Liver metastasis of malignant fibrous histiocytoma: a case report

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma [MFH] is the most common soft-tissue sarcoma occurring in adult life. It is relatively uncommon in the head and neck area. Surgery is the most reliable treatment for MFH, but the 5-year survival rate for cases of this tumour in the head and neck region is low in comparison with MFH of the extremities and trunk. Most metastases occurred in the lungs [90%], followed by bone [8%]. Liver metastases of MFH are very rare [1%]. We report on a case of a 62-year-old woman undergoing repeat surgery for an MFH of the neck, with liver metastasis found 14 months after the first surgery. She underwent liver resection and the postoperative course was uneventful

Survey of hepatitis markers among donors in the state of Qatar

A total of 78,428 blood units collected by the Blood Donor Unit, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, from the multinational donors of Qatar [28,622 Qatari nationals donors and 49, 806 Non-Qatari donors] in the period January 1994 to Dececember 2001 were screened for hepatitis markers. About 10, 382 units [13.2%] were discarded because of positivity for one or more hepatitis markers; 769 units [0.9%] were positive for hepatitis-B surface antigen [HBsAg], 8516 units [10.9%] were positive for hepatitis- B core antibodies [HBcAb] and 1097 units [1.39%] were positive for hepatitis C [HCV] antibodies. There was no significant difference between the rate of positivity for HBcAb and HBsAg in indigenous Qataris and Non-Qataris despite a slightly higher rate of positivity for HCV antibodies in the Non-Qatari group. An outstanding finding was the significantly high rate of positivity for HCV antibodies in Egyptian donations [11.2%], which accounted for 31.2% of all discards for the Non-Qatari group. As the Blood Donor Unit at HMC is the only blood collection center in Qatar it is assumed that the results could be representative of the country as a whole