Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to N A Romas.
This report details 2 patients with unusable bladders whose renal allografts were anastomosed to an existent end cutaneous ureterostomy. The literature on renal allotransplants into intestinal conduits is reviewed. Use of existent, mature end cutaneous ureterostomies is suggested as an alternative to an intestinal conduit in patients with unusable bladders who require renal allografts.
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Acid phosphatase was the first "tumor marker" to be measured in the blood, and over 40 years have passed since an elevation of the serum acid phosphatase level was observed in patients with prostatic carcinoma. However, significant elevations in the level of this enzyme have been observed in other diseases, as well as elevations of other tissue phosphatases. Many improvements in the colorimetric technique have been introduced, but none has been used successfully to detect the tissue origin of this ubiquitous enzyme. The finding that prostatic acid phosphatase is antigenically distinct from acid phosphatase of other tissues opened a new horizon in the measurement of acid phosphatase in prostatic cancer. On the basis of this immunochemical specificity, several immunoassays have been employed for determining the prostatic acid phosphatase level.
This clinical study was undertaken to demonstrate the feasibility of free transfer of undescended human testes with microvascular anastomoses. We have performed 4 microvascular free transfers of such testes in children aged 5, 6, and 8 years, with follow-up periods of one to three years. All 4 testes have remained clinically viable. The final proof of functional viability will have to await puberty, of course.
Comparisons of the bone marrow and serum acid phosphatase values obtained by counterimmunoelectrophoresis and the Roy biochemical test were made in 72 patients with and in 13 patients without prostatic cancer. The counter-immunoelectrophoresis test, when positive at more than 1 international unit per liter, showed only 4.4% falsely positive results. The Roy biochemical test, which uses sodium thymolphthalein monophosphate as the substrate, had 65% falsely positive bone marrow acid phosphatase levels. Conflicting reports regarding the value of bone marrow acid phosphatase determinations in patients with prostatic cancer result from the use of non-specific substrates in biochemical methods for measurement and from the trauma incidental to bone marrow aspiration, which releases many non-prostatic acid phosphatase enzymes. The use of immunoassay such as counter-immunoelectrophoresis minimizes this source of error.
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An immunochemical method for detection of prostatic acid phosphatase is described. Acid phosphatase was obtained from benign human prostatic tissue. A specific antiserum to this enzyme was produced in rabbits. A counter immunoelectrophoretic method utilizing the specific antiserum with a chemical staining technique has been developed. Clinical trials have indicated the usefulness of this method for the specific determination of prostatic acid phosphatase.
Intra-abdominal tests cannot be completely brought down into the scrotum by conventional methods. Four intra-abdominal testes in 3 patients underwent successful orchiopexy by dividing the spermatic artery and vein near their origin and anastomosing these vessels to the inferior epigastric vessels with the use of microsurgical technique.
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A technique is recommended to repair urinary fistulas vaginally using a pedicle of labial fat to separate the urothelial and vaginal layers. The technique was used in 6 patients with vesicovaginal and 4 patients with urethrovaginal fistulas. Anatomic results were successful in all cases and stress incontinence was cured in all patients who had this coexistent condition.