No abstract

Documentation of tongue movement during swallowing has been restricted to the recording of fluorographic or ultrasound images on cine- or videofilm. The new approach of temporal sonographic imaging with reconstruction of one single image for the total act of swallowing presents a direct approach to obtaining substantial information concerning tongue movements and motility. The applicability of this reconstructed image for the documentation, interpretation, and comparison of tongue movements is demonstrated using examples of normal and pathologic swallowing.

Nitrite and nitrosamine concentrations have been measured in 108 patients undergoing gastroscopy as a part of routine gastrointestinal investigations. The nitrite and nitrosamine values of 20 patients with duodenal and 11 patients with benign gastric ulcer were within the range of the values of 26 normal subjects. The nitrite and nitrosamine concentrations in 32 patients with inflammatory changes of the gastric mucosa were slightly higher than normal values and correlated with the progressive degrees of the severity. In 19 patients with atrophic gastritis the concentrations of nitrite and nitrosamines were significantly elevated in comparison with those of all other groups. Our data suggest a relationship between the constant exposure of an already damaged gastric mucosa to N-nitroso compounds and the known high incidence of gastric cancer in atrophic gastritis.

Intragastric bacterial growth and nitrite and nitrosamine formation were investigated in animal experiments after different surgical procedures of ulcer management with regard to carcinogenesis in the operated stomach. The operative procedures resulted in an alteration in the gastric flora with an increase and predominance of nitrate-reducing bacteria. There was an increase in the intragastric nitrite and nitrosamine concentration corresponding to the increase in nitrate-reducing bacteria. All three parameters showed the greatest increase after gastric resection, whereas there were no significant differences after vagotomy with pyloroplasty, compared with a control group. These findings in animal experiments are of etiopathological relevance to the known danger of cancer in the resected human stomach and should be taken into consideration when choosing a procedure for surgical ulcer therapy.

Both surgical techniques appear to be equivalent in terms of postoperative voice function. However, the tracheotomy was avoided in the patients undergoing laser surgery.