RESUMEN
Background: Beta thalassemia is one of the most common causes of inherited disorder in the world. In India, around 65000-70000 cases of thalassemia are present currently and every years around 9000-10000 new cases are added. Measurement of serum ferritin level gives an idea about when to start iron chelation therapy, which will reduce the concentration of iron in the serum and thereby prevents the multiple organ damages.Methods: A prospective hospital based study was conducted on 100 children having beta thalassemia major. These children were regularly transfused at our hospital and their serum ferritin level were measured by ELISA based assay. Detailed transfusion history and demographic profile were recorded and compared with serum ferritin level. Results were analyzed with SPSS software and Microsoft Excels.Results: In present study, mean serum ferritin level in 0-5 year age group was1262 µg/l, in 6-10 years age group was 1963.44µg/l and in 11-18 years age group was 2387.43µg/l. On applying ANOVA test, it was evident that there was a statistically significant correlation between increased serum ferritin level with increasing age of the patient as well as with increasing number of a total blood transfusion.Conclusions: High serum ferritin level in beta thalassemia is associated with increasing age of children as well as with increasing transfusion dependency. Serum ferritin measurement at regular interval helps in determining the ideal timing to start iron chelation therapy in transfusion dependant thalassemic patients.
RESUMEN
Background: Cervical carcinoma is an important women’s health problem worldwide. The Bethesda system is a complete diagnostic system that recognizes the cytopathology report as a medical consultation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the abnormal cytological entities detected by cervical Pap smear, to classify the cytological findings according to the recently recommended Bethesda system and to discuss the significance of Pap smears screening programs. Methods: A prospective study on conventional cervical cytology was performed including 340 women, 111 postmenopausal and 229 reproductive age group, attending the Gynaecologic out-patient department at a tertiary care hospital in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat state. Cytological findings including incidence of unsatisfactory smears, inflammatory smears and epithelial abnormalities were classified according to the Bethesda system 2001. Results: Overall incidence of unsatisfactory smears was 9.4%, of squamous cell abnormality was 4.1% and of glandular cell abnormality was 1.2%. Highest frequency of epithelial cell abnormalities (squamous as well as glandular) was seen in 61-70 years age-group women (35.71%) and in women presented with complaints of post-menopausal bleeding (22.5%). Conclusions: The study had shown a relatively low prevalence of epithelial abnormalities in cervical smears. The 2001 Bethesda system seems to reduce the number of cervical smear diagnoses of Atypical Squamous Cells (ASC), without causing any impairment in the diagnosis of High grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion (HSIL) thus decreasing the number of unnecessary interventions.