Jejunoileal bypass for obesity--what can we learn from a literature study?

A computerized search was made of all publications on jejunoileal bypass for obesity, recorded in Index Medicus during 1963 to 1977. A total of 171 references, dealing with 6319 patients were usable for the purpose. Fifty-three variables were registered. The great majority of publications is American and published since 1972. Only 20% are joint publications from collaborating surgical and medical departments. The study draws attention to a number of quantitative and qualitative deficiencies in the data and to the less expedient way they are sometimes presented. Principally, this applies to patient number and description, length of observation time, and frequency of complications. Lack of specified criteria for surgical eligibility is common, as is ambiguity in conclusion. It is suggested that recommendations, positive or negative, reflect the authors' subjective attitude, as they are apparently made from the same objective data.

Fatal outcome after jejunoileal bypass for obesity.

A review of all literature on jejunoileal bypass for obesity disclosed 282 deaths, corresponding to a mortality rate of 4.2 percent. This rate has been fairly constant through the last 8 years. The causes of death and the postoperative duration are quantified. Pulmonary embolism, mostly early, and liver disease, sometimes late, dominate among the numerous causes of death. Details are too scarcely reported to allow guidance to better results.

Prolonged T1 in patients with liver cirrhosis: an in vivo MRI study.

Fifteen patients with liver cirrhosis and two control groups were examined. The first control group consisted of 7 healthy volunteers, and the second group of 17 patients with nonfocal liver diseases. The T1 and T2 relaxation times were calculated from signal intensities read out from a region of interest centrally located in the liver. T1 relaxation time was longer in the patients with liver cirrhosis than in the two reference groups. Ten patients had a liver biopsy taken prior to the MRI study. No correlation was found between histopathology and the measured relaxation times.

Determination of T1- and T2-relaxation times in the spleen of patients with splenomegaly.

Twenty-nine patients with known splenomegaly and seven healthy volunteers were examined. The T1 and T2 relaxation times were read out from a region of interest centrally in the spleen. Even though different mean T1 and T2 relaxation times were found between the groups, the great scatter and the considerable overlap between the groups makes the contribution of relaxation time measurements to the differential diagnosis of splenomegaly of limited value.

Serum-gastrin in cirrhosis.

Fifty patients with cirrhosis of the liver had gastrin concentrations in serum above normal when measured in the fasting state. Hypergastrinaemia predominated in non-alcoholic cirrhosis. In both groups of patients, serum gastrin levels were higher in patients with inactive cirrhosis than when cirrhosis was slightly active.