Partial postmortem negligence or.

Dead body of a 16-year-old female was brought for postmortem at the mortuary of New Civil Hospital, Surat from a nearby district. The body had been subjected to a medicolegal postmortem a day before at a local hospital. But the relatives suspecting foul play in the postmortem asked for a re-postmortem by Forensic Experts at New Civil Hospital. The second postmortem revealed no foul play yet raised many a questions to be answered. The details are discussed in the paper that needs sincere thought.

Fatal gastro-intestinal bleeding: A complication following spinal injury.

On 30.08.2003, a 20-year-old boy met with a vehicular accident and sustained spinal injury and left upper limb fracture. He was immediately hospitalized and seemed to recover well after treatment for a period of 15 days, when just before discharge he suddenly had hematemesis and bleeding per rectum and succumbed within another 24 hours. The case is discussed in detail.

Cranio-cerebral trauma deaths a postmortem study on 0-15 yrs age group.

A postmortem study was conducted on children between ages 0 - 15 years, who had died due to head injury. This study was conducted in two years period from January 1999 to December 2000. During this period 97 cases of head injury were brought for PM examination in this age group. The facts revealed after the study has left many questions to be answered.

Homicidal aluminium phosphide poisoning.

Dead body of a female was brought for postmortem examination at the mortuary of New Civil Hospital, Surat. History revealed that her husband had given three tablets to her on the pretext that these tablets would help in the birth of a male child. She became ill soon after consuming the tablets and died within 12 hours of ingestion while under treatment. Autopsy revealed death from aluminium phosphide poisoning. This unusual case is presented here.

Sudden death: A case of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

A 21 year old male fell down suddenly while jogging in the morning of 27th December 2000 at 7.30 a.m. and was rushed to the nearby hospital by his colleagues. On arrival at the hospital, he was declared dead by the doctor on the duty. The case was brought to the mortuary for medicolegal postmortem examination at 10.30 a.m. on the same day. Various aspects of the case are discussed in this paper.

Clinical profile of hereditary spherocytosis in North India.

AIMS OF THE STUDY: Hereditary spherocytosis (HS) is a familial hemolytic disorder manifesting as anaemia, recurrent jaundice, splenomegaly with marked heterogeneity in clinical presentation. The objective was to study the clinical spectrum of the disorder in India. METHODOLOGY: We studied 50 HS patients and followed them for up to six years (Age range 2-47 years). RESULTS: The presenting features were jaundice 35 out of 50, anaemia 30 out of 50 (requiring blood transfusion in 25). Splenomegaly was found in all patients. Increased osmotic fragility was found in all patients whereas spherocytes were found in only 19 out of 42 patients. Reduced red cell survival was noted in 9/12 patients studied with 51Cr labeled RBCs. There was a definite improvement in the hemoglobin values in those who underwent splenectomy. Thirteen cases had similarly affected family member/s. Fifteen of the cases had family history consistent with autosomal dominant (AD) inheritance (eight families) while in six cases (5 families), inheritance was likely to be autosomal recessive (AR). There was intrafamilial variability in the age of presentation in the AD families. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that both autosomal dominant and recessive patterns of HS are seen in India and the clinical profile of the Indian HS patients is similar to that described in other populations. HS presenting in childhood is also not uncommon. However, the predominant underlying protein defect in Indian patients needs to be characterized.

Role of cytokines in experimental and clinical uveitis.

Uveitis is a major cause of visual impairment. Experimental autoimmune uveitis mimics the clinical conditions of posterior uveitis in many ways. T-cells (particularly CD4+ helper-T-cells) have been shown to play an important role in pathogenesis of experimental and clinical uveitis. Based on the pattern of cytokine they secrete, CD4+ helper cells have been divided into Th1 and Th2 subsets. Various Th1 and Th2 cytokines appear to be involved in the pathogenesis and/or recovery from uveitis. This article discusses in detail the uveitopathogenic and therapeutic potential of Th1 and Th2 cytokines in experimental and clinical uveitis.

Linear catch-up growth.

Chronic diseases and malnutrition cause growth failure in childhood and adolescence. Correction of the cause of a growth deficiency is usually followed by catch-up growth. Capacity to catch-up is not only variable in different phases of growth, it is also different in different diseases and among different individuals suffering from the same disease. Catch-up growth is of three types. In type 1 catch-up growth, height deficit is swiftly eliminated after the growth restriction ceases. In type 2, after growth restriction ceases growth continues for longer than usual and growth arrest is compensated. Type 3 is a mixture of type 1 and type 2. Repeated episodes of growth inhibitory conditions result in lower catch-up rates in the subsequent periods. Although the exact mechanism regulating catch-up growth still remains a mystery, monitoring catch-up growth remains an important measure of the efficacy of the therapy and therefore of immense clinical importance.

Mandibulo-acral dysplasia: Indian patient with severe bony changes.

We report an Indian patient with mandibulo-acral dysplasia. This patient had absence of spinous processes of 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae and very severe bony changes but no loss of teeth.

Does autopsy of antenatally diagnosed malformed foetuses aid genetic counselling?

BACKGROUND: Many pregnancies are terminated because of ultrasonographic diagnosis of malformation in the foetus. A detailed foetal autopsy is needed to arrive at a definite diagnosis on the basis of which genetic counselling can be provided. METHODS: Sixty-one foetuses, terminated because of antenatal diagnosis of congenital malformations by ultrasound, were autopsied. The ultrasound diagnosis was compared with the diagnosis reached after autopsy. RESULTS: In 31 cases (51%) the autopsy provided additional findings. In 21 cases (34.4%), the autopsy changed the primary diagnosis. The revised diagnosis led to a change in the risk of recurrence in 18 cases (29.5%). CONCLUSION: Genetic counselling depending solely on ultrasonographic foetal diagnosis may be erroneous. For appropriate genetic counselling, a detailed foetal examination should be carried out after termination in cases with ultrasonographically detected congenital malformations.