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Biomedical subjects

B Hanchard

Publications and source records attributed to B Hanchard.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Drug-induced acute liver disease.

Fifty-three patients with drug-induced acute liver disease are reported. There were 35 females and 18 males with a mean age of 41 years. All but one patient had jaundice or hyperbilirubinaemia and 51 had abnormal liver enzymes. Histologically 38 patients (72%) had cholestatic injury while 15 had cytotoxic parenchymal damage. Methyldopa, chlorpropamide, chlorpromazine, halothane and the contraceptive pill accounted for 60% of cases. Fifty-one patients recovered after drug withdrawal while 2 died of hepatic failure. Drug-induced liver injury must be considered in patients presenting with evidence of hepatic disease as the majority will recover on withdrawal.

Acute Disease↗

Amoebiasis in Jamaica. A forgotten cause of hepato-intestinal disease.

Amoebiasis still occurs in Jamaica. This paper describes the unexpected occurrence of the disease in three adult males, two with colitis and the other with an hepatic abscess. This, to our knowledge, is the first report of amoebiasis in Jamaica for over two decades and serves to underscore the continued need for the inclusion of amoebiasis in the differential diagnosis of unexplained hepato-intestinal disease.

Adult↗

Sigmoidoscopy in children with chronic mucoid diarrhoea in rural St. Lucia.

Sixty-nine per cent of a group of children with chronic mucoid diarrhoea who would not normally be seen in a tertiary health care facility had endoscopically demonstrable abnormality in the distal bowel, especially in the distal rectum. Sigmoidoscopy and punch biopsy of the rectum are safe procedures which can be undertaken in primary health care facilities. The inclusion of such investigations will facilitate the elucidation of the aetiology of chronic mucoid diarrhoea.

Biopsy↗

Ulcerative colitis in sickle cell disease.

Four patients with homozygous sickle cell disease and severe proctocolitis are described. The current prevalence is three patients per 1,000 attending a sickle cell clinic. The reasons for the apparent predisposition of sickle cell disease to proctocolitis could not be determined but was revealed by the large follow-up clinic.

Adult↗

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in Jamaica and its relation to adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma.

Of 95 patients consecutively diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 52 (55%) had antibodies to human T-cell leukemia-lymphoma virus, type I. Antibody positivity was strongly associated with skin involvement, leukemia, and hypercalcemia (p less than 0.02). Two patients had systemic opportunistic infections. Neither meningeal nor lung infiltration was detected, and lymph node infiltration was diffuse in all patients. Of 36 patients who received immunophenotypic classifications, 30 had diseases that affected the T-cell system, and the cells of all tested patients with these diseases showed the helper/inducer (T4) phenotype. Twenty-seven of these thirty-six patients were found to have adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma, and of the 27, 24 had antibodies to HTLV-I. The median duration of survival in patients with adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma was 17 weeks, but a subgroup of 9 patients had indolent courses and a median survival of 81 weeks, which suggests that the disease has differing expression with courses that range from smoldering and indolent to acute and rapidly fatal. Hypercalcemia was the most important prognostic determinant of adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma.

Adolescent↗

Pregnancy in chronic active hepatitis with cirrhosis.

Pregnancy in chronic active hepatitis and cirrhosis is rare. There is an appreciable perinatal mortality and the effect of pregnancy on the underlying liver disease remains uncertain. Two patients with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis with cirrhosis who became pregnant during an active stage of their disease while on therapy are described. Both had an uneventful pregnancy with successful deliveries. One of the patients had two other pregnancies but the pregnancy had to be terminated because of clinical deterioration. With close supervision patients with chronic active hepatitis and cirrhosis may have successful pregnancies.

Abortion, Therapeutic↗

Prevalence of liver abnormality in early syphilis.

Hepatic structure and function of 22 unselected patients with early syphilis was assessed. In 20 (91%) routine hepatic tests or bromsulphalein retention showed mild non-specific abnormalities. Minor changes in hepatic structure were present in 12 (55%), in three of whom intrahepatic spirochaetes were found. The only patient who had hepatomegaly also had splenomegaly. Observed changes in hepatic structure correlated with neither physical signs nor results of biochemical tests. Hepatic changes in early syphilis are common but frequently subclinical.

Adult↗

Adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma in Jamaica and its relationship to human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type I-associated lymphoproliferative disease.

We had shown previously that the prevalence of human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus type I (HTLV-I)-antibody positivity is high in Jamaican non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients and that virus-positive patients have the clinical features and poor prognosis of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL). Sixty-two % of 45 NHL patients diagnosed consecutively between 2/1/82 and 1/31/84 and studied prospectively were HTLV-I-antibody positive. Skin involvement (38%), hypercalcemia (44%), and leukemia (40%) were unusually prevalent and there was a strong association (p less than 0.05) with HTLV-I-antibody positivity. Fifty-two % of the patients had bone marrow infiltration, and 74% of these patients were HTLV-I-antibody positive (p = 0.06). Lymphadenopathy (96%), hepatomegaly (60%), and splenomegaly (25%) were detected with about the same frequency as in other series of NHL patients with advanced disease, and 61-88% of these patients were HTLV-I-antibody positive. Patients were classified into those with "typical ATL" (NHL associated with 2 of the 4 features i) hypercalcemia; ii) histologically proven skin infiltration; iii) leukemia; and iv) bone marrow infiltration, providing that the morphology of infiltrating or leukemic cells was characteristic of ATL; those "consistent with ATL" (NHL associated with 1 of these 4 features); and "non-ATL" (NHL without any of these 4 additional features). Thirty-two (71%) of the NHL patients were ATL patients, i.e., had features typical of or consistent with ATL, and 78% of these were HTLV-I-antibody positive. HTLV-I provirus was detected in tumour cells of all HTLV-I-antibody positive patients tested. Three (23%) of the non-ATL patients were HTLV-I-antibody positive. There was no correlation between histopathological features and the clinical classification or HTLV-I-antibody positivity. Median survival of ATL and non-ATL patients was 16 and 53 weeks. Although the disease was usually fulminant, 34% of the ATL patients had a subacute or chronic course. Skin involvement and leukemia were prominent in these patients. Hypercalcemia was the chief prognostic determinant. Median survival of hypercalcemic and normocalcemic ATL patients was 13 and 86 weeks (p less than 0.05). Hypercalcemia caused 10 deaths, infections 12, and death was due to tumour progression in 4 patients. Infections were usually due to pyogenic organisms and only 2 patients had systemic opportunistic infections. Six (27%) of 22 chronic lymphocytic leukemic (CLL) patients were HTLV-I-antibody positive.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adolescent↗