ABSTRACT
The effect of Coriander pretreatment on gastric mucosal injuries caused by NaCl, NaOH, ethanol, indomethacin and pylorus ligation accumulated gastric acid secretions was investigated in rats. Pretreatment at oral doses of 250 and 500mg/kg, body weight was found to provide a dose-dependent protection against the (i) ulcerogenic effects of different necrotizing agents; (ii) ethanol-induced histopathological lesions; (iii) pylorus ligated accumulation of gastric acid secretions and ethanol related decrease of Nonprotein Sulfhydryl groups (NP-SH). Results obtained on the study of gastric mucus and indomethacin-induced ulcers demonstrated that the gastro protective activity of Coriander might not be mediated by gastric mucus and/or endogenous stimulation of prostaglandins. The protective effect against ethanol-induced damage of the gastric tissue might be related to the free-radical scavenging property of different antioxidant constituents (linanool, flavonoids, coumarins, catechins, terpenes and polyphenolic compounds) present in Coriander. The inhibition of ulcers might be due to the formation of a protective layer of either one or more than one of these compounds by hydrophobic interactions.
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Tuberculous liver abscess is rare worldwide. We report a 45-year-old man who presented with abdominal pain, fever and weight loss. Ultrasound and computed tomography of the abdomen showed multiple cystic lesions in the liver. Ultrasound guided needle aspiration revealed yellowish brownish aspirate, which was flooded with acid-fast bacilli. The abscess was drained under ultrasound guidance. Subsequent abdominal ultrasound a few days later showed resolution of the abscess cavity. He was concomitantly started on systemic antituberculous therapy. A tuberculous liver abscess has to be thought of in the differential diagnosis of liver abscesses and to consider the role of percutaneous drainage along with systemic antituberculous chemotherapy as an alternative to surgery in the management. A greater awareness of this clinical entity is required for successful treatment.
Subject(s)
Liver Abscess, Amebic/diagnosis , Liver Abscess, Amebic/microbiology , Tuberculosis, Hepatic/diagnosis , Antitubercular Agents/therapeutic use , Drainage , Humans , Liver Abscess, Amebic/therapy , Male , Middle Aged , Tomography, X-Ray Computed , Tuberculosis, Hepatic/therapyABSTRACT
Schistosomiasis is a world wide human infection. In Saudi Arabia there are multiple endemic foci. Various methods have been used to diagnose Schistosoma mansoni. We studied 1410 patients coming from S. mansoni endemic areas with detectable antibodies by indirect hemagglutination (IHA). Stool specimens were tested for S. mansoni ova by direct smear and formol-ether concentration (FEC) methods. The objective of the study was to identify patients with active schistosomiasis using FEC method and a single direct smear. Twenty percent of IHA positive patients had active infection detected by FEC, while a single direct stool smear diagnosed only 2.4% (P< 0.0001). The percentage of positive FEC was significantly increasing in linear trend with IHA level. This trend wasn't observed with direct smear examination. The current data suggest that FEC is helpful to diagnose active schistosomiasis, therefore it is recommended in IRA positive individuals.
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Since the discovery of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), several invasive and non invasive tests have become available. The aim of this study was to test the performance of immunoglobulins IgG and IgA by using an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test (In vitro diagnostika GmbH, Germany) for the diagnosis of H. pylori among dyspeptic patients. Blood samples from 152 dyspeptic patients and 51 asymptomatic controls were analyzed in a case control study. IgG and IgA were positive in 33.5% and 41.1% respectively compared to 13.8% for both IgG and IgA in controls (P=0.002). We support the future use of serology as a non invasive, and rapid test for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection among dyspeptic patients in areas with low prevalence. Endoscopy remains the method of choice for elderly dyspeptic patients and for those with possible gastric or duodenal pathology.
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This is a retrospective analysis of the medical records of 116 patients who presented to the gastroenterology division, department of medicine at King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH) in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and subsequently had a histopathologic diagnosis of hepatic granulomas. Infections contributed to 56% and were represented mainly by schistosomiasis and to a lesser extent by tuberculosis, brucellosis and hydatid disease. Lymphomas (8%) were the major representative of noninfectious causes. The etiology of 25% of granulomas remained undetermined. Weight loss, fever, anorexia and abdominal pain were the most frequent presenting symptoms in 53, 45, 43 and 42% of patients, respectively. Ten percent of the patients were asymptomatic. Hepatomegaly and splenomegaly were the predominant physical findings in 55% and 43% of patients respectively. Hepatic granulomas in this study are mainly caused by infections. Schistosomiasis, tuberculosis and brucellosis represented the most common etiologic factors.
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PURPOSE: To determine the value and diagnostic accuracy of planar and SPECT Tc-99m-labeled red blood cell (Tc-99m RBC) scintigraphy in the investigation of suspected hepatic cavernous hemangioma as found on ultrasound. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred patients, 89 women (89%) and 11 men (11%), between 22 and 67 years old (mean age, 38 years) were evaluated for liver masses found on abdominal ultrasound. All the patients had previous Tc-99m RBC scintigraphy. The size of the lesions ranged from 1 to 9 cm. The final diagnosis was reached through cytologic biopsy, or histopathologic tests (or all of these). RESULTS: One hundred thirty lesions were found. With regard to the distribution of the lesions, 116 (89%) were single; 14 (3%) were multiple, with 118 (91%) in the right lobe and 12 (9%) in the left lobe; 83 (64%) were posterior; and 47 (36%) were anterior. With respect to the pattern of radioactivity fill-in, 86 (66%) lesions were typical and 44 (34%) were atypical. The results of Tc-99m RBC scintigraphy showed sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive and accuracy values of 97%, 83%, 98%, 77%, and 96% respectively. The use of SPECT improved the sensitivity value by 11% for lesions of 1 to 2 cm. CONCLUSIONS: Tc-99m RBC scintigraphy is the noninvasive technique most helpful in the diagnosis of hepatic hemangioma, especially in those at risk for lesion rupture or bleeding. SPECT should be performed whenever planar imaging fails to show the lesion by 2 hours. The use of ultrasound should precede scintigraphy for two important reasons: the size and the location of the lesion. Location of the lesion (anterior or posterior) is important for optimal gamma camera acquisition parameters. Lesions less than 1 cm are cannot be detected because they are beyond the limit of spatial resolution of the gamma camera we used.
Subject(s)
Erythrocytes , Hemangioma, Cavernous/diagnosis , Liver Neoplasms/diagnosis , Technetium , Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon , Adult , Aged , Female , Hemangioma, Cavernous/diagnostic imaging , Humans , Liver Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging , Male , Middle Aged , Predictive Value of Tests , Retrospective Studies , Sensitivity and Specificity , UltrasonographyABSTRACT
Full text is available as a scanned copy of the original print version.
ABSTRACT
Full text is available as a scanned copy of the original print version.
ABSTRACT
This is a retrospective study of 59 patients endoscoped over a period of six years at a private clinic and were found to have esophageal candidiasis. The median age was 46.38 years. Thirty (51 %) patients had no precipitating factors. Only 18 (30%) patients had typical symptoms. The distal part of the esophagus was more often involved. The thrush was scattered in 57 (97%) patients. The endoscopic finding was confirmed by cytology in all patients included. Symptoms improved on oral nystatin treatment and simultaneous treatment of associated conditions in all 46 patients followed up. In conclusion, esophageal candidiasis appear to be not uncommon among dyspeptic population. It presents more frequently with atypical symptoms and responds well to oral nystatin treatment.
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OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the value of radionuclide esophageal transit time (RET) in prediction of the results of pneumatic dilation in patients with achalasia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty patients (13 males) with a mean age of 37 +/- 15.6 years (range 17-73 years) were included in the study. All patients were diagnosed to have idiopathic achalasia of the cardia and selected for pneumatic dilation. Each patient had three RET, two the same day of dilation (pre-and postdilation) and a third follow up one within three months of dilation (4 patients failed to come for follow up and were excluded). RESULTS: Several parameters were derived from RET studies, T/50: time required for 50% of activity in the esophagus to be cleared, T/10 : time required for 90% of activity in the esophagus to be cleared and percentage clearance at 10 min. These parameters were compared to response of dysphagia to dilation. It was evident that the higher the esophageal clearance postdilation, the better the outcome. When immediate post dilation clearance was 85% or more the success rate was 83.3% whereas when it was 20-50% the success rate was only 21.4%. No relation was found between T/50, T/10 and dysphagia response. CONCLUSION: RET appears to be a useful quantitative procedure in the assessment of pneumatic dilation outcome in achalasia patients.
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OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of 99mTc-red blood cell scintigraphy in the diagnosis of hepatic cavernous hemangiomas. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Sixty three patients, 56 females (89%) and 7 males (1 I%), with ages between 22 and 54 years (median 33 years) were investigated for liver masses found on ultrasonography of the abdomen. All the patients had undergone 99mTc-liver-spleen scan followed by 99mTc-red blood cells scintigraphy. The size of the lesions ranged between 3 and 9 cm. The final diagnosis was reached through cytology, and/or histopathology or follow up for more than 3 years. RESULTS: A total of 70 lesions were found as a single lesion in 60 patients and multiple (i.e. total of 10 lesions) in the other 3 patients. The results of 99mTc-red blood cells scintigraphy, compared to the results of the final diagnosis, showed sensitivity and specificity rates of 100% and 89% respectively, positive and negative predictive values of 98% and 100% respectively, and accuracy rate of 98.6%. A single false positive case was a hepatocellular carcinoma. CONCLUSION: 99mTc- red blood cell scintigraphy is highly accurate in the diagnosis of liver cavernous hemangioma and should characterize liver mass found on ultrasonography and suspected for hemangioma.
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BACKGROUND/AIM: Several studies have indicated that there are certain predictive factors (gender, duration of infection with HCV, cirrhosis and genotype of HCV) of a better response with alpha-interferon treatment in patients with chronic hepatitis C. The aim of this study was to evaluate these factors in Saudis and other Arab nationals with chronic hepatitis C-genotype 4-undergoing alpha-interferon treatment. METHODOLOGY: A multicenter study was conducted between 1992 and 1994 on 80 consecutive patients who were prospectively recruited and randomized in treatment and control groups. RESULTS: The results of this multicenter study indicated a low response rate to alpha-interferon with an overall response rate of 43%, of which 28% was complete. The sustained response was only 16%. Among the reasons for this low response in our study are the high percentage of patients with cirrhosis and the long infection interval, as about 80% of our HCV cases were community-acquired. CONCLUSION: Liver cirrhosis was found to be the main predetermining factor for response to interferon treatment. Genotype 4 was not a contributing factor to the difference in response rate.
Subject(s)
Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use , Hepacivirus/genetics , Hepatitis C, Chronic/therapy , Interferon-alpha/therapeutic use , Adult , Female , Hepatitis C, Chronic/epidemiology , Hepatitis C, Chronic/virology , Humans , Interferon alpha-2 , Liver Cirrhosis/epidemiology , Male , Middle Aged , Prospective Studies , Recombinant Proteins , Saudi Arabia/epidemiology , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) has been found valuable in situations where obstructing stones in the common bile or intrahepatic ducts are retained following surgery or attempted endoscopic removal. However, success rates are dependent on the type of ESWL system employed and upon a high frequency rate of repeated treatment sessions. We outline our experience with 23 cases of retained, obstructing bile duct stones, ranging in size from 10 to 40 mm diameter, treated with Dornier HM3 ESWL. In the initial 12 patients in the series, successful stone fragmentation occurred in 83% of cases with a median 1.6 treatment sessions. In the latter 11 cases in the series, patients were treated prone and the stone-bearing biliary duct was irrigated with saline solution during ESWL delivery. With this technique, successful stone break up was achieved in all patients (100%) with a single treatment session. Endoscopic sphincterotomy is, however, a prerequisite for extracorporeal lithotripsy and, despite the high success rates now available with new techniques, we believe the ESWL should continue to be employed in support of primary endoscopic methods of management for obstructing bile duct stones.
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There is no specific treatment for acute pancreatitis. Majority of patients with acute pancreatitis respond to medical therapy. Supportive measures and close observations represent the cornerstone of the medical therapy. Failure to respond to medical treatment may indicate choledocholithiasis or infected necrosis. Endoscopic papillotomy with stone retrieval is beneficial in patients with severe biliary pancreatitis. Image-guided fine needle aspiration and bacteriological examination of aspirate is reliable in detecting infection and deliniating causative pathogen. Surgical debridement is the method of choice for treatment of infected necrosis. In contrast, in pancreatic abscess, surgery is preserved for those, who do not respond to percutaneous drainage combined with antibiotics. The benefit of antisecretory and antiproteolytic agents is debatable. A combination of antioxidants, calcium channel antagonists and antibiotics may play a major role in the treatment of acute pancreatitis in the future.
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Over a period of six years 16 patients presented to Dr. Al Mofarreh's polyclinic with drug--induced esophageal ulcerations. One patient had esophagitis without ulcerations and two patients, who declined endoscopy were not included in this analyzis. The mean age of the remaining 13 patients was 28.92 +/- 10.39 years. The mean ulcers number was 3.69 +/- 2.76. The ulcers were located at the mid-esophagus, 29.23 +/- 3.94 cm from the incisors teeth. Odynophagea, retrosternal pain and dysphagea in 13 (100%), 12 (92%) and 9 (69%) patients, respectively, were the most frequent presenting symptoms. All patients took a doxycycline preparation at bed time with little water. The mean elapse between the drug intake and endoscopy was 7.85 +/- 9.96 days. The symptoms resolved within a maximum of one week of antireflux treatment despite the continuation of doxycycline therapy in three patients with brucellosis. The current data confirmed the role of oral doxycycline intake, the timing and the amount of concurrent fluid in the etiology of esophageal ulcerations.
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The past few years have witnessed a tremendous progress in our knowledge regarding the pathogenesis, diagnosis, prognostic evaluation and classification of acute pancreatitis. The role of ischemia, lysosomal enzymes, oxygen free radicals, polymorphnuclear cells-byproducts and inflammatory mediators in the pathogenesis of pancreatic necrosis and multiple organ failure has been emphasized. Furthermore, the recent knowledge about agents infecting pancreatic necrosis, routes of infection, bacteriological examination of fine needle aspirate and appropriate antibiotics have changed the concept of acute pancreatitis. New diagnostic tests such as rapid urinary trypsinogen-2 test and inflammatory mediators including polymorphnuclear elastase, C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 contribute to early diagnosis, prognostic evaluation and initiation of an appropriate therapy.
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BACKGROUND/AIMS: The availability of fiberoptic endoscopy has made it relatively easy to evaluate symptoms of upper gastrointestinal disorders with a significant degree of accuracy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To determine the pattern of upper gastrointestinal lesions in the Saudi population with particular reference to the influence of age and gender, 10,112 patients were studied. RESULTS: No abnormal findings were detected in 26.9%. The frequency of ulcer lesions was 13.7% while non-ulcer, mucosal inflammation was diagnosed with a frequency of 33.7%. In the young (less than 20 years of age), the most common lesion was duodenal ulcer or duodenitis, whereas in the elderly (above 60 years of age), esophagitis, hiatus hernia and esophageal varices were the most frequently diagnosed. The highest mean ages were observed in the group of patients with gastric and esophageal cancers (mean ages of 58.8 and 65.1 years, respectively). There was no gender-related differences with regard to the mean age of patients in all the diagnostic categories. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides baseline data on the age distribution of major upper gastrointestinal diseases among the Saudi population. The peculiarities of upper gastrointestinal endoscopic findings in advanced age are clarified. The influence of demographic changes on the pattern of these diseases in Saudi Arabia can be evaluated against our findings in the future.
Subject(s)
Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal , Gastrointestinal Diseases/epidemiology , Age Factors , Aged , Female , Gastrointestinal Diseases/diagnosis , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Saudi Arabia/epidemiology , Sex FactorsABSTRACT
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of endoscopic treatment in patients with biliary leak. The study was performed at King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh. We used retrospective analysis of the complete records of 18 patients with biliary leak treated endoscopically over a period of 10 years. The mean age was 41.11 +/- 14.54 years. Ten were male. The leak was complicating cholecystectomy, biliary surgery for hydatid cysts and road traffic accidents in 15, two and one patients. Of the 17 patients cystic duct remnant in 11, common bile duct in three and intrahepatic duct in four patients. Of the 17 patients who had endoscopic papillotomy (EPT), this procedure was combined with stenting in 11, with stone retrieval in two, with stone retrieval and stenting in three and with dilatation of a stricture in one patient. Another patient was treated with a stent without papillotomy. In all patients, the leak healed and the stent was removed after a mean stenting duration of 65.12 +/- 41.89 days. No complications were encountered in this group of patients. Endoscopic management of biliary leak is a simple, safe and effective therapeutic method. Therefore, we recommend its application as first-line management of biliary leaks.