A series of 90 patients with intussusception of the rectum (internal procidentia) has been studied. In 11 per cent of the patients there was also an enterocele and in 3 per cent, a large proctocele. Forty patients were operated upon by the Ripstein procedure. Indications for operation were, in most cases, incontinence for gas and/or feces. Seventy-five per cent of the preoperatively incontinent patients were, at follow-up 2 to 10 years after operation, continent. When indications for surgery were pain and or a sensation of obstruction, the results were poor; most of these patients had unchanged symptoms postoperatively, and some even had increased symptoms. There was one postoperative death. Of 50 patients treated conservatively during a period of 2 to 10 years, only two had to be operated upon: one due to the development of a rectal prolapse and the other due to severe pain and an increased sensation of obstruction.

99mTc-HIDA cholescintigraphy was performed in 6 patients with Dubin-Johnson syndrome and 1 patient with Rotor syndrome. In the patients with Dubin-Johnson syndrome, the cholescintigrams had a characteristic pattern of delayed visualization or nonvisualization of the gallbladder and bile ducts in the presence of intense, homogeneous, and prolonged visualization of the liver. In the patient with Rotor syndrome, the hepatobiliary system was not visualized at all. It is concluded that 99mTc-HIDA cholescintigraphy may be helpful in the diagnosis of Dubin-Johnson syndrome and Rotor syndrome and in the differential diagnosis between these two conditions.

Specimens from 47 cases of anal squamous-cell carcinoma were examined in Stockholm county (1978 to 1981) with respect to clinical stage (43 cases), histologic grade (41 cases), and DNA content of the tumor cells (31 cases). Follow-up ranged from four to seven years (median, 5.5 years). The increased mortality in advanced stage and high-grade lesions was significant. Analysis of DNA content showed that most tumors were aneuploid. No statistically significant effect of DNA content on survival could be demonstrated. Thus, histologic grade and clinical stage seem to be the best predictors of patient outcome in squamous-cell carcinoma of the anus.

SUMMARY In order to evaluate the effect of somatostatin in the treatment of massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding a randomised double blind trial of 95 patients has been undertaken during a 28 months period. Patients with oesophageal varices have been excluded as well as patients with diabetes. All patients were endoscoped within eight hours of admission to the hospital, whereupon the source of bleeding and types of stigmata were assessed. Forty six patients, chosen at random, were given a 72 hour infusion of somatostatin, while the remaining 49 patients received infusion of placebo. The two groups were well matched for sex, age, and source of bleeding. On the day after admission, an additional endoscopy was performed at which eight patients in the somatostatin group and 16 in the placebo group were found to have a persistent bleeding. A total of five patients in the somatostatin group and 14 in the placebo group underwent surgery (Fisher's exact test, 2-tail, p=004). Rebleeding occurred in six patients in the somatostatin group, of whom five experienced rebleeding after completion of the somatostatin treatment. In the placebo group, rebleeding occurred in five patients, of whom four rebled on the day after admission. The need for blood transfusions and the mortality rate did not differ significantly between the two groups. No toxic side effects were found as a result of the infusion of somatostatin. In this study, somatostatin reduced the number of patients needing surgery with massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding.The mortality rate in massive upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage is still high especially in elderly patients. Neither the use of medication (cimetidine, 12 tranexamic acid2 3) nor endoscopic treatment (Nd-YAG4 5 or Argon laser,6 7 electrocoagulation8) has proved sufficiently beneficial to be used routinely.Somatostatin has been shown to be a potent inhibitor of gastric secretion of acid, pepsin, and intrinsic factor.Y"1 The peptide inhibits both basal and hormone induced secretion when administered by intravenous route, and the basal gastric secretion when administered intragastrically.'2 It also has a stimulative effect on gastric mucous production.'3 Splanchnic blood flow decreases after intravenous infusion of somatostatin.14 lS In addition, somato-