CHRONIC ulcerative colitis is a disease of unknown etiology, with a variable and unpredictable course. In spite of clinical remissions, the likelihood of recurrences is ever present.1,2 These considerations make it difficult to evaluate the efficacy of any specific therapy and necessary to rely on empiric measures to control symptoms and complications in addition to restoring blood, fluid, electrolyte and other deficiencies. Although no method of medical management has proved uniformly successful, the effectiveness of these measures will determine the degree to which the patient can be maintained as an economically and socially useful person or regress to the point . . .