Frequency of cardiomyopathy in beta thalassemic children

Objective: To determine the frequency of cardiomyopathy in beta thalassemic children

Study Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study

Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out in the Pediatric department of Postgraduate Medical institute Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar from 1.1.2013 to 31.12.2013

Materials and Methods: Total 334 Cases were collected by Consecutive [non probability] sampling technique using WHO sample size calculation software. Patients collected according to fulfilling the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Beta thalassemic children with 10 or more blood transfusions, aged 2 to 15 years and both male and female children

Results: In this study, 334 patients suffering from beta thalassemia were included. Male to female ratio was 1.62:1 and age ranged from 2 to 15 years. Average age was 7.57 years + 3.79SD. Dilated cardiomyopathy in beta thalassemic was observed in 13[3.9%], while restrictive cardiomyopathy was in 9[2.7%]patients

Conclusion: The majority of patients with beta-thalassaemia demonstrated a unique hemodynamic patternindicatingcardiomyopathy

Frequency of congenital heart diseases in neonatology section of a tertiary care hospital Peshawar

To determine the frequency of common congenital heart diseases [CHD] in children presenting to Pediatrics, Department of Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar. Cross sectional descriptive study. This study was conducted in the Pediatrics and Neonatology Department of Lady, Reading hospital Peshawar, from 14[th] July 2010 to 14[th] July 2011. A total of 481 patients, using 3.1% propotion of ASD in cases with CHD, 95% Confidence interval, 1.55% margin of error, under WHO software formula for sample size determination. Children from 0-18 years of age clinically diagnosed cases with their echocardio-graphy which was also suggestive of CHD were included in this study. Postoperative cases of CHD as they require different kind of management plan and Confirmed cases of CHD were excluded. Patients with acyanotic CHD were 416 [86.48%] and with cyanotic CHD were 65 [13.52%]. Cases of ventricular septal defect [VSD] were 190 [39.5%] and amongst them 120 [63.16%] were males and 70 [36.8%] were females. Cases of atrial septal defect [ASD] were 146 [30.35%] and amongst them 63 [43.15%] were males and 83 [56.84%] were female. Thus, there was a female preponderance of ASD patients as compared to VSD. As for patent ductus arteriosus [PDA] there were 80 [16.63%] cases and of transposition of great arteries [TGA] were 30 [6.23%]. Whereas cases of tetrology of fallot [TOF] were 35 [7.27%]. Congenital heart defects [CHD] are among the most common birth defects and are the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths. VSD is the commonest acyanotic CHD whereas TOF is the commonest cyanotic heart disease

Effect of chemotherapy on serum lactate levels in malignant neoplasia

The present study was designed to look at the levels of serum lactate in various malignancies and to observe the effect of chemotherapy on serum lactate concentration in malignant neoplasia as a whole. The study was also intended to look for the difference, if any, in this effect for haematopoietic and non-haematopoietic neoplasias, so as to see whether evaluation of lactate levels could represent an additional and useful parameter in determining the clinical and prognostic aspect of the disease Observational and comparative study. This study was conducted at Radiotherapy Department, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi In this study 131 patients of Malignant Neoplasia were taken from the out-door patients in which 56 patients of haematopoietic group and 75 patients of non- haematopoietic group. Blood samples of 131 patients suffering from haematopoietic and non-haematopoietic neoplasia and 20 healthy control subjects were collected and analyzed for lactate, pyruvate and the NADH/NAD ratio. Blood lactate, Pyruvate levels and NADH/NAD* ratio were significantly higher in all groups of neoplasia before chemotherapy when compared with control subjects. The NADH/NAD+ ratio and the levels of blood lactate and Pyruvate decreased significantly with chemotherapy in all groups of patients suffering from neoplasia. Observation of low levels of these parameters, particularly that of serum lactate, after the course of chemotherapy can be used as an indicator of prognosis and also considered helpful in assessing the effectiveness of chemotherapy in malignancies