Although Trasylol has been available for the treatment of acute pancreatitis for 15 years a review of the lberature reveals that its effectiveness has never been eithef proved or disproved. A prospective double blind controlled trial was therefore started in 1967. The results are now reported. One hundred and five patients were studied. They provided a uniform clinical material and all were managed on an identical strict protocol except that patients received either Trasylol A or B, allotted in sequence using random numbers. At the conclusion of the acute episode the illness was assessed according to criteria which were not open to observer variation and each attack was categorized as mild, moderate, severe or fatal. The trial showed that there was a mortality o f 4 out of 53 cases (7.5 per cent) in group A and 13 out of 52 cases (25 per cent) in group B. Statistically this diflerence is signifcant (f = 4675, d.J = I , P = 0.05). The code was then broken and this revealed that group A had received the active Trasylol. Analysis of age patterns showed that in the Trasylol-treatedgroup the usual tendency for mortality to rise with advancing age was abolished. Trasylol must therefore be regarded as a drug which is beneficial in the treatment of acute pancreatitis.

SREs are common and impact on patient's morbidity. Our results highlight the need for prospective studies exploring the role of prophylactic strategies to prevent/delay SREs.

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8 previously untreated patients with Stage III and Stage IV prostatic cancer who had had the bulk of their primary tumour removed by transurethral resection, and residual tumour suppressed by bilateral total orchidectomy, were given adjuvant immunotherapy by direct injection of B.C.G. into the prostate. The pyrexial reaction to, and the histological changes from B.C.G. have been more marked in the patients whose disease is no longer controlled by conventional therapy. Granulomas have been found in the lungs, liver, myocardium, spleen and bone marrow. Granulomas in carcinomatous areas have been associated with tumour cell degeneration.