Retinopathy of prematurity in a tertiary care hospital in eastern Nepal.

World Health Organization's Vision 2020 program has recognized Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) as an important cause of childhood blindness in industrialized and developing countries. In the last few years, it has been identified in many under developed countries as well, as a result of improved neonatal intensive care. In Nepal, ROP screening is carried out in a few tertiary hospitals but there is no published data on this disease. The purpose of this study was to find out the incidence, severity and risk factors of ROP among infants screened in a tertiary care hospital in the Eastern Region of Nepal. A prospective cohort study was carried out in neonates with gestational age of 34 weeks or less and, or birth weight of 1700 gm or less born over the period of one year. Dilated fundus examination of all babies was done by indirect ophthalmoscopy between 2-4 weeks after birth and followed up till the retinal vascularization was complete. Classification of ROP was done according to international classification (ICROP). Maternal and neonatal risk factors were also noted. A total of 55 babies fulfilled the screening criteria. ROP was present in 25.45% (n=14) of the babies. Threshold disease was noted in 5.45% (n=3) of the babies screened. Low birth weight (p<0.01) and low gestational age (p<0.01) was significantly associated with the incidence of ROP. Oxygen supplementation (p=<0.01) was an independent risk factor. ROP screening should be performed in all preterm low birth weight infants where there is availability of good neonatal intensive care units. The examination should be intensified in those having risk factors like oxygen. Further studies in the other tertiary care hospitals in Nepal would help to establish the screening criteria for Nepalese infants.

Profile of renal diseases in Nepalese children.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To find out the profile of renal diseases in children hospitalized in the pediatric department of the tertiary care university teaching hospital in Eastern Nepal. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective chart review of all the patients admitted at the department of pediatric from April 2002 to March 2007 was carried out for the presence of any renal diseases on the basis of their clinical presentation, laboratory findings and final diagnosis. RESULTS: A total number of 10,396 children were admitted during the study period out of which 651 (6.3%) children had renal disease. Among them, nephrotic syndrome seen in 222 patients (34.1%) was the commonest renal disease, followed by post streptococcal nephritis in 187(28.7%) and hemolytic uremic syndrome 66(10.1%), other renal diseases seen were acute renal failure in 25 (3.9%), lupus nephritis 24 (3.7%), urinary tract infection in 23 (3.5%) Henoch-Schönlein Purpura (HSP) nephritis 26 (4%), chronic renal failure in 27 (4.2%) and other miscellaneous causes 51 (7.8%). CONCLUSION: A substantial number of children are hospitalised with renal diseases, and current trends indicate that majority of them are preventable. In near future, there is a need to develop a comprehensive service for the children with kidney diseases in Nepal.

Incidence of congenital heart disease in tertiary care hospital.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The present study was under taken to determine the spectrum, clinical profile and outcome of patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) admitted to a tertiary care hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a retrospective, observational hospital based study conducted during January 2006 to December 2006. Out of 14461 admissions, 84 were cases of CHD. Only patients with echocardiographic proof of CHD were included in the study. Detailed clinical and laboratory findings and outcome of all cases were noted in pre-structured formats. Data were entered in MS-excel. Data was analyzed by software SPSS version 10. RESULTS: The incidence of CHD was 5.8 per 1000 hospitalized patients. Out of 84 CHD cases, 51 were males and 33 females; with a male to female ratio of 1.5:1. CHD presented more frequently during infancy (46 %). Acyanotic heart disease was detected in 58 (69 %) cases while cyanotic heart disease was detected in 26 (31%) cases. Among acyanotic heart disease, ventricular septal defect (VSD) was found in 49 (58.3%), atrial septal defect (ASD) in 4 patients (4.8%), endocardial cushion defect (ECD) in 2 patients (2.4%) and dextrocardia was found in 3 patients (3.6%). Among cyanotic heart disease, Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) accounted for 13.1%, total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (TAPVC) 3.6%, transposition of great arteries (TGA) with VSD 1.2% and unspecified cases of heart disease was found in 13.1%. VSD and TOF were the most common lesions while other CHD like ASD, dextrocardia, TAPVC, ECD, TGA with VSD were encountered less frequently. The most common clinical presentations were failure to thrive (FTT) and developmental delay (86.9%), breathlessness (69%), lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) (52%), congestive cardiac failure (CCF) (46%), cyanosis (20.2%), cyanotic spell (9.5%) and infective endocarditis (9.5%). The mortality rate was 20 %. CONCLUSION: The incidence of CHD was 5.8 per thousand hospitalized children. VSD, TOF were the most common congenital cardiac lesion. VSD was observed either isolated or associated with other lesions like TGA. The mortality rate was 20 %. The mortality usually occurred in those patients complicated with congestive cardiac failure, lower respiratory tract infection and infective endocarditis.

Clinico- Biochemical Profile of Neonatal Seizure.

Objectives: The present study was undertaken to study the incidence, etiological factor, and days of onset, clinical types and biochemical abnormalities in babies having neonatal seizures. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective, observational hospital based study. Ninety neonates, who developed seizures before 28 days of life and admitted to neonatal intensive care unit and nursery with neonatal seizure, were evaluated for incidence, etiological factor, clinical types and biochemical abnormalities found in neonatal seizure. The variables were analysed using Chi- Square and student t- test. Results: The incidence of neonatal seizure was 10.3/ 1000 live births. The seizures were common in male babies. 65 (72.2%) neonates were born to multiparous women while 35 (38%) were born to primigravidas. In birth asphyxia (n= 40), the most common type of seizure observed was subtle seizure 20 (50%), followed by focal clonic 10 (25%) and multifocal clonic 5 (12.5%). Tonic type of seizure was observed in 3 (7.5%) and myoclonic in 2 (5%). Meningitis and septicaemia was the second most common cause of neonatal seizure observed in our study. Among metabolic abnormalities hypoglycaemia was found in 20 (22%) and hypocalcaemia in 10 (11%). Conclusion: The commonest cause of seizure was birth asphyxia presenting within 72 hours of life. Among infection septicaemia and meningitis was the most common cause leading to neonatal seizure. Among biochemical abnormalities the most common cause of seizure observed in our study was hypoglycaemia and hypocalcaemia. Subtle seizures were the commonest type of seizure observed in this study.