Public health measures to control tuberculosis in low-income countries: ethics and human rights considerations.

In low-income countries, tuberculosis (TB) control measures should be guided by ethical concerns and human rights obligations. Control programs should consider the principles of necessity, reasonableness and effectiveness of means, proportionality, distributive justice, and transparency. Certain measures-detention, infection control, and treatment to prevent transmission-raise particular concerns. While isolation is appropriate under certain circumstances, quarantine is never an acceptable control measure for TB, and any detention must be limited by necessity and conducted humanely. States have a duty to implement hospital infection control to the extent of their available resources and to provide treatment to health care workers (HCWs) infected on the job. HCWs, in turn, have an obligation to provide care unless conditions are unreasonably and unforeseeably unsafe. Finally, states have an obligation to provide adequate access to treatment, as a means of preventing transmission, as broadly as possible and in a non-discriminatory fashion. Along with treatment, states should provide support to increase treatment adherence and retention with respect for patient privacy and autonomy. Compulsory treatment is almost never acceptable. Governments should take care to respect human rights and ethical obligations as they execute TB control programs.

Sonography of thigh abscess: detection, diagnosis, and drainage.

Sonographic characteristics and percutaneous catheter drainage of thigh abscesses in 18 patients are described. Most of these patients had underlying diseases including osteomyelitis, trauma, diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis, leukemia, lymphoma, sepsis, bleeding dyscrasia, and autoimmune disease. Previous procedures on these thigh collections included seven operations and 12 nondiagnostic ward aspirations. All collections were shown by sonography to be either anterior or anterolateral. Two cases referred for drainage were posteromedial; sonography showed these to be mycotic pseudoaneurysms. The abscesses were either anechoic or hypoechoic, and occasionally had debris and septations. Abscesses associated with underlying osteomyelitis abutted the femur; those related to other causes generally were more superficial within muscle or fascial layers. Sonographically guided catheter drainage successfully cured all patients, even those in whom ward aspiration or formal surgery had been unsuccessful. Sonography is a simple and inexpensive method of imaging and guiding the drainage of thigh abscesses. Percutaneous catheter drainage is the treatment of choice in cases in which simple emergency room or ward incision and drainage are inadequate.

Percutaneous drainage access: a simplified coaxial technique.

We describe an access technique that we have used in 150 nephrostomy and biliary drainage procedures and for access to some abscesses and viscera. The system provides safe coaxial access with a 22-gauge removable hub needle, which then acts as a guide wire and is replaced by an 18-gauge cannula. A major advantage is that only one guide wire is used (0.038-inch) for the entire drainage procedure. No significant complications have occurred to date with this method.

Percutaneous gastrostomy and gastroenterostomy: 2. Clinical experience.

This report describes the authors' initial experience with percutaneous gastrostomy (PG) and gastroenterostomy (PGE) in 40 patients. Indications for PG and PGE included alimentation (35 patients) and small bowel decompression (five). Seldinger technique with air distension of the stomach via a nasogastric tube (20 patients) is a simple method to insert small (7-9 French) and firm catheters; tube exchanges for larger and softer catheters often are necessary by this method (23 procedures in 17 patients). Coaxial trocar technique (19 patients) permits initial insertion of softer and often larger catheters (9-14 French feeding tubes), which are less likely to clog or require exchange; the intragastric balloon support method facilitates trocar insertion. Now preferred is a system that uses 18-gauge needle puncture and allows coaxial insertion of a final soft feeding tube at the initial procedure. Small bowel catheter positioning (PGE) (31 patients) was more common than gastrostomy alone (8 patients); "downhill puncture" toward the gastric antrum assists direct guide-wire cannulation of the duodenum via the gastric puncture (12 patients). Five complications occurred; two were major and included catheter dislodgement in one patient. Another patient, who had a pharyngeal tumor, suffered profound respiratory difficulty from premedication and nasogastric tube malposition; patients with head and neck tumors present particular problems with nasogastric tube passage and airway monitoring. Inability to pass a nasogastric tube does not preclude PG and PGE, as direct puncture of the stomach is feasible.

Oriental cholangiohepatitis: diagnostic imaging and interventional management.

Diagnostic and therapeutic radiologic experience with six patients who had oriental cholangiohepatitis is described. These patients combined had 10 prior operations. Postoperatively each had recurrent cholangitis, numerous stones, concretions, and/or bile duct strictures. Diagnostically, sonography was valuable in the detection of intra- and extrahepatic stones and extrahepatic dilatation of ducts. An important pitfall in sonography was poor visualization of intrahepatic ductal dilatation (due to echogenic sludge filling the ducts) in most patients. CT was helpful diagnostically in all respects. Interventional procedures used postoperatively included percutaneous transhepatic intrahepatic stones, and flushing techniques. Most patients were treated during multiple sessions as outpatients. Cholangitis was the only complication from the procedures. Sectional imaging and interventional radiology perform valuable diagnostic and therapeutic roles in the pre- and postoperative management of patients with oriental cholangiohepatitis.

Intrahepatic amebic abscesses: indications for and results of percutaneous catheter drainage.

Medical therapy is standard for intrahepatic amebic abscess and generally is effective. However, we have encountered a group of patients in whom percutaneous aspiration and drainage was indicated due to uncertainty of diagnosis or clinical deterioration of the patient. Twenty such patients underwent percutaneous drainage with ultrasound or CT guidance, and each patient was cured (appropriate antibiotics were administered concomitantly). The specific indications for intervention were to differentiate pyogenic from amebic abscess, pain and imminent rupture, poor response to medical therapy, false-negative results of serologic tests, noncompliance with medical treatment, left lobe abscess, and pregnancy. Diagnosis of amebiasis from examination of the fluid was seldom possible, while findings from core biopsy of the wall of the abscess led to diagnosis in three cases. Recurrence necessitating redrainage occurred in three patients; in each, catheters were removed the same day drainage was performed. There were three minor complications. Differences from percutaneous management of pyogenic abscesses included more rapid removal of catheters (four days), more frequent use of US guidance, and more common use of the prone angled approach to avoid pleural contamination. Catheter drainage may be curative and may expedite care for problematic amebic liver abscesses in selected cases.

Complicated pancreatic inflammatory disease: diagnostic and therapeutic role of interventional radiology.

Diagnostic and therapeutic interventional radiology techniques in 41 patients with complications of pancreatic inflammatory disease (noninfected pseudocyst, infected pseudocyst, phlegmon, abscess, hemorrhagic pancreatitis) are described. Computed tomography or ultrasound-guided aspiration or percutaneous pancreatic ductography enabled specific diagnoses in 43 of 45 patients (96%). In almost half the patients, diagnostic aspiration with 22-gauge needles was unsuccessful due to viscous contents or firm cavity walls. Single-step needle aspiration of noninfected pseudocysts was successful in only three of ten patients (30%). Catheter drainage cured six of seven noninfected pseudocysts (85.7%) and seven of nine infected pseudocysts (77.7%). Pancreatic phlegmons were aspirated in five patients to exclude secondary infection and help determine the need for surgery. Pancreatic abscesses were drained successfully in nine of 13 patients (69.2%); temporizing benefit was achieved in the other four who eventually underwent surgery in improved condition. Early diagnosis of the complications of pancreatitis may be established almost uniformly, and at least 70% of patients with infected or noninfected pseudocysts and pancreatic abscesses may be cured by nonoperative drainage.