1.   All patients stopped taking any acid inhibitory agents at least two weeks before entering the study and none had received bismuth preparations in the past.

2.   None had any complicating medical condition or previous history of gastric surgery, or had taken antibiotics or bismuth preparations in the previous six months.

3.   In the course of trying to identify therapeutic agents for this disease two recent studies have shown benefit with bismuth preparations.

4.   This is the first controlled trial of a bismuth enema preparation in patients with distal ulcerative colitis.

5.   The results give further support to previous pilot studies with bismuth preparations.

6.   In addition, none of the patients had been treated with bismuth preparations or with immunosuppressive therapy.