ABSTRACT
To determine the prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infection in multitransfused thalassaemia patients. A prospective study. Department of Pathology, Khyber Medical College Peshawar and Fatimid Foundation Peshawar from January 2000 to January 2001. This study was carried out on 250 multitransfused thalassaemia major patients. They were screened for hepatitis B surface antigen [HBsAg] and anti hepatitis C virus antibodies [anti-HCV antibodies] by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay [ELISA]. The patient's ages ranged from 1[1/2] year to 19 years. Majority of the patients included in the study had received more than 10 transfusions. The males were 180 [72%] and the females were 70 [28%]. Out of these 21 patients [8.4%] and 142 [56.8%] have been screened positive for HBsAg and anti HCV antibodies respectively. It has been recommended that properly screened blood, using a reliable method like ELISA, be only transfused to thalassaemic subjects in order to avoid / reduce transfusion associated infection
ABSTRACT
Magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] scan has shown constant accuracy in diagnosing various knee pathologies. A positive predictive value of upto 98% has been documented in various studies. It is completely non-invasive non radioactive and diagnostic accuracy is comparable to arthroscopy [64-94%]. We present an audit of 217 consecutive patients from the waiting list on knee arthroscopy who underwent MRI scan. The scans were reported by one consultant radiologist. The results of MRI were compared against preoperative diagnosis and the influence of this investigation on decision making was evaluated. Significant number of patients had a change in diagnosis [54.4%] and alteration in treatment plan [36.4%] because of inaccuracies in the clinical diagnosis. We believe that MRI scan can help the clinician in making an accurate preoperative diagnosis and target the arthroscopy to specific lesions. This is a non-invasive investigation which can replace diagnostic arthroscopy