Injection drug use and tricuspid valve endocarditis.

Tricuspid valve endocarditis is more common in injection drug users. Pulmonary valve and Eustachian valve endocarditis have been reported but are very rare. Earlier reports of endocarditis in injection drug users emphasized the dominance of right sided involvement. In a series of 105 patients 86 % were right sided and 14 % had left sided involvement. We report a case of isolated tricuspid valve endocarditis in an injection drug user affecting a structurally normal heart and review of the literature on this subject. Key Words: injection drug use, tricuspid valve endocarditis.

Intra abdominal abscess presenting as a thigh abscess.

Secondary thigh abscesses are rare, and their cause is often obscure. We report a case of an elderly diabetic who presented with thigh abscess secondary to tuberculous sacroilitis. Key words: Secondary thigh abscess, retroperitoneal abscess, tuberculous sacroilitis.

Lipid levels in Nepalese population.

OBJECTIVE: To study the lipid pattern of Nepalese population. DESIGN: Retrospective study Setting: Patients attending Temple of Healing for consultation. METHODS: Fasting lipid profile of 2218 blood samples was analyzed. RESULTS: Abnormal total cholesterol (TC) was found in 7.7%. High LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) was found in 5% of cases. 70% of subjects had triglyceride(TG) level more than the upper level of normal. All abnormal lipid level was found in the age group 49 to 60 years. 23% of the study group had low level of HDL cholesterol. CONCLUSIONS: abnormal triglyceride level is the commonest lipid abnormality in our population. High total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol is not very common except in the age group 40 to 49 where it is significantly high in comparison to other age groups. HDL cholesterol level did not decrease significantly with increasing age. Keywords: Lipids, Nepalese population.