The effect of AS-4370 on gastric emptying was investigated in healthy adults using 99mTc-DTPA. Single doses of AS-4370 2.5, 5 or 10 mg or placebo were administered to 12 subjects in a controlled, double-blind, cross-over study. Tests were performed twice weekly in each subject. Thirty min after administration of test drug or placebo, each subject swallowed a bun and orange juice containing 200 microCi nuclide. The radioactivity of the gastric content was measured for 40 min and the activity of the residue was expressed as a percentage of count at the initiation of measurements. The percentage radioactivity, AUC and gastric emptying time fitted by a power exponential curve, were analyzed. No significant difference was observed between the three dose levels of AS-4370 and placebo in half emptying time. However, decreases in the percentage of radioactivity with time were noted; 5 mg at 10 to 16 min and 10 mg at 8 to 24 min after the start of recording. Lower AUCs after 5 mg and 10 mg compared to placebo were also found. The half emptying time was also shorter after 5 mg and 10 mg than placebo. There was no difference in these parameters between 2.5 mg and placebo. The results indicate that AS-4370 5 and 10 mg but not 2.5 mg accelerates gastric emptying in healthy adults.

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An 81-year-old female was admitted to hospital with anemia and abdominal discomfort, however, various pre-operative diagnostic work-ups for the gastro-intestinal tract revealed no significant change. At the time of surgery, a small intestinal tumor was discovered by means of endoscopy and seven centimeters of ileum was radically resected. The tumor was subsequently diagnosed histopathologically as hemangioendothelioma. The patient recovered quickly and now, 6 years later, has had no sign of tumor recurrence. The incidence of this tumor is reportedly less than 3 per cent of all tumors found in the small intestine and the prognosis of this tumor in the small intestine is poor. A five-year-survival rate can be referred to only 33.3 per cent of the reported cases.

We report herein an extremely rare case of retroperitoneal neuroblastoma occurring in a mother during her third trimester of pregnancy. A live male infant was delivered by cesarean section at 36 weeks gestation and 23 days later, the mother's tumor was curatively resected. Six months have elapsed since her operation and there has been no evidence of tumor recurrence. Adult neuroblastoma is an uncommon malignancy and, to our knowledge, there has been no case of this tumor occurring in pregnancy ever described in the English literature. The diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of this neoplasm and its association with pregnancy are discussed in this report.