ABSTRACT
Background: diagnosis of liver metastases is of essential importance in the staging of patients with a known primary tumor
Aim of the work: The study aimed to evaluate role of DWI in diagnosis of liver metastasis
Patients and methods: twenty patients were included in this study. The cases were evaluated over 6 months at Ain Shams University Hospital with a 1.5 Tesla Phillips [MR System Achieva] whole body imager
Results: in the sample of the study which was composed of 20 patients there were two patients who presented with negative lesion in DW MRI with sensitivity 100%, specificity 90% and accuracy 95%
Conclusion: DWI alone performs equally well as Gd-MRI in the diagnosis of liver metastases. In cases where gadolinium injection is not allowed, dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging can be replaced by a protocol based on unenhanced T1- and T2-weighted imaging combined with DWI
Recommendations: Further studies on larger scale of patients are needed to confirm the results of the study
ABSTRACT
To evaluate risk factors for pediatric microbial keratitis and to describe the clinical picture, microbial spectrum, treatment modalities, posttreatment sequelae, and visual outcome in cases with pediatric microbial keratitis. All cases of microbial keratitis that occurred in children 16 years or younger who had an initial examination between January 2000 and December 2010 at a tertiary referral eye hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, were identified. A retrospective review of medical records was conducted using a computer-based diagnosis code. Demographic data, predisposing factors, clinical course, microbial culture results, and visual outcomes were recorded. Sixty-eight eyes were included in this study. Predisposing factors were identified in 63 eyes [92.6%]. All patients had unilateral microbial keratitis. The mean +/- SD age was 4.5 +/- 4.8 years and 57.4% were male. Trauma was the leading cause [27 eyes [39.7%]], followed by systemic diseases [14 eyes [20.6%]], contact lens wear [11 eyes [16.1%]], and ocular diseases [11 eyes [16.1%]]. Corneal scraping was performed in all cases. Five patients needed general anesthesia to carry out the corneal scraping. Thirty-four [50.0%] eyes showed positive cultures. Gram-positive bacteria accounted for 67.8% and gram-negative bacteria for 38.2% of isolates. Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most commonly isolated organism [8 eyes [25.8%]], followed by Staphylococcus epidermidis [7 eyes [22.7%]]. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most commonly isolated gram-negative [6 eyes [17.6%]] organism. One eye had corneal perforation and required surgical intervention. Forty-five of 68 eyes [66.2%] had a best-corrected visual acuity evaluation at the last follow-up and 28 eyes [62.2%] of them had a best-corrected visual acuity of 20/40 or better. Children with suspected microbial keratitis require comprehensive evaluation and management. Early recognition, identifying the predisposing factors and etiological microbial organisms, and instituting appropriate treatment measures have a crucial role in outcome. Ocular trauma was the leading cause of childhood microbial keratitis in our study
ABSTRACT
To evaluate compliance of amblyopic patients to patching, and to identify reasons of poor compliance and suggest methods to overcome the problem. We conducted a cross-sectional, retrospective study that included 37 families with a child diagnosed with unilateral amblyopia [age range 3-16 years] and attending the Pediatrics Ophthalmology clinic at the King Abdulaziz University Hospital [a tertiary eye hospital]. Data were collected through interviews and from hospital charts. In the interviews we asked questions that sought information with regard to four aspects [domains]; knowledge, attitude, insight and community's effect. A score representing each domain was given to every family then we correlated these scores with family's compliance percentage. Results: When correlated with compliance, the insight and attitude domains showed a statistically significant correlation; p-value 0.002 and 0.004, respectively. However, the knowledge and community's effect domains were not; p-value 0.084 and 0.114, respectively. Other qualitative factors affecting compliance were identified with open questions. Quotes from families of what they think can improve compliance are shown. To improve compliance, merely educating patients is not sufficient and more efforts should be undertaken toward ensuring true sense of the problem and its impact. Factors affecting compliance due to the physical properties in the patch itself should be addressed too [heat, irritation, poor adhesive material and design]