Carpal tunnel syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome [CTS] is the most common entrapment neuropathy. The symptoms of CTS include pain, paraesthesia and hypoesthesia in the hand, in the area innervated by the median nerve, and often occurs or worsens during the night or early morning, waking the patient up. Physical examination and nerve conduction studies are used to diagnose this condition. Early diagnosis and treatment of CTS are important because any delay can cause irreversible median nerve damage. To highlight the role of physical examination and nerve conduction study in the diagnosis of CTS. Setting: Kuwait teaching Hospital Peshawar. June 2008 to June 2010. Methods: Fifty patients of carpal tunnel syndrome were studied. All patients who reported numbness and/or tingling in the median nerve distribution in the hands at least twice weekly during the preceding four weeks were enrolled to undergo clinical examination and nerve conduction tests. Following the clinical examination the symptomatic persons underwent bilateral nerve conduction tests. Out of these twelve patients were males and thirty eight were females with a ratio of 1:3.1. The age range was between 20 to 60 years. CTS was bilateral in 22 patients [44%], right-sided in 23[46%] patients and left-sided in 5[10%] patients. In addition to the clinical presentation, electrophysiology has been proposed as the standard of care for diagnosing CTS with a recommendation that it should be performed in all cases

Vaccination status against hepatitis b in doctors and final year clinical students working at Khyber college of dentistry and Sardar begum dental college, Peshawar

This is a descriptive study conducted from February, 2006 to april, 2006 The purpose of this study was to assess the vaccination status of dental health care workers at Khyber college of dentistry and Sardar begum dental college Peshawar. Eighty three doctors and fifty six students were interviewed. Sixty seven doctors and forty three students had vaccinated themselves. Sixteen doctors and twenty five students had booster dose of vaccination as well, while seven doctors and six students had checked their antibody level. The commonest reason for non-vaccination was financial factor [cost] and lack of motivation. Two of the participants thought it was not necessary [including one consultant] while seven other participants had other reasons. Among one hundred and thirty nine participants one student and two doctors did not get the 3rd dose of vaccination. Ten students and fifteen doctors had habit of patient screening for HBsAg and anti HCVAb. Sixty five doctors and forty seven students were aware of the importance of antibody titre

Hepatitis in dental practice - A study conducted on 1498 patients

The purpose of this study was to determine the carrier status of hepatitis Band C in those patients who were admitted in the surgical unit of Khyber College of Dentistry, Peshawar for the treatment of miscellaneous oral and maxillofacial pathologies, including fractures, cystic lesions, tumors, neurec-tomies, impactions and biopsies. All the patients were operated under general anesthesia and were screened for hepatitis B and C virus. This is the retrospective study conducted from September 2002 to December 2004. There were 1498 patients. Out of these, 44 were diagnosed as positive for the viral pathology. Some infected patients presented with a known history of jaundice, blood transfusions, major and minor dental surgeries in the past. The percentage of patients positive for HBsAg and HCVAb was 1.66 and 1.26 respectively.