ABSTRACT
Laryngeal web is a rare congenital anomaly. Late presentation at the age of 10 years as in our case, with misleading diagnosis of asthma in a Cohen's type III glottic web is even rarer. In cases of congenital laryngeal web the aim is to provide a patent airway and to achieve a good voice quality. Regardless of the technique used; the primary concern is recurrence. Traditionally, the treatment of choice for laryngeal web was laryngofissure with placement of a keel however; endoscopic laser excision of the web with keel placement is now the preferred technique for thin anterior glottic webs. This endoscopic technique not only requires a Lichtenberger needle carrier but also the ready-made keel, which many of the government set-ups in our country cannot provide. For an alternative to this problem, we have described an innovative, minimally invasive technique for placement of a self-made silicone keel without any sophisticated instruments.
ABSTRACT
The sensitivity and specificity of two rapid, low cost latex agglutination HBsAg detection tests were compared to a EIA HBsAg detection test using serum samples from 371 pregnant women in Kajiado, a rural Kenyan district. The sensitivity of the latex agglutination tests when compared to the EIA was 70.6% and 61.8%, while specificity was 92.0% and 85.2% respectively for the same tests. In view of their low sensitivity these rapid tests are not suitable for screening blood in district hospitals.
