROM) is recommended as a psychotherapy procedure to serve as clinical feedback in order to improve client treatment outcomes. ROM can work as a warning signal to the therapist if the client shows signs of no change or deterioration. This study has investigated whether any difference in outcome could be detected between those clients in couple and family therapy who used the Systemic Therapy Inventory of Change (STIC) feedback system (ROM condition) versus those who were offered treatment without the use of STIC ("treatment as usual" or TAU condition). A sample of 328 adults seeking couple and family therapy in Norway was randomly assigned to ROM versus TAU conditions. Outcome measures were The Outcome Questionnaire-45 and The Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale. The results demonstrated no significant differences in outcomes between the ROM and TAU. Possible explanations of this result related to design and implementation issues are discussed.

Acute Appendicitis as the Initial Clinical Presentation of Primary HIV-1 Infection.

We report a case of an adolescent who presented at our emergency department with acute abdominal pain. While the initial diagnosis was acute appendicitis, a secondary and coincidental diagnosis of primary HIV-1 infection was made. Concurrent and subsequent clinical and molecular biology findings form the basis of our argument that primary HIV-1 infection was the cause of acute appendicitis in this individual.

[Two cases of multilocular cystic nephroma, a rare benign tumor of the kidney]. / To tilfaelde af multilokulaer cystisk nefrom, en sjaelden benign nyretumor.

We present two case reports of multilocular cystic nephroma (MCN). MCN is a rare benign tumor of the kidney that is difficult to differentiate from malignant tumor by diagnostic imaging (ultrasound, CT) and cytology on fine-needle aspiration. This is why most cases end up with nephrectomy and diagnosis is based on the histopathological findings. In one of our two cases, a nephrectomy was performed, and in the other the tumor was resected from the kidney. The origin of MCN is uncertain, and only about 200 cases have been reported in the literature.