Biomedical subjects
K Luey
Publications and source records attributed to K Luey.
Once-nightly treatment with pirenzepine or cimetidine for peptic ulcers: a multicentre, randomised, double blind, controlled study.
Sixty-nine patients with symptomatic and endoscopically diagnosed gastric or duodenal ulcers received treatment with either pirenzepine 100 mg or cimetidine 800 mg one hour before bedtime in a prospective randomised, double blind study. Fifty-five patients completed the six weeks treatment period of whom 13/15 (87%) gastric ulcers and 13/16 (81%) duodenal ulcers, healed with pirenzepine compared to 8/11 (73%) gastric ulcers and 10/13 (77%) duodenal ulcers treated with cimetidine for the same period. The differences in healing rates between pirenzepine and cimetidine were not statistically significant. Pirenzepine 100 mg administered at night is therefore an effective treatment for gastric and duodenal ulcers.
Comparison of three methods to estimate steatorrhoea.
Faecal fat excretion was estimated in 24 patients using three methods. Quantitative estimations of fat excretion were calculated from both a three day faecal fat collection and a twenty-four hour faecal collection corrected for excretion of a cuprous thiocyanate marker. Breath 14CO2 excretion was measured after ingestion of a liquid meal containing 2.5 microCi of 14C-triolein in an arachis oil emulsion. Peak concentrations of 14CO2 in breath were used as an estimate of the degree of fat absorption. Correlation between the two quantitative measures of faecal fat was good (r = 0.87), 17 patients having steatorrhoea of more than 7 g fat per day by both estimations. Results of the breath test were disappointing. With the standard meal containing 20 g arachis oil the lowest peak 14CO2 excretion rate seen in subjects without steatorrhoea, 3 percent of the dose per hour, was taken as the lower limit of normal. Seven subjects with steatorrhoea as shown by faecal collections excreted normal amounts of 14CO2. When the size of the fat meal was increased to 1.0 g arachis oil per kg body weight in 16 of the subjects previously studied, all patients with proven steatorrhoea excreted less than 3 percent of the dose per hour but three of the subjects without steatorrhoea gave abnormal breath excretion results. It is concluded that the collection of a 24 hour faecal specimen using a cuprous thiocyanate marker provides a more reliable estimate of faecal fat excretion than the 14C-triolein breath test.
Hepatitis B antigen--a survey in a major metropolitan hospital.
The prevalence of hepatitis B antigen in blood donors in the Wellington Hospital region is 0-27%. A retrospective survey of 66 persons found by the Wellington Hospital Laboratory to be hepatitis B antigen positive between September, 1971 and August, 1975, showed that over this period there has been a consistent decline in the number of new antigen positive cases found per year. This appears to be due to a decline in the numbers originating in the renal unit. A liver biopsy was taken in only one case and this showed chronic persisting hepatitis. Apart from the renal unit, high risk patients and staff are not tested regularly for hepatitis B antigen. Regular testing of laboratory staff and patients and staff of the cardiothoracic and haematology departments is recommended.
Watery diarrhoea (WDHA) syndrome associated with carcinoma of the lung.
A patient with bronchial carcinoma presented with profuse watery diarrhoea, hypokalaemia and hypochlorhydria. Laparotomy appeared to exclude the usual cause, a pancreatic islet-cell tumour. Relief of the diarrhoea was achieved only with prednisone therapy. Evidence is adduced to implicate a humoral factor produced by the tumour, although in this case, the serum VIP level was not elevated.