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Biomedical subjects

D M Larson

Publications and source records attributed to D M Larson.

79 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Medical and surgical therapy in diverticular disease: a comparative study.

The course of 132 patients with documented acute diverticulitis was analyzed: 99 patients treated medically and 33 patients treated surgically were followed for an average of 9.2 years. Seventy-three per cent of the medical group and 79% of the surgical group had no further symptoms or hospital admissions as a result of their diverticular disease once they were recovered from the acute episode. For three-quarters of the patients, therefore, acute diverticulitis occurred as a single episode that responded to either medical or surgical management. Considering the morbidity and cost to the patient, the treatment of the patient recovered from acute diverticulitis should be medical, with operation reserved for complications.

Adult↗

Brain tumor imaging in rats using the positron emitting fatty acid dl-erythro-9,10-[18F]difluoropalmitate.

Positron emitting dl-erythro-9,10[18F]difluoropalmitate, [18F]DFPA, was synthesized for the in vivo imaging of brain tumors in rats. Male Fischer 344 rats were intracerebrally implanted with Walker 256 carcinosarcoma tumor cells (1 x 10(6) in 5 microliters tissue culture media) and 7 days later were infused with [18F]DFPA (500-1000 mCi/mmol) i.v. for 5 min. Rats were killed after 20 min. Brains were removed and either prepared for autoradiography, or brain and tumor were separated and their radioactivity quantified by gamma spectroscopy. Brain tumors were well demarcated from surrounding and normal brain in autoradiographs, and closely paralleled tumor growth in histological sections. The mean optical density of tumor was significantly greater, by 318 +/- 68 per cent (P less than 0.025, n = 3), than normal brain in autoradiographs, and that of edematous brain surrounding a large tumor was intermediately increased. [18F]DFPA proved of value to image and circumscribe intracerebral tumors in awake rats, and studies are continuing to facilitate its clinical application in brain tumor patients.

Animals↗

Biological effects of ingested amosite asbestos, taconite tailings, diatomaceous earth and Lake Superior water in rats.

Because amphibole fibers were found in Lake Superior and in Duluth municipal water, this study was initiated to evaluate the carcinogenicity of ingested asbestos. Groups of 22-30 Sprague-Dawley rats were fed asbestos and related materials during their lifetime and were examined at autopsy after spontaneous death. Test materials were unfiltered Duluth city tap water, municipal water reservoir sediment suspension, taconite plant tailings, amosite asbestos (a "low-dose" group at 20 mg/rat . day an a high-dose group at 300 mg/rat . day) and diatomaceous earth; a control group drank fiber-free well water or filtered city tap water. Autopsy studies revealed no significant increase in the incidence of malignant tumors in any experimental group compared with that in the control group.

Animals↗