Typhoid fever in paediatric patients in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan

To determine the seropositivity of typhoid fever in febrile pediatric patients presenting to tertiary care center. This observational study was conducted at Children Hospital Quetta [CHQ] from July 2011 to March 2012. The children with three or more days fever, no obvious focus of infection and clinically suspected of typhoid fever were screened. Sterile Blood samples were obtained from febrile patients and Widal and Typhidot [Trade Mark] tests were performed for the diagnosis of Typhoid fever in the suspected populations. Total of 2964 clinically suspected patients were screened for typhoid fever. Of these, 550 [18.6%] patients were positive serologically. The higher prevalence of the disease in hot summer season and increasing pattern of the disease was observed in summer days. The disease was higher in school age children under 5-10 years. Although non-significant association was observed on sex basis. The findings highlight the considerable burden of typhoid fever in pre-school and school-aged children. The variation in the disease pattern has also been observed under seasonal variation and different age groups, all of which need to be considered in deliberations to control the typhoid fever

Relationship between Gleason's score and immunohistochemical staining intensity of tissue PSA in prostatic carcinoma

To evaluate the usefulness of Immunohistochemical Staining of Tissue PSA in determining the severity of Prostatic Carcinoma. Material and An explanatory study carried out at the Department of Histopathology of a Tertiary Care Hospital Lahore, from January 1999 to July 2002. Sixty-two [62]- cases of prostatic adenocarcinoma were graded with Gleason's score and stained with immunohistochemical stain for tissue PSA. Intensity of staining was correlated with Gleason's score and relationship was evaluated by ANOVA and simple regression. Specificity and sensitivity of staining intensity was estimated for specific Gleason's scores. Age of the 62 cases ranged between 50 ' 90 years and no significant difference was found between age groups regarding tumor cell differentiation. Staining intensity was found to be positively related to cellular differentiation [->2 51]. 'Relationship between staining intensity and Gleason's score showed an inverse relationship with ANOVA / linear regression; F statistic of 209.72 [p.0001] and R 0.882. Our study confirmed the findings of other international studies exploring relationships between Gleason's score and staining intensity of tissue PSA. Staining of tissue PSA with immunohistochemical stains is helpful in diagnosing the severity of the tumor grade as a complimentary tool along with Gleason's scoring

Lumbosacral pain and sciatica: a correlation between clinical findings and imaging

Lumbosacral pain and sciatica are common symptoms affecting a large proportion of the population. Recent introduction of Magnetic Resonance Imaging [MRI] to the diagnostic armamentarium for Sciatica and backache has led to the rather indiscriminate use of the investigation leading to a scarcity of resources. We report a consecutive series of patients having MRI Scans at our hospital with a correlation of the symptoms, physical findings and the findings on MRI. It is concluded in our study that the need for diagnostic imaging in patients is determined by the classical criteria of radicular pain and neurological symptoms such as weakness and numbness. There is a strong correlation between the clinical diagnosis of disc herniation and the Magnetic Resonance Imaging findings. The presence of back pain alone generally shows a paucity of findings on MRI Scanning and is of value in being negative only. A larger study is required to confirm the findings on this initial study

Fine needle aspiration cytology of enlarged lymph nodes and gender differences

To observe patterns in the pathological findings of lymph-node FNAC. Exploratory and Cross-sectional examination of medical records. Department of Histopathology of Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore, from 1992 to 1995 [four years]. A total of 548 fine needle aspiration cytologies were performed on patients presenting with enlarged lymph nodes. Two histopathologists evaluated each slide to confirm the findings. Descriptive analysis of the FNAC results was conducted and efficacy of the procedure was estimated. Male to female ratios were calculated and chi-square test was applied. Eighty-eight percent of the FNACs yielded a positive result on the first attempt. Infectious and cancerous FNACs averaged 42.36% and 32.09%, respectively. Granulomatous lesions were most frequently due to tuberculosis. Men were twice as likely as women to have cancer detected by an FNAC, chi[2] 24, [p 0.05]. Poorly differentiated cancer was three times as likely to be found in males than females, chi[2] 8.02. Male: female ratio for metastatic lesions was 2:1, chi[2] 11.12 [p 0.05]. In this study, infectious diseases appeared to present more frequently than cancerous lesions, as is observed in underdeveloped countries. This study complements other studies and opens new research questions, regarding gender differences in the prevalence of cancer found in enlarged lymph nodes, as cancers including the metastatic, detected on FNAC were more common in males than females

Neurological deficit caused by benign spinal lesions: a clinical analysis

Neurological deficit due to compressive spinal lesions may develop slowly or have rapid onset. We report cases of spinal tumours and conditions simulating spinal tumours such as syringomyelia with a view to identify factors responsible for a relatively poor outcome. Between 1994 and 1996 eighteen patients were managed surgically in our unit. Neurofibromas were most common while rare lesions, such as epidermoid, dermoids, intramedullary lipomas and DISH osteophytes were also seen in our series. The patients presented to our unit, an average of 8 months after the onset of symptoms. While only 17% of the patients presented with advanced disease due to lack of medical facilities, 33% and 39% were misdiagnosed by either general practitioners or specialists respectively. Poor outcome was directly correlated to advanced symptoms and to a delay in diagnosis and surgery