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Biomedical subjects

A G Cowie

Publications and source records attributed to A G Cowie.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Independent evaluation of impotence by colour Doppler imaging and cavernosometry.

Colour Doppler imaging and cavernosometry are the optimal means for objective assessment of pharmacologically induced penile erections. 21 impotent patients were assessed by both methods independent of the information derived from the other modality. The diagnosis obtained was found to be immediately consistent in only 10 cases, 7 of which had venous leakage. 6 of the remaining 11 patients had a diagnosis of mixed arterial and venous disease in one or the other modality, but only arterial or venous disease alone in the other. The remaining 5 patients had completely inconsistent diagnoses. However, knowledge of the clinical picture and awareness of the pitfalls in the diagnostic procedures allows most of the discrepancies to be explained. Colour Doppler imaging is subject to operator error but allows selection of patients for cavernosography.

Erectile Dysfunction↗
PubMed1988

Hyperparathyroidism after neck irradiation.

A retrospective review of 1550 cases of hyperparathyroidism (HPT) treated surgically over a 30-year period reveals a past history of exposure to neck irradiation in 10 cases (0.7 per cent). The indication for radiotherapy was benign disease in nine and papillary thyroid carcinoma in one case. The mean interval between radiation exposure and the detection of HPT was 32 years (range 3-63 years). Patients treated with radioactive iodine alone developed HPT after a mean of 5 years while the interval for those treated with external beam therapy alone was a mean of 44 years. The parathyroid histology was adenoma in six cases, carcinoma in three cases and nodular hyperplasia in one case. All patients had coincident benign thyroid disease apart from one that had previously had papillary carcinoma and another with follicular carcinoma. Neck irradiation has been shown to confer an increased risk of HPT due to parathyroid adenoma and carcinoma. Radiotherapy for benign disease has generally been abandoned and these cases demonstrate a further contra-indication for the use of neck irradiation.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Kidney mast cells, IgE and release of inflammatory mediators capable of altering renal haemodynamics.

Collagenase-dispersed human, guinea pig and rat kidney cells, actively or passively sensitized with IgE or IgG subclasses, released histamine, leukotriene C4 and thromboxane B2 on challenge with the specific antigen or antisera to mast-cell-sensitizing immunoglobulins. A similar reaction occurred in the isolated perfused kidney of sensitized guinea pigs, which additionally showed vasoconstriction. Mast cells were identified in cell suspensions and tissue sections. These findings provide support for the possible role of IgE and mast cells in renal pathophysiology.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Ureteric involvement with abdominal aortic aneurysm.

The clinical presentations of 3 patients found to have an abdominal aortic aneurysm with ureteric involvement have been described. The world literature concerning this problem and methods of surgical treatment have been reviewed. The importance of medial displacement of the ureters as an early diagnostic sign indicating the presence of an abdominal aortic aneurysm is again emphasised. The possibility of a relatively benign course for the aneurysm should be considered in patients with renal or cardiorespiratory complications. In such cases, treatment of the ureteric involvement alone is justified.

Aged↗
PubMed1976

Some observations on gallstones and bile composition.

A series of 31 consecutive patients undergoing surgery for gallstone disease has been studied and the composition of the gallstones and bile from the gallbladder and common duct determined. As a result of the stone analysis by the X-ray powder diffraction method, the patients were classified according to whether their stones consisted of cholesterol, calcium salts or a mixture of the two. The mean composition of the common duct bile for the groups with cholesterol and mixed stones was just outside the micellar region of cholesterol solubility. The gallbladder bile from the cholesterol group of stone-formers was also supersaturated, but the gallblader bile from the group of mixed stone-formers was undersaturated with respect to cholesterol. None of the patients forming gallstones of calcium salts showed any abnormality in the cholesterol content of their bile.

Bile↗
PubMed1975

Gallbladder function, cholesterol stones, and bile composition.

Gallbladder bile obtained at operation from five patients with no symptoms of biliary disease was undersaturated with cholesterol in every case. However, gallbladder bile from patients with stones composed of 97-100% crystalline cholesterol was on average just saturated with cholesterol when the gallbladder was functioning and undersaturated when it was not. Regardless of gallbladder function, the patients with stones had on average significantly more cholesterol in their bile than in the control group, but the differences between the mean composition of bile from functioning and non-functioning gallbladders were not significant. Common duct bile from patients with non-functioning and functioning gallbladders was on average supersaturated with cholesterol, but there was significantly more bile salt and significantly less cholesterol in the bile from patients with non-functioning gallbladders. Only in the case of patients with functioning gallbladders did the mean composition of the common duct and gallbladder biles differ significantly. The former contained significantly more cholesterol and less bile salt than the latter. It is suggested that patients with non-functioning gallbladders may be 'autocholecystectomised' with the duct bile reverting to a more 'normal' composition.

Bile↗
PubMed1975

Viscosity and osmolality of abnormal biles.

The mean osmolality of bile from the common bile duct is similar to that of bile obtained from the gallbladder of patients with non-functioning gallbladders, and both means are significantly lower than the mean of bile in functioning gallbladders. The mean viscosity of bile from both functioning and non-functioning gallbladders is on average considerably greater than that from the common bile duct, and the mean viscosity of bile from non-functioning gallbladders is greater than that from functioning ones. The presence of much mucus in gallbladders containing stones is likely to account for these differences in viscosity. The composition of the gallstones does not appear to have any influence on these observations, but the number of patients in each group is too small for the differences to be significant.

Bile↗