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Iodized oil (lipiodol) injected into the hepatic artery is selectively retained by hepatocarcinomas, as demonstrated by computerized tomography (CT) performed one week after the injection. The value of this technique for the diagnosis of hepatocarcinoma was assessed in a retrospective study of 45 patients. In 39 per cent of the cases intrahepatic tumoral extension was determined by the iodized oil which showed tumoral nodules that had not been detected by conventional methods, such as ultrasonography and CT alone. The lesions revealed by the iodized oil were small nodules around the main tumour. The combined iodized oil-CT technique plays an important role in the choice of treatment, especially when surgical excision is contemplated. It might also contribute to an early diagnosis of hepatocarcinoma in patients at risk, as illustrated by four of our cases where conventional morphological examinations had been negative.

Two hundred hospital patients with gallstones who had been cholecystectomized on account of typical biliary colics were investigated for migraine, headache, malaise, vertigo, flatulence, diarrhoea or constipation 2, 6, 12 and 24 months after the operation. The study showed that these symptoms are common in patients with biliary lithiasis, particularly women, and that their frequency increases with the duration of the disease. The beneficial effects of cholecystectomy are uncertain and appear to decrease with time ; only 30% of the patients seemed to improve after surgery. It is concluded that these symptoms betray real functional disorders, that cholecystectomy is not the appropriate treatment for them and that any improvement observed may be credited to the placebo effects of the operation.