No abstract

In 3,399 patients more than 40 years of age undergoing air-contrast enema examinations a prospective evaluation was done for the presence of colonic lymphoid follicles. In 3,315 patients there was no evidence of lymphoid follicles. Colonic neoplasms were diagnosed in 8.47% of these individuals. Eighty-four patients were found to have radiographically identifiable follicles. Fifty-eight of these 84 patients (69%) with lymphoid follicles had a synchronous (n = 19) or previous (n = 14) colonic neoplasm or a synchronous (n = 24) or previous (n = 1) colonic polyp. There were no consistent clinical or radiographic features that distinguished the patients with and without a neoplastic association. However, 90% of men with lymphoid follicles had associated neoplasms, whereas only 58% of women did. Because of the frequent association, detection of colonic lymphoid follicles in patients in this age group should lead to a vigorous search for subtle colonic neoplasms that may not be apparent because of technical limitations of the study.

No abstract

Test antigens prepared respectively from adult and from larval Trichina were compared by means of the complement fixation test on serum from rabbits infected experimentally with varying numbers of Trichinae. While significant levels of reactivity with “adult” antigen were shown to occur, it had no apparent advantage over the “larval” antigen in the early detection of antibodies.

Radiotherapy departments are becoming sophisticated in working with computers for isodose computations, treatment machine verifications and administrative and medical records. The next step lies in computer-assisted medical decision making. The logic for a patient's diagnostic work-up and treatment protocol can be stored in a computer. It can then be used as an aid in making the diagnosis, in prescribing the treatment and for quality control. For patients who fit established protocols the computer can select and list treatment using the logic of that protocol. Such a system has been implemented for the postoperative radiotherapy of breast cancer on a trial basis. Its potential usefulness is illustrated by results in 25 consecutive patients. Physician acceptance and costs of the program are under investigation.