Jiro Maruyama

Burns in a suicide attempt related to psychiatric side effects of interferon

A 50-year-old woman was admitted to our critical care center after pouring lamp oil on herself and setting herself on fire. Diagnosed with chronic hepatitis, she had received interferon-alpha at another hospital. During interferon therapy she developed anxiety, irritability, sleeplessness, and depression. At our hospital she underwent fluid resuscitation according to the method of Baxter. After treatment with topical cream and ointment, she underwent skin grafting. Interferon was not given. After discharge, wound healing proved satisfactory. She was intelligent and insightful, and her mental condition remained stable with no apparent emotional problems. As she had no significant past medical or psychiatric history and no history of substance abuse, we believe that her depression was a side effect of interferon therapy. A number of reports have described depression and other psychiatric disorders associated with interferon, but none of these accounts have concerned burns sustained in suicide attempts. This case underscores the potential seriousness of adverse reactions to interferon characterized by emotional disturbance and also illustrates that physicians who treat burn patients need to have an understanding of affective disorders and unusual side effects of medication.

Characteristics of bath-related burns in Japan

A retrospective study of bath-related burn injuries was carried out at our institution. A total of 216 patients with burns were admitted between 1982 and 1996. Bath-related burns were identified in 58 patients (26.9%). The number of patients with bath-related burns increased throughout the study period. The percentage body surface area burned was 43.8 +/- 25.7% in the bath-related burn group and 27.3 +/- 28.3% in the bath-unrelated burn group. This difference was significant. There was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to mortality rate. The mechanism by which the patients sustained a bath-related burn clearly differed according to age. The percentage of burns which are bath-related and the severity of bath-related burns are higher in Japan than in any other country. This can be attributed to lifestyle, bathing systems, bathroom architecture, housing conditions and an increase in the elderly population. These burns can be prevented. Education based on this study will play a critical role in the prevention of the bath-related burn injuries.

DMH induced cancer of rat in the ileum transposed into the colon.

SDラットの回腸を結腸間に有茎移植術を行ったのち, 1, 2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) 10mg/kg×16週を投与し, 大腸発癌の促進因子を解明しようとした.手術の影響を除外し, 回腸上皮の結腸化の可能性を検討するために, DMH投与開始時期を術後2週と16週に分けた. 術後2週の群, 16週の群ともにそれぞれ9.5%, 6.5%の頻度で結腸間に移植した回腸に発癌した. しかし対照群および移植群でも正常回腸には癌は認められなかった. このことから, 本来回腸にはDMH発癌に抵抗性であるが, 結腸間移植により発癌すること, 術後早期投与群では手術による促進作用, 晩期投与群では回腸粘膜の変化による発癌促進があることが推察された.