Disease pattern and outcome among Afghan patients: our experience in tertiary care hospital in Quetta

There is paucity of studies focused on Afghan resident patients who come to Pakistan. These patients are either referred or come here due to lack of facilities in their home country. This study was done to show the spectrum of illness brought to Pakistan and if they were different from illnesses in their parent country. Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study. This study was conducted at Paediatric Unit-I, Bolan Medical College Hospital, Quetta from June 2006 to May 2011. All admitted patients who were bonafide citizens of Afghanistan were included in this study. The patients were divided into three groups to determine the frequencies of illness in each group. Percentages were calculated for various ages and diseases. A total of 4416 patients were admitted from June 2006 to May 2011, out of these 110 were Afghan patients and the rest were Pakistanis. 58.18% patients were in group I, 29% were in group II while 14.5% were in group III. The 34.5% were suffering from tuberculosis, 13.6% patients were malnourished, 9% had nephrotic syndrome, 10% had various malignancies, 6.6% had infectious diseases, 4.54% had haematological causes, 3.6% had celiac disease, and 4.54% had liver disorders, while 14% had miscellaneous disorders. Tuberculosis, malnutrition and infectious diseases are most common in afghan patients

Correlation of Hepatitis B with multiple blood transfusions in children of Thalassemia major

To assess the correlation of Hepatitis B [HBV] virus with multiple blood transfusion in patients of Thalassemia major [TM]. Descriptive study. This was conducted in the Thalassemia center, Bolan Medical Complex Hospital Quetta for a period of six months. One hundred and fifty [150] patients of Thalassemia major [already diagnosed] who received two or more blood transfusions were included in this study. Blood sample from these 150 thalassemic patients was scrutinized for HBsAg. All 150 thalassemia patients were in the age range of 6 months to 20 years. Younger patients aged 0-4 years required transfusion every 4.6 weeks while patients above 15 required every 2 weeks. Every TM patients received a mean of 167.64 +/- 121.01 units of blood. A substantive number 25 [17%] were HBsAg positive. Direct correlation was found between HbsAg positivity and number of blood transfusions. Conservative management with blood transfusion is probably the best and sometimes the only survival for patients of TM in our country but it carries a substantial amount of risk of acquiring hepatitis B due to repeated blood transfusions. It is extremely important to sensitize the public regarding prevention of the disease

Clinical presentation of dilated cardiomyopathy in children

To describe the presenting symptoms of dilated cardiomyopathy in children. Descriptive case series. This Study was conducted at the Department of Pediatrics, Bolan Medical complex Hospital, Quetta during a period of 1 year. Following patients were included in this study; that had tachycardia, respiratory distress, and heart failure. Following patients were excluded from this study; hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, restrictive cardiomyopathy, coronary artery anomalies, congenital heart disease, Rheumatic carditis and RHD. 50 Patients were included and their clinical variables, laboratory parameters and echocardiograms were analyzed. Out of 50 patients, 5 died, all these were 10 years or older. The following symptoms were found to be clinically significant. respiratory distress p<0.05, poor feeding p<0.05. The signs were clinically significant. Arrhythmia p<0.05, Fever p<0.05, Tachycardia p<0.05, Tachypnea p<0.05, Hepatosplenomegaly p<0.05, gallop rhythm p<0.05. Other significant findings were: X-ray chest, increased cardio thoracic ratio p<0.05. On echocardiography increased dimension >115 and ejection fraction <20% p<0.05, ST segment changes and T wave abnormality p<0.05. High index of suspicion followed by appropriate investigation can lead to correct diagnosis