Manual vacuum aspiration: a safe and effective surgical management of early pregnancy loss

Background: Manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) is an alternative to the standard sharp uterine curettage, performed under local anaesthetic or sedation in the daycare setting. The objectives of this study were to assess the efficacy and safety of MVA, the pain perception and the factors related to it.Methods: This was a prospective observational study of 58 consecutive patients who had undergone Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA) in Early Pregnancy Assessment Clinic, Hospital Kemaman between January and December 2017. Data on the patients’ characteristics and the procedures were analysed.Results: The efficacy of the procedure was 96.5% (56/58) with no major complication recorded. Majority of the patients (91.3%) reported mild to moderate pain with 2/3 of them agreed to undergo MVA in the future and would recommend it to other patients. There was no significant difference in mean pain score between different groups of women (parity, education levels, occupations, previous uterine evacuation) or procedural techniques (analgesia, sedation, cervical block, cervical dilatation, procedure duration, number of aspiration passes).Conclusions: MVA is safe and well accepted procedure for out-patient surgical evacuation of early miscarriages.

Managing Subacute Subperiosteal Hematoma with High Intraocular Pressure: A Case Report

Subperiosteal haematoma of the orbit is an uncommon complication of maxillofacial trauma, hence easily missed. It usually presents subacutely with proptosis and diplopia. In our case, the subperiosteal haematoma is complicated with high intraocular pressure, necessisating measures to reduce the intraocular pressure. Unresponsive to only medical treatment, surgical evacuation was carried out in this patient. Removal of the clot finally relieved the intraocular pressure and simultaneously improved the proptosis and the cumbersome diplopia.

Evaluation of Misoprostol in the Medical Management of Abortion.

The present study was carried out to compare the safety and efficacy of Misoprostol with Surgical Evacuation in the management of abortion. 100 women as specified by the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited for this prospective observational study. 50 subjects (Group A) were managed medically by Misoprostol and 50 subjects (Group B) underwent Surgical Evacuation. Clinical outcome, time taken for expulsion, number of doses required, mean duration of hospital stay, mean analgesic requirement, mean blood loss and side effects were compared between the two groups. It was concluded that vaginal administration of Misoprostol is a safe, effective and cheap alternative to surgical evacuation. No serious adverse effects were observed with Misoprostol.

Spinal Epidural Hematoma after Pain Control Procedure

Spinal epidural hematoma is a rare complication associated with pain control procedures such as facet block, acupuncture, epidural injection, etc. Although it is an uncommon cause of acute myelopathy, and it may require surgical evacuation. We report four patients with epidural hematoma developed after pain control procedures. Two procedures were facet joint blocks and the others were epidural blocks. Pain was the predominant initial symptom in these patients while two patients presented with post-procedural neurological deficits. Surgical evacuation of the hematoma was performed in two patients while in remaining two patients, surgery was initially recommended but not performed since symptoms were progressively improved. Three patients showed near complete recovery except for one patient who recovered with residual deficits. Although, spinal epidural hematoma is a rare condition, it can lead to serious complications like spinal cord compression. Therefore, it is important to be cautious while performing spinal pain control procedure to avoid such complications. Surgical treatment is an effective option to resolve the spinal epidural hematoma.

Rapid Development of Brain Abscess Caused by Streptococcus Pyogenes Following Penetrating Skull Injury via the Ethmoidal Sinus and Lamina Cribrosa

OBJECTIVE: Streptococcus pyogenes is a beta-hemolytic bacterium that belongs to Lancefield serogroup A, also known as group A streptococci (GAS). There have been five reported case in terms of PubMed-based search but no reported case of brain abscess caused by Streptococcus pyogenes as a result of penetrating skull injury. We present a patient who suffered from penetrating skull injury that resulted in a brain abscess caused by Streptococcus pyogenes. METHODS: The patient was a 12-year-old boy who fell down from his bicycle while cycling and ran into a tree. A wooden stick penetrated his skin below the right lower eyelid and advanced to the cranium. He lost consciousness on the fifth day of the incident and his body temperature was measured as 40degrees C. While being admitted to our hospital, a cranial computed tomography revealed a frontal cystic mass with a perilesional hypodense zone of edema. There was no capsule formation around the lesion after intravenous contrast injection. Paranasal CT showed a bone defect located between the ethmoidal sinus and lamina cribrosa. RESULTS: Bifrontal craniotomy was performed. The abscess located at the left frontal lobe was drained and the bone defect was repaired. CONCLUSION: Any penetrating lesion showing a connection between the lamina cribrosa and ethmoidal sinus may result in brain abscess caused by Streptococcus pyogenes. These patients should be treated urgently to repair the defect and drain the abscess with appropriate antibiotic therapy started due to the fulminant course of the brain abscess caused by this microorganism.

A Case of Subperiosteal Orbital Hematoma in Patient with Ethmoid and Maxillary Sinusitis

Subperiosteal hematoma of the orbit is uncommon and mostly caused by trauma or some general diseases such as leukemia, hemophilia, and scurvy. Subperiosteal yhematoma associated with sinusitis which is not related to trauma and general diseases, however, is extremely rare. The authors report a case of subperiosteal hematoma of the orbit in 22-year-old man without a history of trauma and general diseases. He had proptosis, and sudden decreased visual acuity. Clinical features, and computerized tomography established the diagnosis of subperiosteal orbital hematoma secondary to ethmoid and maxillary sinusities. We could make definitive diagnosis by needle aspiration of blood using 18-gauge needle with a 10ml syringe at our OPD. To avoid complications such as compressive neuropathy, central retinal occlusion, and recurrence of hematoma, we managed it successfully by evacuation of blood and thermal cauterization to bleeding areas of periosteum, or bone.

Spontaneous Cervical Epidural Hematoma: Case Report

Spontaneous cervical epidural hematoma is an infrequent entity that usually requires emergency decompression on account of impending neurologic deficit. We present a case of a 36-year-old man who visited our emergency room complainng of severe neck pain with progressive weakness of both upper extrmities. On cervical MRI, fusiform epidural hematoma was found extending from the fifth to the seventh cervical vertebrae. Emergency surgical evacuation was performed. The patient was fully recovered and discharged uneventfully.

Pontine Hemorrhages and Prognosis

Pontine hematomas are very rare lesions that in the past found at postmortem examination rather than diagnosed from the clinical presentations. Computed tomography has particularly stimulated further neurosurgical interest in this relatively rare condition, making surgical evacuation possible in some cases. Four patients suffering from pontine hemorrhages, revealed by computed tomography, are discussed. The classification regard to the site, clinical features and outcomes of this lesion are discussed in an attempt to establish general criteria for adequate management. With regard to the site, three types of hemorrhage are to be considered the tegmentotectal(type I), the tegmentolateral(type II) and the tegmentobasilar(type III), 2 patients(type I II, treated conservatively) had a fair outcome, and 2 patients(one of type III, treated conservatively, and one of type I, by surgical evacuation) had a death. Surgical management for the pontine hemorrhages should be reserved for the type I(tegmontotectal) and type II(tegmentolateral), whenever the neurological conditions deteriorate progressively.