Scenario of neonatal surgery in West Bengal with refrence to cases of anorectal malformation.

Pediatric Surgery, though a super specialty does not enjoy the glamour and importance like other specialities, though, dealing with the most delicate of mankind, the children. The reasons for this are manifold and the results of this, brutal. This is a retrospective study carried at the major institutes of West Bengal where departments of pediatric surgery exist. We have observed a gross discrepancy between the number of patients admitted for surgically correctable congenital malformations and the standard state/ national frequency of these disorders. We focus on the plight of a child not able to reach the leval III health care system with a pediatric surgical back up and analyze the pros and cons with constructive criticism of the existing system.

Comparison of needle biopsy with pleural fluid analysis for the evaluation of pleural lesions.

A total of 60 pleural biopsies were received at Nidaan Clinic, Kathmandu during the period of two years from January 2000 to December 2002. The age of the patient ranged from 8 years to 82 years. Male: female ratio seen was 3:1. The most common lesion was found to be chronic nonspecific; pleuritis seen in 50.0% cases followed by tuberculous pleuritis in 36.7% cases, metastatic adenocarcinoma in 8.3% cases, metastatic small cell carcinoma in 3.3% cases and anaplastic large cell carcinoma in 1.7% cases. 63.3% cases of chronic nonspecific pleuritis showed transudative pleural fluid effusion. None of the cases of tuberculous pleuritis had transudative pleural effusion. 2 cases (40.0%) of metastatic adenocarcinoma had transudative pleural fluid effusion which suggests the need to perform pleural biopsy in all the cases of transudative pleural effusion whether encountered for malignancy or not.

Pigmented trichoblastoma: report of a rare case.

Trichoblastoma is a rare benign skin appendage tumour with follicular differentiation. Pigmented variant of trichoblastoma is an extremely uncommon tumour and only three cases have been described in the literature. We report a rare case of pigmented trichoblastoma in a 54-year-old female.

Paget's disease of the nipple diagnosed on cytology: a case report.

Paget's disease of the breast nipple is an eczematous skin change of the nipple-areola complex often associated with an underlying in-situ or invasive carcinoma. The usefulness of cytology in the diagnosis of Paget's disease has been suggested only in few studies despite the fact that it offers definitive advantages over surgical excision biopsy. Easy practicability, quick, cost-effective and non-invasive stands opposite a limited sensitivity as disadvantage. We report a case of Paget's disease of nipple diagnosed by nipple touch smears.

Histomorphologic pattern of skin lesions in Kathmandu Valley: a retrospective study.

A total of 85 skin biopsies were analyzed to see the pattern of skin disorders in Kathmandu Valley. Clinico-histopathological correlation was done to see for the inconsistency between clinical and histopathological diagnosis and also to analyse for the false positive diagnosis of melanoma in such lesions. The age of the patients ranged from 10 to 88 years. No gender predominance was observed. Five percent of the lesions were located on head and neck region and rest were distributed over chest, back and extremities. Clinically 21 (24.7%) out of 85 cases showed hyperpigmentation and were diagnosed as melanocytic lesions. Intradermal nevus emerged as the single largest disorder with a total of 11 cases (12.9%). Capillary hemangioma cases constituted the second largest group with a total of 9 cases (10.6%). Seborrhoeic Keratosis (8.2%), Verrucous vulgaris (8.2%) Neurofibroma (7.1%), Nonspecific granulomatous lesions (4.7%) and melanoma (3.5%) formed the other major groups of disorders. Morphea (1.2%), Psoriasis (1.2%) and fungal lesions (1.2%) commonly seen in other studies were not found to be common among the skin disorders in the present study.

Tissue distribution and antileishmanial activity of liposomised Amphotericin-B in Balb/c mice§.

Antileishmanial activity and organ distribution of the antifungal drug Amphotericin-B in free and liposomised form have been studied in Balb/c mice infected with Leishmania donovani. Results indicate that Amphotericin-B in the liposomised form is significantly more active than the free form. This increase in the activity is perhaps related to the reduced drug toxicity rather than the altered drug distribution at the site of infection.