E. Rhys Davies

A comparison of ultrasonic and isotope scanning in the diagnosis of liver disease

Abstract Scintiscans using technetium 99m sulphur colloid, and ultrasonic scans were carried out on 99 patients. Twentythree had normal livers, 21 had cirrhosis, 15 had tumour in the liver, six had obstructive jaundice, seven had fatty livers, five had abnormal livers without histological confirmation, six had cysts or abscesses of the liver, ten had miscellaneous conditions and in six one or other scan was unsatisfactory. In the normal group only two patients had abnormal scans by both methods, although ten had an abnormal isotope scan. In patients with cirrhosis both scans were usually abnormal. When tumour was present in the liver it was usually detected by the scintiscan, but in only half the ultrasonic scans could this abnormality be distinguished from that produced by obstructive jaundice or cirrhosis of the liver. The ultrasonic scan could distinguish cystic from solid lesions in the liver whereas the scintiscan could not.

The acid-barium test as an index of intermittent gastro-oesophageal reflux

Abstract The common symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux are heartburn and regurgitation and these are often readily recognizable. Reflux is also one of the causes of several other symptoms, e.g. globus pharyngis, chronic laryngitis and pulmonary fibrosis, and the knowledge that reflux is present may be of paramount clinical importance in these conditions. Conventional radiographic tests of reflux during barium meal examinations are unreliable, and pH monitoring and manometric tests are not practicable for routine use. In the acid-barium test, oesophageal peristalsis is observed during perfusion with barium sulphate suspension containing 0·35 per cent hydrochloric acid (pH 1·7). Delayed emptying and non-peristaltic contractions are the indicators of a positive test. The test was done in 350 patients and the results compared with the clinical evidence of reflux. The test correlated only moderately well with the clinical features, mainly because of unexpected positive tests in patients without other eviden...

Placental localization: a comparison of isotopic and ultrasonic placentography

Abstract Two-hundred-and-ninety patients were investigated using both isotopic and ultrasonic methods in order to determine accurate placental localization: results are compared.

The plight of radiologists in Russia

Dr. Maria Slepak is alive, not very well and living at the moment in Moscow. Colleagues may know that she is a radiologist who has been convicted of “malicious hooliganism” because she and her husband had displayed a poster on the balcony of their flat demanding their long-refused right to emigrate and rejoin their family. This means that at any time, even near the end of her sentence, she can be sent to a labour camp for three years. She had four days notice of her trial, shortly after discharge from hospital where she had treatment for exacerbation of a duodenal ulcer. You may also have read that her husband Vladimir, an electronics engineer, was exiled to Siberia to menial work for five years on June 21, 1978 on a similar charge. She will probably be permitted to join him.