Electrocardiographic changes in craniocerebral trauma--could they serve as prognostic indicators?

Electrocardiographic (ECG) changes were analysed in one hundred patients of craniocerebral injuries irrespective of age and sex. Males comprised 82% of patients and most vulnerable age group was 15-40 years (66%). Although the overall mortality was 17%, the maximum mortality (44.44%) was observed in the age group of 41-60 years. Computed tomographic scan proved lesions in intracerebral haemorrhage, subdural haematoma, mixed lesions and extradural haematoma were associated with mortality rates in 66.66, 33.33, 20 and 11.11 per cent respectively. ECG changes of some or the other type were present in almost all patients (99%) but ST-segment shift, sinus tachycardia/bradycardia, T-wave changes and prolonged QTc-interval (> 440 msec) carried high mortality rates of 60, 34.6/27.3, 19.6 and 17.3 per cent respectively, especially if these changes persisted for long duration. Occurrence of supraventricular tachycardia and nodal arrhythmia, although associated with high (50%) mortality rates, were probably terminal events rather than the cause of increased mortality. There was, however, no direct correlation between the type of craniocerebral injury and specific ECG changes.

Mesenteric leiomyoma in infancy.

Leiomyoma of the mesentery is an uncommon tumor. This has been documented in adults and children. However, there is no such case reported in an infant, which is being presented in this report.

Cystic hygroma of the gluteal region.

Cystic hygromas occur most commonly in the neck. Rarely are they known to involve the axilla, groin, mediastinum, retroperitoneum, pelvis, mesentery, omentum and spleen. We successfully managed a case of cystic hygroma of gluteal region in a one and half year old child who presented with a cystic, non transilluminant swelling in this region since birth. The diagnosis of cystic hygroma was made by surgery and subsequently confirmed after histopathological examination. Because of rarity of cystic hygroma in gluteal region this case in being reported.

Gall bladder carcinoma presenting as liver abscess.

Perforation of malignant gall bladder resulting in liver abscess and presenting as pyrexia of unknown origin is rare. We report a patient who was diagnosed at surgery, which was undertaken with a diagnosis of liver abscess on CT scan.

Mesenteric lipoma: an unusual cause of small intestinal volvulus.

Mesenteric lipoma as a cause of small intestinal volvulus has not been reported before. We report a middle-aged man with this entity.

Daughter diverticula from Meckel's diverticulum.

Daughter diverticula arising from the body of Meckel's diverticulum are rare. We detected such an occurrence in a 35-year-old man at appendectomy. These are probably primary and not pulsion or traction diverticula, as they do not have a muscle wall.

Monkey bites: a public health problem in urban setting.

Animal bites constitute an important public health problem. Monkey bites accounted for 8.8% of total animal bites (1987-1991) treated in Postgraduate institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak. It was noted that monkeys are becoming the second most common animal to inflict bites. The hospital data revealed that 63.5% of the total animal bites belonged to class-III type. The article also details two case studies of monkey bites.