Three new cases of squamous cell and adenosquamous carcinoma of the rectum are reported, bringing the total number of cases in the English medical literature to 72. Each of the three patients presented with painless hematochezia. Therapy was by surgical resection followed by chemoradiation therapy in two patients. The incidence, presentation, diagnostic criteria and methods, tumor location, natural history, theory of etiology and management of this unusual tumor are discussed.

Acute mesenteric ischemia represents one to two percent of all gastrointestinal illnesses. There are three possible causes of acute arterial mesenteric ischemia: embolism, thrombosis, and nonocclusive mesenteric insufficiency. The key to early diagnosis is a high index of suspicion. The classic clinical picture of obvious cardiac disease, sudden onset of severe abdominal pain and gastrointestinal emptying, is not always present. Serum markers and plain films are often nondiagnostic but may suggest acute arterial mesenteric ischemia. Angiography establishes the diagnosis and allows for planning of aortomesenteric bypass, if indicated. Papaverine is immediately instilled to decrease splanchnic vasoconstriction. Embolic and thrombotic disease is treated by laparotomy with re-establishment of visceral perfusion. Only after blood flow is restored is nonviable bowel resected. Clinical methods of assessing intestinal viability include Doppler scanning, intravascular dyes, and tissue oximetry. The decision to perform a second-look laparotomy is made prior to closure of the abdomen. Pharmacologic treatment is the mainstay of nonocclusive ischemia. Surgery is reserved for clinical deterioration. Survival is dependent on the cause and extent of occlusion as well as the rapidity of diagnosis and therapy. Bowel necrosis results in mortality rates between 80 percent and 95 percent.

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SummaryThe objective of this study was to measure the synovial and plasma concentration of carprofen in normal and osteoarthritic stifle joints throughout a 12-hour period. Eight healthy male mixed breed hound dogs with chronic right stifle osteoarthritis (OA) secondary to right cruciate ligament transection, were used. Each dog was treated with carprofen (2mg/kg every 12 hours) for 14 days at four different time periods. Prior to treatment, each dog had baseline data collected that included two force plate evaluations (seven days apart), synovial fluid, and plasma collections. Plasma samples were collected at three hours post drug administration on days two, four, six, eight, 10, and 12. On days #7 and 14 plasma, serum, bilateral stifle synovial fluid and ground reaction forces (GRFs) were collected at three, six, nine, or 12 hours post-medication, depending upon the test protocol. Vertical and cranio-caudal ground reaction forces were recorded at each time period. Plasma concentrations measured at three hours remained constant over each testing protocol. There were not any differences between the plasma carprofen concentrations at three, nine, or 12 hours between days #7 or 14. A significant difference was not found in the carprofen synovial concentrations between left and right stifles at any time. Significant increases in vertical impulse data were found at six hours post-treatment, for all of the collection periods on days three, seven and 14. During the study, there was not any indication that carprofen had a ‘preference’ for the OA stifle as opposed to the normal stifle. Carprofen administration increased the total force transmitted through the abnormal limb.Carprofen concentrations in the plasma and synovial fluid and ground reaction forces were measured in dogs with single stifle osteoarthritis at three, six, nine and 12 hours following dosing at 2 mg/kg every 12 hours. Carprofen did not have a ‘preference’ for the OA stifle as opposed to the normal stifle. Carprofen administration increased the total force transmitted through the abnormal limb.

In this prospective study, minimally invasive methods of proximal gastric vagotomy (PGV) were investigated in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Completeness of vagotomy by traditional operative therapy, by laser denervation of the gastric serosa, and by subserosal or transmucosal injections of chemoneurolytic agents was evaluated with postoperative Congo red testing, ulcerogenic stimulation of the gastric mucosa, and histochemical labeling of whatever vagal fibers remained in the gastric wall. Short-term results demonstrate that successful PGV can be performed with minimally invasive methods.