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Biomedical subjects

H D Janowitz

Publications and source records attributed to H D Janowitz.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Outcome of toxic dilatation in ulcerative and Crohn's colitis.

A review of 1,236 patients admitted to The Mount Sinai Hospital with inflammatory bowel disease between 1960 and 1979 yielded 75 cases (6%) with toxic dilatation of the colon. There were 61 cases among 613 patients (10%) with ulcerative colitis (UC), and 14 of 623 (2.3%) with Crohn's disease (CD). Fifty-nine of the 75 patients (79%) underwent surgery during their hospitalization with toxic dilatation. Twelve of the 75 patients (16%) died. Both UC and CD groups had similar mean ages at onset of colitis (32 years and 31 years, respectively) and at development of toxic dilatation (37 years); similar durations of overall disease (4.8 and 5.9 years) and of toxic dilatation prior to surgery (11 days and 13 days); and similar anatomic distributions of disease. Both UC and CD also had similar mortality rates (16% and 14%). Mean duration of presenting attack up to onset of toxic megacolon was longer in CD than in UC (62 days versus 31 days) and in unoperated versus operated cases (64 days versus 37 days), but was not significantly different between survivors and mortalities (43 days versus 39 days). Mortality rates were also unaffected by total duration of inflammatory bowel disease, first attack versus relapse (14% versus 18%), or medical versus surgical therapy (13% versus 17%). Factors which affected mortality included age (30% for patients over 40 years old, versus 5% for those younger than 40), sex (21% in women versus 13% in men), and especially the occurrence of colonic perforation (44% for cases with perforation versus only 2% in those without). Of the 12 patients who died, 11 had suffered colonic perforation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

Rectourethroperineal fistula in Crohn's disease.

We report the ninth case of a rectourethral fistula in Crohn's disease. The patient had undergone numerous surgical procedures for complications of severe ileocolitis before developing a rectourethroperineal fistula. His symptoms were confined to urine leaking from the perineal opening; the most common symptom of rectourethral fistula in Crohn's disease. He underwent surgical repair by an abdominoperineal approach and has been free of recurrence for a period of 2 years. The literature suggests that the incidence of rectourethral fistulae in patients with Crohn's disease is approximately 0.3% and that this complication comprises 6.2-11.1% of all genitourinary fistulae in Crohn's disease.

Adult↗

Loss of suppressor T-cells in active inflammatory bowel disease.

The proportions and absolute numbers of helper and suppressor T-cells in 40 patients with inflammatory bowel disease and 22 control subjects were determined, using the monoclonal antibodies OKT 4 and OKT 8. There were no significant differences in helper or suppressor cell proportions among 15 steroid treated patients with active inflammatory bowel disease, 10 patients with inactive inflammatory bowel disease, 10 patients with other gastrointestinal diseases, or 12 normal control subjects. In contrast, 15 patients with active inflammatory bowel disease not treated with corticosteroids manifested increased proportions of helper cells and decreased proportions of suppressor cells (p less than 0.001), compared with all other patient groups and to normal controls. When absolute numbers of helper and suppressor subsets were measured, these alterations in proportions of helper and suppressor cells were primarily attributable to decreased counts of suppressor T-cells both in patients with active Crohn's disease and in those with ulcerative colitis (p less than 0.01). In four patients undergoing serial study, the helper/suppressor ratios appeared to rise and fall respectively with clinical exacerbations and remissions of disease. These data provide additional evidence for the involvement of cellular immune systems in these disease processes.

Adolescent↗

Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare-associated colitis in a patient with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

A 40-year-old bisexual man with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome developed abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea. At sigmoidoscopy, the mucosa of the rectum and sigmoid colon was edematous, erythematous, and friable, with multiple linear and oval erosions. Histologic examination of rectal biopsies demonstrated innumerable acid-fast bacilli free and within macrophages of the lamina propria. Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare was cultured from the rectal biopsy specimens. Pulmonary tissue and bone marrow cultures also demonstrated this organism. Therapy with several antimycobacterial agents resulted in improvement of symptoms. Among immunocompromised patients the spectrum of enteric pathogens causing colitis should be expanded to include Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare, a potentially treatable organism.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Does intestinal resection heal the pyoderma gangrenosum of inflammatory bowel disease?

A retrospective study of nine patients with active pyoderma gangrenosum at the time of operation for inflammatory bowel disease showed two patterns of postoperative skin healing: 1) prompt healing within 2 months, occurred in five patients with moderate to severe inflammatory bowel disease. 2) skin disease persisted in four others, healing only after a year. Three of these patients had mild ulcerative colitis, and in them, the operation was carried out in the hope of curing crippling pyoderma gangrenosum. The fourth patient had only an intestinal bypass for ileitis. Our observations suggest that prompt skin healing may occur after surgery in patients with severe inflammatory bowel disease, but not necessarily in those with milder bowel disease or in those in whom some bowel disease persists.

Adolescent↗

Corticotropin versus hydrocortisone in the intravenous treatment of ulcerative colitis. A prospective, randomized, double-blind clinical trial.

Sixty-six patients hospitalized for ulcerative colitis were treated in a prospective, double-blind, clinical trial. They received either 120 U/day of intravenous corticotropin or 300 mg/day of intravenous hydrocortisone. Patients were randomized within strata defined by whether they had received oral corticosteroids continuously for at least 30 days before the study (group A, 35 patients), or whether they had received no such prior treatment (group B, 31 patients). Twenty-eight of the 66 patients (42%) achieved remission. In group B, the proportion of patients entering remission was greater with corticotropin than with hydrocortisone (63% vs. 27%, 0.025 less than p less than 0.05). The opposite trend was observed within group A, for whom hydrocortisone appeared more effective (53% vs. 25%, 0.05 less than p less than 0.10). Impaired adrenal responsiveness, as measured by serum cortisol and dehydroepiandosterone-sulfate levels, did not explain the different responses to therapy within the two study groups. Twenty of 28 patients whose acute therapy was successful were still in remission 1 yr after study. These data suggest that, at the doses used, intravenous corticotropin therapy of severe ulcerative colitis is the more effective choice for those patients not previously treated with corticosteroids, while intravenous hydrocortisone seems preferable for patients already receiving steroid treatment.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗

Risk factors for postoperative recurrence of Crohn's disease.

To identify potential risk factors that influence postoperative recurrence rates of Crohn's disease, the postoperative recurrence-free survival of 93 patients who underwent their first resections at The Mount Sinai Hospital between 1964 and 1973 has been examined. Features analyzed individually and jointly were age, sex, anatomic location, operative procedure, and preoperative disease duration. In patients with Crohn's colitis, recurrence rates appeared somewhat lower among 11 patients with ileostomy than among 5 patients with anastomosis. In the entire series, recurrence rates were lowest in patients with longest preoperative durations (p = 0.02). This same tendency was especially marked among the 68 patients without ileostomies (p = 0.005). Likewise, among the 38 patients with ileitis, the relative risk of recurrence was significantly lower for those with disease duration exceeding 10 yr (p = 0.01). Relative risk of recurrence in the entire series for patients with 2-yr duration was 1.5 compared with those who had 10-yr duration. This inverse association between preoperative disease duration and postoperative recurrence rate may reflect persisting differences between inherently more aggressive versus more indolent forms of Crohn's disease.

Adult↗

Intraabdominal abscess in Crohn's (ileo) colitis.

Operations for intraabdominal abscess were performed in 46 (20 percent) of 230 patients with Crohn's colitis and ileocolitis treated at the Mount Sinai Hospital during the decade 1964 to 1974. Internal and external fistulas, intestinal obstruction, and abdominal mass occurred significantly more often in patients with intraabdominal abscess, while only overt bleeding was significantly less common. Abscesses were equally divided between 23 patients who had undergone previous surgery and 23 cases of spontaneous onset. IN ileocolitis, the most frequent site of origin was the terminal ileum with right lower quadrant abscess, as opposed to a sigmoid origin in colitis with presentation in the left lower quadrant. There was no mortality among 24 patients treated with simple drainage, usually for superficial abscess, but enterocutaneous fistulas persisted in 5 of these patients (21 percent). Four of 11 patients (35 percent) died after undergoing bypass or ileostomy diversion. Among the 31 patients surviving either of these procedures, 18 (60 percent) required subsequent resection of the diseased bowel. By contrast, among 11 patients treated with primary en bloc resection plus drainage, there was only 1 death (9 percent) and no abscess recurrence or chronic enterocutaneous fistula formation during a follow-up period of 1 to 4 years. The high mortality rate after bypass may be explained by the more serious nature of the disease and the preexisting deep intraabdominal abscess and postoperative sepsis. Simple extraperitoneal drainage is a safe procedure associated with an extremely low mortality; however, when feasible, resection of the diseased bowel seems to be the treatment of choice for abscess in patients with Crohn's colitis and ileocolitis.

Abdomen↗

Granulomas do not affect postoperative recurrence rates in Crohn's disease.

Previous studies have reached disparate conclusions on the issue of whether or not granulomas confer any protection against recurrence of Crohn's disease after operation. In an attempt to resolve this controversy, we have examined postoperative recurrence rates in 102 patients with Crohn's disease. There were no differences in cumulative postoperative recurrence-free survival between the 53 patients with granulomas present in the resected specimens and the 49 patients without granulomas. It was concluded that the presence of granulomas in resected specimens of Crohn's disease exerts no independent influence on the rate of postoperative recurrence.

Crohn Disease↗

A comparison of cancer risk in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

The authors estimated cancer risk among 589 patients hospitalized with Crohn's disease between 1960-1976 by calculating the ratios of observed number of cancers (O) in our hospital sample to the expected number of cancers (E) based on the age- and sex-specific cancer rates of a standard population. The authors then compared these O/E ratios with the O/E ratios similarly calculated among 267 patients hospitalized with ulcerative colitis. The risk of colorectal cancer was significantly increased in Crohn's disease (O/E = 6.9, P less than 0.001). This increase was similar in magnitude to that found in left-sided ulcerative colitis (O/E = 8.6, P less than 0.001) but was much less than that found in universal ulcerative colitis (O/E = 26.5, P less than 0.001). The incidence of small bowel cancer was greatly increased in the combined group of regional enteritis and ileocolitis (O/E = 85.8, P less than 0.001), and even more so in the regional enteritis group alone (O/E = 114.5, P less than 0.001). The incidence of extraintestinal cancer did not increase in any of the patient groups.

Adolescent↗

Cutaneous vasculitis complicating coeliac disease.

A 38 year old female, with chronic uncontrolled coeliac disease, presented with the rare complication of cutaneous leucocytoclastic vasculitis. Detailed study failed to identify any cause for the vasculitis, other than the underlying coeliac disease. Haematuria and proteinuria with mesangial nephritis were also demonstrated on renal biopsy with electron microscopic study. It is speculated that exogenous or endogenous antigens permeated the abnormal small bowel mucosa leading to formation of circulating immune complexes. Subsequent tissue deposition of these complexes then resulted in vasculitis and nephritis. The skin lesions cleared completely after treatment with a strict gluten free diet.

Adult↗

Trauma and the pyoderma gangrenosum of inflammatory bowel disease.

In five patients with inflammatory bowel disease (three with ulcerative colitis, two with Crohn's disease), pyoderma gangrenosum developed on a lower extremity at the site of trauma. In these subjects, the pyoderma was not clearly correlated with disease activity.

Adult↗