IS THE ANAL SPHINCTER SILICONE VALLEY?

Silicone injection, not always for therapeutic purposes, has been a topic of expanding interest in recent times. A group from St Mark's has been interested in silicone as a bulking agent to augment a weak or disrupted internal anal sphincter. The study was small, uncontrolled but had data after 18 month's follow up. It's sometimes hard for readers to translate varaiables such as incontinence scores and quality of life measures into how the patients actually responded but the technique looks simple enough, seems inexpensive and apparently is also effective.

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GETTING ACTIVE IN ACUTE PANCREATITIS

Most clinicians feel frustrated about the limitations of their therapy in acute pancreatitis. Progress may have to await better understanding of the genesis of the condition. The cascade of …