ABSTRACT
Background: Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 15-29 years. The rate decreased during the 1990s but increased again in the early 2000s. Case report: A 16-year-old girl presented with a six day history of ingestion of herbicide, three days history of vomiting of blood and two days history of yellowish discoloration of the eyes. She was three months pregnant and ingested herbicide to kill herself so as to prevent bringing shame on her family. She started vomiting after taking the poison, it contained recently ingested foods, and she had several episodes, volume of 20-30mls per vomitus. However, 3 days later the vomitus became bloody with clots of blood, there was also history of passage of melaena stools. She developed yellowish discolouration of the eyes 2 days prior to presentation and severe body weakness. All other systemic reviews were nil of note. On examination, she was severely pale, icteric, with petechial haemorrhages on her tongue. Pulse Rate (PR) -112bpm, Blood Pressure (BP) - 120/80mmHg, Respiratory Rate (RR) -30cpm. Abdomen was gravidly enlarged about 18weeks size, with epigastric tenderness Diagnosis was attempted suicide with severe anaemia due to upper GI bleeding. Results: PCV-24%, E/U/Cr- Deranged, LFT- Deranged. Treatment: IV N/S and Omeprazole, Vitamin C and E. She was started on blood transfusion, howbeit; she became dyspnoeic and was saturating at 31%. Patient started gasping and died 12hrs on admission despite resuscitative measures. Conclusion- The rate of suicide among young people is on the increase and efforts should be put in place to stem this trend.
ABSTRACT
Developing countries are experiencing demographic and epidemiologic transition and the prevalence of non-communicable diseases especially cancers which is on the increase. Breast cancer is the most common and lethal malignancy in developing countries with varying presentation. This study aims to determine the pattern of presentation and survival of breast cancer patients in North Western Nigeria. A five-year retrospective review of breast cancer records from 2001-2005 was conducted. Relevant information was retrieved and analyzed using statistical package for social science software. Manchester stage III and IV were classified as advance disease. Survival analysis was carried out with survival defined as the time between the date of commencement of treatment and the date of last follow-up or death. Most of the patients were in the 4th and 5th decades 58 [57.4%] with a mean age of 44.5 +/- 13 years. Majority of the patients were females 99 [96.1%]. One of the four males had invasive lobular carcinoma while the others presented with invasive ductal carcinoma 3 [75.0%]. Most of the patients were premenopausal 62 [62.6%] and were presented late with advanced breast cancer disease 64 [62.1%]. The left breast was more affected 64 [62.1%], and the upper outer quadrant was mostly involved 48 [60.7%], followed by the areola, 43[41.7%] either singly or in combination. Invasive ductal carcinoma was detected in 85 [82.5%] cases and was the predominant histological finding. Survival rate beyond 30 months was observed in 24.5% of cases and 100% for advanced and early breast cancer respectively, [p=0.0001]. The overall survival rate beyond 36 months was 70.4% and postmenopausal patients [70.6%] had better survival beyond 36 months than premenopausal [68.5%] patients [p=0.05]. The overall survival rate was low and patients with early breast cancer had better survival than those with advanced disease. Majority of the patients were young premenopausal women with advanced breast cancer