Declining trends of Syphilis seroprevalance among antenatal clinic cases and STD clinic cases in a tertiary care centre: From January 2002 to December 2012.

Syphilis affects nearly 1.36 million pregnant women, majority of these cases being concentrated in the developing countries. We aimed at analysing the 11 years’ trends in syphilis seroprevalence in antenatal clinics (ANC) and STD clinic cases. Laboratory data of syphilis cases from 2002-2012 were retrospectively analysed. Out of the total 73642 cases, 393 (0.53%) tested positive for Syphilis. A statistically signifi cant decline in syphilis prevalence was found in both ANC and STD clinic cases. The efforts of various interventional programs should continue to make the screening and treatment facilities readily accessible to continue the decline in syphilis seropositivity.

Laboratory quality management system: Road to accreditation and beyond.

This review attempts to clarify the concepts of Laboratory Quality Management System (Lab QMS) for a medical testing and diagnostic laboratory in a holistic way and hopes to expand the horizon beyond quality control (QC) and quality assurance. It provides an insight on accreditation bodies and highlights a glimpse of existing laboratory practices but essentially it takes the reader through the journey of accreditation and during the course of reading and understanding this document, prepares the laboratory for the same. Some of the areas which have not been highlighted previously include: requirement for accreditation consultants, laboratory infrastructure and scope, applying for accreditation, document preparation. This section is well supported with practical illustrations and necessary tables and exhaustive details like preparation of a standard operating procedure and a quality manual. Concept of training and privileging of staff has been clarified and a few of the QC exercises have been dealt with in a novel way. Finally, a practical advice for facing an actual third party assessment and caution needed to prevent post-assessment pitfalls has been dealt with.

Role of radionuclide perfusion study in cold solitary thyroid nodule for diagnosis of malignancy: a complimentary diagnostic modality to fine needle aspiration cytology.

One hundred and forty eight subjects with euthyroid solitary thyroid nodules (STN) were taken up for radionuclide perfusion study. They were found to have a cold STN on 99mTc thyroid static scan. All had fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), and except for subjects with chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis, were subjected to surgery for tissue diagnosis by histopathology. The diagnostic findings in these patients of solitary thyroid nodules were correlated with the histopathology. Radionuclide perfusion study is considered useful to differentiate benign from malignant cold thyroid solitary nodules with high degree of sensitivity (95%) and specificity (87.9%).

Evaluation of radionuclide gastroesophagography as a suitable screening test for detection of gastroesophageal reflux.

Thirty cases of recurrent pulmonary infection and ten control cases underwent radionuclide gastroesophagography endoscopy, histopathology and barium esophagography to evaluate the clinical efficacy of scintigraphic technique in, detection of gastroesophageal reflux. After ingesting 500 micro curie of Tc-Sulphur colloid mixed in milk, patients esophageal activity was monitored using the gamma camera for forty-five minutes continuously. By using histopathology as standard of comparison, the sensitivity and specificity of radionuclide esophagography was 78.54 and 81.25%, respectively. Because of its physiologic nature, low radiation exposure and convenience, radionuclide esophagography is recommended as a suitable screening test for detecting gastroesophageal reflux where available.

Non-invasive evaluation of global ventricular functions in coronary artery disease by exercise radionuclide angiocardiography.

Rest and exercise radionuclide angiocardiographic measurement of left ventricular functions were obtained in 12 normal subjects (group I) and 42 patients with well documented coronary artery disease (group II). Additionally thirty-five patients had an exercise tread mill test. Resting left ventricular ejection fraction less than 50% provided the greatest diagnostic information. Exercise was induced by supine bicycle exercise ergometer. In group II 32 patients of coronary artery disease with normal global ventricular function at rest, new regions of dysfunction developed during exercise and global ejection fraction fell by 8 to 15 percent while in group I there was an increase in LVEF and no areas of any ventricular wall motion abnormalities were detected. Exercise radionuclide angiocardiography is a useful non invasive technique which permits accurate assessment of the presence and functional severity of coronary artery disease.