A case of bilateral tibial hemimelia type VIIa.

Congenital absence of tibia is a rare anomaly, and may be total or partial, unilateral or bilateral. Total absence is more frequent than partial, unilateral absence occurs more often than bilateral, with right limb more commonly affected than the left. In partial defect, almost always the distal end of the bone is affected, and of the bilateral cases, there may be total absence on both sides, or total on one side and partial on the other. Males are slightly more commonly affected than the females. Though, the family history is usually negative for congenital abnormalities and other diseases, there is a considerable chance of occurrence of congenital defect of the tibia or of other abnormalities, in near or remote relatives. We report a case of newborn having bilateral tibial hemimelia type VIIa.

Pure red cell aplasia.

Eleven cases of Pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) in children were encountered in our hospital since 1982. The age range was 4 months to 12 years. There was a male preponderance with M:F ratio as 9:2. There were 4 cases due to viral fever, 1 with bronchopneumonia, 2 of tuberculosis, 1 of enteric, 1 of NHL and 2 were of congenital PRCA. Tuberculosis per-se had given rise to PRCA in the two cases, which is not reported earlier though its association with anti-tubercular therapy is well recorded. Cases of infective etiology other than viral responded very well to specific treatment. Steroid was the drug of choice in PRCA with viral etiology.