In a review of 5424 colonoscopies performed in the last ten years at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, 14 perforations related to the procedure were found. Seven perforations occurred during therapeutic colonoscopies (polypectomies) and seven during diagnostic colonoscopies. Eight patients were treated surgically and six nonsurgically. The decision about whether or not to perform surgery for a colonoscopically induced perforation depends on the clinical condition of the patient. Nonsurgical management is indicated if the patient's general condition remains stable, if the perforation has been diagnosed late, if the pneumoperitoneum that led to the diagnosis does not increase in size, if there are no signs of peritonitis, if the patient does not have a distal obstruction, and if the patient's condition improves in response to conservative treatment.

Serum C-reactive protein was measured in 56 patients hospitalized with a suspected diagnosis of acute appendicitis. Based on these determinations, four groups of patients were defined: Group A = 26 patients with acute appendicitis who had a C-reactive protein level higher than 2.5 mg/dl. Group B = 4 patients with a C-reactive protein level lower than 2.5 mg/dl who, after surgery based on a presumed diagnosis of acute appendicitis, were found to have a normal appendix. Group C = 22 patients with nonspecific abdominal pain, 18 (72 percent) of whom had an elevated C-reactive protein level, although in only 4 (7.1 percent) were these levels higher than 2.5 percent mg/dl. Group D = 4 patients who had diseases other than acute appendicitis. It is concluded that an increase in C-reactive protein levels to more than 2.5 mg/dl is not a definite indicator of acute appendicitis. However, if the C-reactive protein level in blood drawn 12 hours after the onset of symptoms is less than 2.5 mg/dl, acute appendicitis can be excluded.

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HIV/AIDS patients on HAART are older, have lower rates of AIDS related Kaposi's sarcoma and a higher incidence of NADCs than did patients in the early HAART era. No decrease in the proportion of NHL was observed.

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Background and Objectives: Our hospital serves an area with a significant number of patients seropositive for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Intravenous drug abuse and heterosexual exposure are by far the predominant risk factors for HIV and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Seven percent of these patients develop malignancies. Our aim was to study the types of tumor, their distribution, and to evaluate the patients' outcome. Methods: Of 3,578 patients with HIV infection or AIDS treated between 1993 and 1998, 245 had 1 or more malignancies. Information was collected on age, sex, race, predisposing risk factors for AIDS, malignancies, symptoms at presentation, the time of the onset of AIDS, CD4 cell counts, pathology findings, and mortality. Results: Although aspects of our patients resembled those of previously studied groups of patients with AIDS, there also were ways in which our patients differed from those other groups. Of our patients, 21.6% had non-AIDS-defining (NAD) invasive malignancies. This was considerably higher than the rate in most studies. Twenty-seven patients with such malignancies died during the study. Forty-two other patients had preinvasive cancers. Among patients having AIDS-defining (AD) malignancies, 55.9% died, a fact that was related to patients' low CD4 cell counts and late presentation. Our 97 patients with Kaposi sarcoma included 22 women, a relatively high number that may be related to the fact that most of our patients were intravenous drug abusers or had become infected by heterosexual transmission of HIV. Conclusions: AIDS is associated with a high risk of malignancy and an unusual spectrum of tumors. Patients with invasive tumors have advanced disease at the time of initial presentation. Those with AD tumors have a worse prognosis than patients with NAD tumors. The impact of highly active antiretroviral therapy on both AD and NAD tumors needs to be further evaluated.