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Query: UMLS:C0085693 (acute appendicitis)
 3,606 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Hemorrhagic colitis due to Escherichia coli O157:H7 occurs sporadically but widely throughout North America. Radiographically this condition may mimic ischemic colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, acute appendicitis or appendiceal abscess. Correlation of radiologic and clinical findings is required to ensure diagnostic accuracy and avoid unnecessary surgical intervention.
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PMID:Hemorrhagic colitis caused by Escherichia coli O157:H7--unusual ultrasonographic and computed tomography findings. 145 Sep 77

The successful application of laparoscopic surgery to gallbladder disease and acute appendicitis has encouraged clinical investigators to develop this technology further in an attempt to manage other pathologic disorders of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. After gaining experience with various laparoscopic skills while performing clinical biliary tract surgery, appendectomy and then in a controlled animal laboratory, a pilot program for laparoscopic colonic surgery was initiated. Twenty patients with ages ranging from 43 to 88 years (mean age of 57 years) underwent laparoscope-assisted colon resection. In nine patients, a right hemicolectomy was performed and a sigmoid colectomy in eight. A low anterior resection, Hartman's procedure, and abdominal perineal resection were each performed in one patient. Indications for surgery were large villous adenomas or adenocarcinoma in 12, diverticular disease in 5, sigmoid endometrioma in 1, cecal volvulus in 1, and inflammatory bowel disease in 1. Eighty percent of patients were able to tolerate a liquid diet on the first postoperative day and 70% were discharged within 96 h eating a regular diet and having normal bowel movements. There were three operative complications: a 3 unit postoperative bleed managed without surgery, one patient developed marked edema of the rectosigmoid anastomosis requiring decompression with a rectal tube, and one individual with metastatic colon cancer was operated on for a mechanical small bowel obstruction 7 days after the initial laparoscopic surgery. Although laparoscope-assisted colonic surgery may still be considered a procedure in evolution, we feel that in time it has the potential to be as popular as laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
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PMID:Minimally invasive colon resection (laparoscopic colectomy). 168 89

One hundred patients with suspected acute abdominal inflammation were imaged at 0.5, 2-3, 4-6, and 24 hours after the administration of Tc-99m HMPAO labeled autologous leukocytes. Scan findings were retrospectively compared with final diagnosis, serum C-reactive protein (CRP), and antibiotic treatment. Clinical findings were confirmed with surgery, barium enema, or sigmoidoscopy in 61 patients, and diagnosis was based only on clinical findings in 13 patients. In 26 patients, symptoms subsided before a final diagnosis was made. Tc-99m leukocyte images were positive in 45 of the 61 patients with a confirmed diagnosis, including all patients with acute cholecystitis (N = 4) and inflammatory bowel disease (N = 8). They were also positive in nineteen out of 25 patients who had acute colonic diverticulitis and in 6 out of 7 who had intra-abdominal abscesses. Abnormal activity was found in patients with colonic carcinoma, small bowel infarction, and acute appendicitis. Abnormal activity was visualized in 0.5-hour images in all but one of the positive cases. With the exception of two postoperative cases, malignant lymphoma, and a liver abscess, a CRP level of greater than 75 mg/L was associated with positive image findings. Antibiotic treatment did not affect imaging findings. Imaging with Tc-99m labeled leukocytes appears to be valuable for detecting and localizing abdominal inflammation, and three-phase imaging during the first 4-6 hours is recommended. In some cases, 24-hour images may be useful for distinguishing small bowel from large bowel inflammation.
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PMID:Tc-99m labeled leukocytes in imaging of patients with suspected acute abdominal inflammation. 220 80

Suppurative mesenteric lymphadenitis is so rarely encountered and its symptoms and findings so nonspecific tht it has not yet been diagnosed preoperatively. It seems to occur mainly in children between the ages of 3 and 13 years and presents in a manner suggestive of acute appendicitis. A palpable mass may further support this diagnosis (peri-appendiceal abscess) or encourage the consideration of other diagnoses such as lymphoma or inflammatory bowel disease. Even at laparotomy the diagnosis may not be immediately obvious. The organism is usually a haemolytic streptococcus, but a variety of other organisms have also been isolated. In the second case reported here, a pure growth of Staphylococcus aureus was obtained. Treatment consists of operative drainage with incidental appendicectomy followed by a course of the appropriate antibiotic. The postoperative course is usually uneventful and recovery rapid. The aetiology and mechanisms still have to be explained.
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PMID:Suppurative mesenteric lymphadenitis in children. Case reports. 645 99

Due to controversial evaluation of the contribution of clinical signs for the diagnosing of non-specific inflammatory bowel disease, as well as due to the lack of similar data, we tried to find our own answer to the question as to whether the clinical signs of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (MC) are helpful, unhelpful, or even confusing for the diagnosis. A group of patients with MC and UC was analyzed from this aspect. Individuals in their twenties and thirties prevailed in the sample, mostly intellectual workers, the number of males and females was equal. Our attempt to analyze all the available diagnostic methods originated in an observation that a long period of health problems precedes the diagnosis of MC, namely 1.5 y in males and as long as 4 y in females. Other striking information was that surgery represented the initial treatment in 66% of cases and the correct diagnosis was made peroperatively only in 56% of cases. We compared our results with those of the OMGE study, one of the largest projects which evaluated positively the contribution of clinical signs to the diagnosing of MC and UC. We found that the main signs of CU have not changed in the last century, and some additional signs occur rather due to complications than due to the disease per se. Frequency of pain increased by 25% in our patients, and approximately 1/3 of it represented intermittent pain caused by tenesms. Pain in MC must be properly analyzed in order to discriminate acute appendicitis. Other indicators did not differ from the OMGE study. In accordance with its results, we confirmed the importance of correct evaluation of clinical signs for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of UC and MC. The number of diagnostic methods still increases. Their validity must be continuously re-evaluated, however the clinical examination in the dynamic process stays to be of crucial value.
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PMID:[What is the value of clinical symptoms in the diagnosis of nonspecific inflammatory bowel disease?]. 763 12

The diagnosis of abdominal infections and inflammations often presents considerable difficulty, and various imaging techniques may be required to localize them accurately. At present, radiolabelled leucocytes offer the most widely accepted radionuclide method for imaging inflammation. Because of the many advantages of technetium-99m (99mTc) over indium-111 (111In), 99mTc-HMPAO-leucocyte scintigraphy is preferred for the investigation of acute abdominal sepsis and inflammatory bowel disease, and 111In-leucocyte scintigraphy for more chronic infections and renal sepsis. The 99mTc-HMPAO-labelled leucocytes technique is highly accurate within the first few hours postinjection, and is therefore useful also in acutely ill patients. It is sensitive in detecting abdominal abscesses in all locations except the liver and spleen. By whole body imaging, unsuspected sites and types of infection can be found. 99mTc-HMPAO-leucocyte scan is valuable also in the investigation of acute cholecystitis in problematic situations in which ultrasound is known to give misleading results, especially in acute acalculous cholecystitis. In inflammatory bowel disease it can reliably assess disease activity, but a normal scintigraphy does not exclude mild inflammation. Leucocyte scan is useful also in suspected acute appendicitis, acute diverticulitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, aortic graft infection, etc. But infection and inflammation cannot reliably be differentiated, which may cause misinterpretations in the early postoperative period. Radionuclide techniques have an important role to play in the investigation of abdominal sepsis if the nuclear medicine department can offer instant investigations when the clinical problem is acute.
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PMID:Investigation of suspected intra-abdominal sepsis: the contribution of nuclear medicine. 797 41

Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is a potent cytokine for recruitment and activation of neutrophils. To visualize its distribution in the intestinal mucosa and to understand better its possible role in the induction and promotion of inflammatory bowel disease, expression of the IL-8 gene was analyzed in resected bowel segments of 14 patients with active Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. In situ hybridization with IL-8 anti-sense RNA probes revealed strong and specific signals in the histologically affected mucosa. The number of cells expressing IL-8 gene correlated with the histological grade of active inflammation. In accordance with the characteristic histological signs of active disease, IL-8-expressing cells were diffusely distributed over the entire affected mucosa in patients with ulcerative colitis, whereas in patients with Crohn's disease, IL-8-expressing cells showed a focal distribution pattern. Cells expressing IL-8 were mainly located at the base of ulcers, in inflammatory exudates on mucosal surfaces, in crypt abscesses, and at the border of fistulae. Analysis of semi-serial sections pointed to macrophages, neutrophils, and epithelial cells as possible sources of this cytokine in active inflammatory bowel disease. We consistently failed to detect IL-8 messenger RNA in the mucosa of uninvolved bowel segments and in normal-appearing control mucosa of patients with colon cancer. In contrast, tissue specimens from two patients with acute appendicitis displayed IL-8-expressing cells in the mucosa. These results support the notion that IL-8 plays and important but nonspecific role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease and that the production of IL-8 messenger RNA is restricted to areas with histological signs of inflammatory activity and mucosal destruction.
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PMID:Expression of interleukin-8 gene in inflammatory bowel disease is related to the histological grade of active inflammation. 817 48

The patient with acute abdominal pain presents the attending physician with a wide and varied gamut of diagnostic possibilities. Prompt and accurate diagnosis is essential for the proper care and management of these acutely ill patients. Diagnostic radiology is often an integral part of the emergent evaluation of these patients. This article focuses on some of the key plain-film findings in the patients suffering from acute abdominal pain of intestinal causes and reviews the radiologic evaluation of several major abdominal conditions such as acute appendicitis, diverticulitis, inflammatory bowel disease, bowel ischemia, and infarction.
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PMID:The radiologic evaluation of acute abdominal pain of intestinal origin. A clinical approach. 837 22

We present an immunohistochemical study of accessory cells in acute appendicitis and ulcerative colitis (UC). By comparing these two diseases, it is possible to distinguish between changes associated with inflammatory bowel disease and those resulting from nonspecific intestinal inflammation. Nine total colectomy specimens from patients with UC, in which the appendix was also involved, were compared with nine cases of acute appendicitis. Accessory cells were stained for CD68 (PGMI), ACPI (acid cysteine proteinase inhibitor), S100 protein, MAC387 (calgranulin), CD1a, factor XIIIa, and WR18 (HLA class II). In ulcerative colitis, but not acute appendicitis, there was extension of a network of S100 positive dendritic cells into the crptal mucosa, and these S100-positive dendritic cells were closely aligned with the epithelium. The epithelium in UC, but not in acute appendicitis, showed intense upregulation of HLA class II, and this was particularly marked at the crypt bases. Dendritic, MAC387-positive cells were seen only in UC. In both diseases there were abundant ACPI-positive accessory cells in the cryptal areas, a population normally restricted to the dome areas. Factor XIIIa- and PGM1-positive cells, although abundant in both conditions, had distributions similar to those that we had previously shown in normal controls. No CD1a-positive cells were identified in either UC or acute appendicitis. We hypothesize that S100 identifies a subpopulation of activated macrophages. The concentration of this subpopulation, in close contact with the epithelium, which also shows altered expression of HLA class II antigens, suggests that a component of the immune response is targeting this area in UC. In addition, we also suggest that the identification of MAC387-positive dendritic cells in UC reflects increased macrophage turnover in inflammatory bowel disease.
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PMID:The accessory cell populations in ulcerative colitis: a comparison between the colon and appendix in colitis and acute appendicitis. 904 93

There is increasing evidence to suggest that the potent neutrophil chemoattractant interleukin-8 (IL-8) has an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. IL-8 mediates its actions via two cell surface receptors, CXCR1 and CXCR2. This paper describes the distribution of these IL-8 receptors in the normal gastrointestinal tract and how this is modified in ulcerative colitis (UC). Paraffin-embedded colonic resection specimens were stained with monoclonal antibodies directed against CXCR1 and CXCR2 in ten cases of total UC, 16 cases of appendicitis, and 11 histologically normal sections. A semiquantitative scale of 0-4 was used to assess the proportion and intensity of positively stained cells within certain defined areas of tissue. A comparative assessment was made of the distribution of various cell populations. Dual immunostaining was used to confirm the phenotype of positively staining cells. In the histologically normal colon, the antibody against CXCR1 stained a subpopulation of macrophages deep to the epithelium and germinal centre lymphocytes. A similar pattern of staining was seen in acute appendicitis, with in addition some positively stained neutrophil polymorphs. In UC, there was up-regulation of CXCR1, with a striking increase in positively stained macrophages throughout the mucosa and of B and T lymphocytes outside the germinal centre areas. There was also intense up-regulation of CXCR1 expression by the luminal epithelium, reflected in the epithelial staining score (mean+/-SE=1.8+/-0.44 for UC cases, vs. 0.23+/-0.16 for controls and 0.25+/-0.14 for acute appendicitis). CXCR2 was only expressed on a small population of lamina propria mononuclear cells and crypt epithelial cells, with no significant differences observed between the groups. These results suggest that IL-8 may, through CXCR1, have a role beyond neutrophil recruitment in mediating the immune response in UC and that this is not merely a consequence of the acute inflammation seen in UC.
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PMID:Distribution of the interleukin-8 receptors, CXCR1 and CXCR2, in inflamed gut tissue. 1111 72


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