Pap Smears in the Diagnosis of Bacterial Vaginosis.

Pap smears are routinely used in cervical cancer screening. The purpose of our study was to determine whether the Pap smear is of diagnostic value for the detection of bacterial vaginosis using vaginal gram stain as the diagnostic standard. We studied 636 non-pregnant, married women attending the Gynecology OPD of Rama Medical College, Ghaziabad, for routine genital examination between Sep 2011 and Sep 2012. Two vaginal smears were prepared, one of which was stained by the pap method and the second by the Gram’s method. Using Gram stain diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis as the gold standard, pap smear had a sensitivity of 61.0% and a specificity of 97.6%, PPV of 85.7% and NPV of 91.6%in the diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis. Hence, although pap smear is only moderately sensitive for screening of bacterial vaginosis, because of its high specificity, it is of diagnostic value when it is positive.

Multiple myeloma presenting as primary non-secretory plasma cell leukemia.

Primary plasma cell leukemia is a rare manifestation of multiple myeloma, whose neoplastic hierarchy in the classification of malignant hematological disorders is not yet very clearly defined. Morphological and immunological criteria indicate that the cells are at end stage of B cell maturation pathway. This unusual disorder is diagnosed by the presence of more than 2 x 10(9) plasma cells per liter of peripheral blood or more than 20% of the leucocytes being plasma cells on differential count. This occurs either denovo or as a terminal event in patients with long standing multiple myeloma. A case report of a young male patient with primary plasma cell leukemia is presented.

Pancytopenia--a clinico haematological study of 200 cases.

The present study was designed to ascertain the percentage of occurrence and causes of pancytopenia. All the cases of pancytopenia from July 2001 to June 2002 (one year) were examined in the Department of haematology, Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi. Bone marrow aspirations/biopsy were performed in most of the cases (200 out of 250 cases). The commonest cause of pancytopenia, in our hospital was Megaloblastic anaemia (72%), followed by Aplastic anaemia (14%) and others.

Primary malignant giant cell tumour of sacrum--a case report.

A rare case of primary malignant GCT of sacrum in a 35-year-old female is reported.

Granulocytic sarcoma of humerus, an unusual association of acute myeloblastic leukemia--a case report.

Ganulocytic sarcoma (Chloroma) is a tumour of rare variety usually in assocoiation with granulocytic leukemia. It is related to soft tissue with extramedullay infiltration. We present a case of granulocytic sarcoma of humerus which preceded the initial clinical manifestation of acute myeloid leukemia in a young patient which ultimately proved to be FABM2 variety. Though many tissues are affected by this tumour but the most favoured site is the bone.

Histoplasma capsulatum in adrenal gland aspirate--a case report.

We report a case of disseminated histoplasmosis in a 60-year-old non-immunocompromised patient who presented to us with fever and hepatosplenomegaly. Sonographic & CT examination of the abdomen showed bilateral adrenal masses. Cytological examination of the aspirated material from the mass showed yeast forms of H. capsulatum.

FNAC of papillary and solid epithelial neoplasm of pancreas--a case report.

A case of solid papillary epithelial neoplasm (PSEN) of pancreas in a young woman is reported in which the nature of tumour was recognised pre-operatively by ultrasound guided Fine needle aspiration. The pre-operative cytologic diagnosis enabled prompt and appropriate surgical treatment. FNAC revealed large cell clumps in the aspirate showing branching papillary appearance in which multiple layers of tumour cells surrounded central vascular stalks. The above was confirmed on histopathological examination of the excised tumour tissue.

Immunological assessment of infertility by estimation of antisperm antibodies in infertile couples.

160 clinical samples were collected from 40 infertile couples with unexplained infertility. The samples collected included serum and seminal plasma of the male partners and serum and cervical mucus samples of the female partners. 25 fertile healthy couples were investigated as controls. All the samples collected were then tested for class-specific antisperm antibodies by an Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Antisperm antibodies were detected in 30% of the infertile couples which included 25% female and 10% male partners. Amongst the cases positive for antisperm antibodies, antibodies were detected most frequently in female sera 58.4% followed by male sera 33% and 25% in cervical mucus. The isotyping of antisperm antibodies in various samples showed IgG to be the most frequent type specific antibody followed by IgM & IgA types of antibodies. ELISA has provided a relatively simple, reliable and highly reproducible method of detection of antisperm antibodies. Thus application of antisperm antibody testing especially in cervical mucus should become an integral part of the investigation of immunologic infertility.

A simple screening test for the detection of heterozygous beta thalassemia.

Beta-Thalassemia is prevalent in a high frequency of 5-15% in selected geographical areas and ethnic communities. There is need to screen large populations for the heterozygotes of beta-Thalassemia. We have evaluated NESTROFT (Naked eye single tube red cell osmotic fragility test) with 0.36% buffered saline in this study. Of the population screened, 42 cases were positive with NESTROFT, of which 40 were positive with the confirmatory test for beta-Thalassemia. This implies a positive predictive value and specificity of 100%, negative predictive value of 83.3% and sensitivity of 95.2%.

Study on serum sperm agglutination in cases of unexplained infertility.

In our study we investigated 100 couples of unexplained infertility in order to detect the presence of anti-spermatozoal antibodies. Both auto-immunity and Iso-immunity have been found responsible in 12.5% of couples of primary infertility & 10% of couples of secondary infertility. As many as, 21% of cases of unexplained infertility were attributed to presence of antibodies in sera of infertile couples. Here, we highlight the importance of anti-spermatozoal antibodies testing in the first instance itself in cases of unexplained infertility.