Study of pattern of fatal head injury cases due to road traffic accidents in Bhavnagar Region, Gujarat.

Introduction: Head injury is an important cause of mortality world wide as head is the most vulnerable part of the body involved in fatal road traffic accident. Material and Methods: The present study was under taken on 117 victims of road traffic accident who died due to injuries sustained on the head, which were autopsied at mortuary complex of Government Medical College and Sir Takhtsinhji General Hospital, Bhavnagar, Gujarat over a period of 1 year between 1st January 2011 to 31st December 2011. Observation: Most of the road traffic accident had taken place in the afternoon hours (12.01 P.M. to 6.00 P.M.).Majority of victims were found in age group of 21 to 30 years. Two wheeler occupants were the most commonly involved. Four wheeler occupants and pedestrians were least commonly involved. A large proportion of the victims died within 0 to 12 hours of the accident. Conclusion: Very high morbidity at place of accident or at initial phase of treatment is definitely alarming and highlights the need for taking urgent steps for establishing good pre-hospital care and provision of trauma services at site.

Profile study of unknown dead bodies brought for postmortem examination at mortuary complex of sir T general hospital, Bhavnagar.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to find out the profile of cases of unknown dead bodies, to evaluate the present situation at Bhavnagar region of Gujarat in India. Material and methods: A retrospective descriptive study was carried out on 104 cases of unknown dead bodies, brought for postmortem examination at Sir T. General Hospital and Government Medical College Bhavnagar, during the period of April 2010 to March 2013. Observation: This study throw some lights on the emerging trends that incidence of unknown dead bodies brought for post-mortem examination is increases in particular season, more in male and most of the victims were from the age more than 60 years. Conclusion: In unidentified dead bodies’ cause of death are variable. In some instances death due to natural cause may occur, but there are incidences of unnatural death also.

ICON 2013: Practical consensus recommendations for hormone receptor-positive Her2-negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

The management of hormone receptor‑positive Her2‑negative breast cancer patients with advanced or metastatic disease is a common problem in India and other countries in this region. This expert group used data from published literature, practical experience, and opinion of a large group of academic oncologists, to arrive at practical consensus recommendations for use by the community oncologists.

Pathological complete response in locally advanced breast cancer: Determinants and predictive significance.

Background. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is now the standard approach for most large breast cancers including locally advanced cancers of the breast. The majority of patients respond satisfactorily to chemotherapy with effective downsizing of tumours to consider breast conservation surgery. Pathological complete response (pathCR) is known to be a strong predictor of good outcome; however, many factors are known to influence the extent of response to chemotherapy. It has been observed that smaller the tumour, better is the response achieved in contrast to larger and locally advanced tumours where only one-third may respond well enough to merit breast conservation. Various other clinical, biological and molecular factors are also being evaluated as effective predictors of chemosensitivity. Most of these are either not easily available for all patients in developing countries or are overtly expensive and not applicable for all patients. Methods. We evaluated the clinical and pathological predictors of response to chemotherapy in 1402 women with locally advanced breast cancer. Results. There was a higher rate of pathCR in smaller tumours, younger women and ER-negative as well as triple negative tumours. The presence of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and lymphatic and vascular invasion (LVI) were associated with lower pathCR. Conclusion. In the absence of ready availability of expensive molecular and genomic assays, clinical parameters and standard histopathological variables can also be useful indicators of response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Additionally, they can help identify those who could be eventually conserved or have a better outcome.

Estrogen, progesterone and HER2 receptor expression in breast tumors of patients, and their usage of HER2-targeted therapy, in a tertiary care centre in India.

Background: This study was undertaken to document the pattern of expression of estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) and the usage of HER2-targeted therapy in a large tertiary care hospital in India in the year 2008. Materials and Methods: The histopathology reports of all breast cancer patients registered in the hospital in 2008 were extracted from the electronic medical record system. All the cases were immunohistochemically evaluated for estrogen and progesterone receptor status (ER and PR), and c-erbB-2 protein (HER2) expression using standard immunoperoxidase method. The use of HER2-targeted therapies was evaluated by extracting relevant information from the database of the hospital pharmacy and case charts of patients enrolled in ongoing approved trials. Results: A total of 2001 new patients of invasive breast cancers with available pathology reports were registered in the hospital in the year 2008. ER and/or PR expression was positive in tumors of 1025 (51.2%) patients. HER2 3+ expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC) was found in 335 (16.7%) and HER2 2+ in 163 (8.1%). The triple negative phenotype was found in 596 (29.8%) patients. An estimated 441 patients were eligible to receive HER2-targeted therapy based on their HER2 status. Of these 38 (8.6%) patients received some form of HER2-targeted therapy; 20 patients (4.5%) as part of ongoing clinical trials and 18 (4.1%) as part of routine care. Conclusions: The overwhelming majority of patients eligible for HER2-targeted therapy in our institution are unable to receive it because of financial constraints and limited access to health insurance. There is a higher fraction of patients with the triple negative phenotype compared to the Western population.

Unusual fatal multiple-organ dysfunction and pancreatitis induced by a single wasp sting

Acute onset of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) is a well-known complication following multiple wasp stings. However, MODS after a single wasp sting has been rarely reported in children and acute pancreatitis have probably never been observed before. Herein we describe the case of a 12-year-old boy who had urticaria and abdominal pain after a single wasp sting. The child gradually developed MODS while his abdominal complaints were worsening. Despite aggressive supportive management, the child did not survive. Afterward, the cause of the acute abdomen was finally diagnosed as acute pancreatitis. Both MODS and pancreatitis following a single wasp sting are very unusual. Thus, although pancreatitis is rarely manifested, it should be suspected after a wasp sting if there are predominant abdominal symptoms.(AU)

Low axillary sampling in clinically node-negative operable breast cancer.

Background. Targeted sentinel node biopsy has been extensively validated. It has been incorporated into standard guidelines for axillary prediction in women with clinically node-negative operable breast cancer. However, the high cost of the gamma probe and the need for radiocolloid have limited its widespread acceptance in developing countries. We aimed to validate low axillary sampling as a reliable alternative method to sentinel node biopsy in a developing country. Methods. An anatomically guided low axillary sampling removes the lower level I axillary fat with lymph nodes and the method was validated by completing axillary clearance in all women. Results. Three hundred fifty-five women with clinically node-negative operable breast cancer underwent validation of low axillary sampling, with lymph nodes identified in all of them. The median number of nodes identified in low axillary sampling was 5 with overall node-positivity of 32.1% (114 of 355). Ten of these 114 patients were wrongly identified as node-negative by the sampled lymph nodes, i.e. a false-negative rate of 8.8%. Further exploratory analysis showed that 6-node low axillary sampling gave an excellent false-negative rate of 1.5% with 95% sensitivity, which was comparable with the highly targeted sentinel node biopsy technique. Conclusions. With an overall false-negative rate of 8.8% with 5-node low axillary sampling, and even better falsenegative rate of 1.5% with 6-node low axillary sampling, axillary sampling is a low-cost technology, which is a reliable alternative to sentinel node biopsy for axillary nodal prediction in clinically node-negative breast cancer.

Drug use pattern in children at a teaching hospital.

This study aimed to evaluate drug utilization in pediatric out-patient department of a tertiary care teaching hospital. The patient and drug information of 254 patients was analyzed for WHO recommended prescribing indicators. The average number of drugs per prescription was 2.31 and 45% of medicines were prescribed from National List of Essential Medicines. The use of injectibles was low (1.18%) while an antibiotic was prescribed in 29.1%. Only 5.8% medicines were prescribed by generic name. Interventions are required to improve prescribing by generic name so as to further rationalize drug use in pediatric population.

Targeting protein acetylation for improving cancer therapy.

Acetylation is one of the most important post-translational modification of proteins determining the structure, function and intracellular localization that plays an important role in the signal transduction pathways related to diverse cell functions, both during unstimulated and stress conditions. Protein acetylation in cells is regulated by a co-ordinated action of histone acetyl transferases (HAT) and histone deacetylases(HDAC) that ensures the maintenance of homeostasis and execution of activities related to damage response viz. DNA repair, cell cycle delay, apoptosis and senescence. Since inhibition of histone deacetylation, stalls the progress of many nuclear events including proliferation and damage response events on the one hand and the levels of deacetylases are elevated in many tumours on the other. Histone deacetylase has been among the targets for the development of anticancer drugs and adjuvant. The recent observation showing acetylation of proteins by calreticulin (an endoplasmic reticulum resident protein) with a high efficiency when polyphenolic acetates are the acetyl group donating molecules and acetyl CoA as weak substrate extends the realm of protein acetylation beyond HAT/HDAC combination. Elucidation of the relative roles of HAT/HDAC mediated acetylation viz. a calreticulin mediated acetylation in cell function under a variety of stress conditions would hold key to the design of drugs targeting protein acetylation system.

Surgical reconstruction for absence of sternum and pericardium in a newborn.

We report the surgical management of a 3 day old baby with absent sternum and pericardium with impending rupture of the skin cover. The repair described is innovative and may be used in place of primary repair by bringing the ribs together. Review of embryology and various modalities of closure are provided.

Validation of EORTC quality-of-life questionnaire in Indian women with operable breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) module QLQ-C30 and the breast cancer-specific module BR-23 have been validated worldwide to assess the quality of life (QOL) in women with breast cancer. No such study has been published on Indian women using EORTC questionnaires. METHODS: QOL was assessed in relation to surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy, radiation therapy and hormone therapy in 299 Indian women with operable breast cancer (OBC) at the Breast Unit of Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), Mumbai, from October 1998 to September 2001. The QLQ-C30 module was used to assess physical health, emotional, cognitive and social functioning, and the BR-23 module to assess breast cancer treatment-related symptoms. Assessment was done at 3 visits: visit 1 (after surgery); visit 2 (during adjuvant therapy) and visit 3 (on completion of adjuvant therapy). RESULTS: Of the 299 women at first visit, 274 (91.6%) completed the visit 2 questionnaire and 239 (80%) completed the visit 3 questionnaire. Only those women who filled the questionnaires at all 3 visits were included as 'valid visits' for analysis (193 of 299; 64.5%). The reliability and validity of the English and translated versions of the questionnaires were tested by Cronbach alpha (0.61-0.96) and item-scale correlation (0.63-0.93). Women with breast conservation treatment had a superior body image as compared to those with mastectomy (p <0.001). Physical, emotional and cognitive functions were not related to the type of surgery. Global QOL, physical, sexual and role functioning were found to deteriorate with chemotherapy (p < or = 0.01). Radiotherapy had only local adverse effects (p < 0.001 ), while hormone therapy had no adverse impact on QOL. CONCLUSION: QLQ-C30 and BR-23 questionnaires can be used reliably to assess QOL in Indian patients. The translated versions were found to be valid for further use in clinical trials on Indian women with breast cancer.

Fatal cardiac malformation in fetal valproate syndrome.

A neonate with a fatal cardiac malformation due to maternal valproate intake during pregnancy is presented.

Perinatal tuberculosis.

Perinatal tuberculosis is insufficiently understood. Its early diagnosis is essential but often difficult as the initial manifestations may be delayed. Improved screening of women at risk and sensitivity of the medical community are necessary. A coherent system of cooperation between the hospital and community services and between pediatricians and adult physicians is indispensable to find the index adult case to break the chain of contagion as well as to offer prophylactic therapy to the children at risk. We hereby report a baby with perinatal tuberculosis who was not offered any prophylactic therapy inspite of the mother being diagnosed to have pulmonary tuberculosis.

Neonatal parotitis.

Neonatal parotitis is a rare condition. Infection of the parotid glad is more common than that of the submandibular glad. Dehydration is the most important predisposing factor for this. Most common organism responsible for this condition is Staphylococcus aureus. Untreated condition can lead to various complications.

Pseudohypoparathyroidism in a mother and son: phenotypic variability and associated disorder.

A 2-month-old infant with clinical features of hypothyroidism presented with hypocalcemic seizures. The maternal phenotypic features aroused the suspicion of pseudohypoparathyroidism which was confirmed in both by biochemical and endocrinological investigations. Though the child had clinical and radiological features to suggest hypothyroidism he had normal free thyroxine and only slightly elevated thyroid stimulating hormone levels. Special note is made of the intra and interpatient variability of this rare inherited disorder.