Frequency of Trichomonas vaginalis, Candida sp and Gardnerella vaginalis in cervical-vaginal smears in four different decades.

CONTEXT: Vaginitis is one of the principal motives that lead women to seek out an obstetrician or gynecologist. Bacterial vaginosis, candidiasis and trichomoniasis are responsible for 90% of the cases of infectious vaginitis. OBJECTIVE: To verify the frequency of the three main causative agents of vaginitis, Trichomonas vaginalis, Candida sp and Gardnerella vaginalis, in four different decades (1960's, 1970's, 1980's and 1990's). DESIGN: Retrospective. PLACE: A tertiary referral center. PARTICIPANTS: Patients attended to as gynecology and obstetrics outpatients at the Faculdade de Medicina do Triângulo Mineiro during the years 1968, 1978, 1988, 1998, taken as samples of each decade. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Diagnoses of infection by Trichomonas vaginalis, Candida sp and Gardnerella vaginalis were gathered from 20,356 cervical-vaginal cytology tests on patients attended to as gynecology outpatients at Faculdade de Medicina do Triângulo Mineiro during the years 1968, 1978, 1988, 1998, representing the four decades. The results were grouped according to the age group of the patients: under 20, between 20 and 29, between 30 and 39, between 40 and 49, and 50 or over. Statistical analysis was done via the chi-squared (Mantel-Haentzel) test with a significance level of 5%. RESULTS: In 1968 infections by Trichomonas vaginalis and Candida sp were diagnosed in 10% and 0.5% of the cytology tests and in 1978, 5.1% and 17.3%, respectively (P < 0.0001). Infection by Gardnerella vaginalis could only be evaluated in the latter two decades. In 1988, 19.8% of the women had positive tests for Gardnerella vaginalis, which was the most frequent agent in that year, diminishing in the subsequent decade to 15.9% (P < 0.0001). Candidiasis was the most frequent infection in 1998, detected in 22.5% of the tests (P < 0.0001). In a general manner, all the infections were most frequent among younger patients, especially those aged under 20, in all decades, whereas infections were least frequent among patients aged 50 or over (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: There was a reduction in the frequency of cervical-vaginal infection by Trichomonas vaginalis and an increase in the frequency of Candida sp over the four decades studied. All the infections were most frequent in patients aged under 20 years.

Tiroidite cronica: avaliacao clinica e laboratorial de 50 casos com especial referencia a puncao biopsia aspirativa com agulha fina. / Chronic thyroiditis: clinical and laboratorial evaluation of 50 cases with special reference to fine-needle aspiration biopsy

Os autores analisam as caracteristicas clinicas e laboratoriais, com especial enfase a citologia por biopsia aspirativa com agulha fina, em 50 pacientes portadores de tiroidite cronica. A incidencia de tiroidite cronica foi maior no sexo feminino e no grupo de bocio difuso. A cintilografia mostrou hipocaptacao difusa em 52,63% dos casos, bem como os anticorpos positivos em mais de 47%. Com base nos resultados citologicos, afirmam ser a tiroidite cronica a causa mais frequente de hipotiroidismo (50,40%), sendo a do tipo Hashimoto a de maior prevalencia. Sugerem a importancia da citologia no diagnostico diferencial de tiroidite cronica e neoplasias malignas. Enfatizam, finalmente, a biopsia aspirativa com agulha fina tecnica de facil execucao e a citologia, metodo seguro e adicional para o estudo das tiroidites, contribuindo substancialmente para deteccao e diagnostico de tiroidite cronica em seu estadio precoce