Echocardiographic assessment before and after Percutaneous Transvenous Mitral Commissurotomy in patients with Rheumatic Mitral Stenosis.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the changes produced in mitral valve morphology after Percutaneous Trans-Venous Mitral Commissurotomy. METHODS: Patients with mitral stenosis who underwent PTMC at the cardiology department of Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan, from 2006-2016 were included in this study. All the data were manually obtained from the electronic medical record (M.F.E.). Wilkin's echocardiographic scoring system was used to assess the severity of mitral valve thickness, leaflet mobility, valvular calcification, and Subvalvular disease. The student t-test was used for mean comparison. P-value < 0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Of the total 229 patients, males were 96(41.9%), and females were 133(58.1%). The mean [SD] age of the patients was 25 ± 11years. The total Wilkin score was 7 ±1.5. 151(65.9%) were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III, and 78(34.1%) were in NYHA class IV. There was no immediate change after PTMC in systolic myocardial velocities (SV) measured at the lateral tricuspid annulus. The 2D mitral valve area increased from 0.98±0.94 cm2 to 1.78 ± 0.44 cm2 (P=0.001). Left Atrium diameter was 5.16±0.75 mm prior to PTMC, significantly decreased to 4.7± 0.7 mm (p=0.005) after PTMC. Ejection fraction (Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction) changed from 60.45± 8.25 mm Hg to 62.76±10 mm Hg (p=0.001). Mean Right Ventricular Ejection Fraction (RVEF) of patients before PTMC was 48.7 ± 4.7%, did not change significantly immediately after PTMC. CONCLUSION: PTMC is associated with significant changes in mitral valve morphology in terms of splitting of the fused mitral commissures, increased MVA, improved leaflet excursion, and splitting of the subvalvular structures.

Thrombotic Sequela of Asymptomatic COVID-19 Infection.

Severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is known to be associated with thrombotic events like ischemic stroke. However, in the case of mild or asymptomatic disease, a thrombotic event like ischemic stroke is rare and has never been reported in our country. We present the case of a 28-year-old male patient with no co-morbidities who was diagnosed to have ischemic stroke involving the basilar artery. No risk factors for ischemic stroke could be found except for post-COVID-19 status, evident by the presence of antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Chronic myeloid leukaemia presenting as priapism: A case report from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Priapism is known as a very rare complication of leukaemia. We report a 16-years boy who presented with the persistent painful erection of the penis for eleven days. He had aspiration without achieving sustained detumescence. The patient underwent an emergency irrigation and decompression of priapism by a consultant urologist. During the hospital stay blood morphology, bone marrow aspiration and BCR-ABL were done to confirm the diagnosis of chronic myeloid leukaemia. Our report thus explains the relevance of all physicians in the diagnosis and management of patients with priapism.

Prevalence of Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Patients with Type II Diabetes Mellitus on Metformin: A Study from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Background Metformin is the most common oral hypoglycemic used and associated with certain abnormalities. The objective was to evaluate and define the occurrence and bases of vitamin B12 deficiency amongst patients on Metformin for diabetes mellitus type II. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 209 patients having diabetes type II between January-December 2016. The patients aged > 45 years and who had taken metformin for at least three months were recruited with regular follow-up at the Endocrinology Unit of Hayatabad Medical Complex and Diabetic Center Hayatabad, Peshawar. The patients were included in a survey after which they had their serum B12 levels measured. Serum B12 levels < 150 pg/ml is defined as the B12 deficiency. Results About 29.66% of diabetic patients had confirmed the B12 insufficiency through laboratory tests. The patients on metformin had statistically lower values of B12 (P = 0.01). For the patients who smoked, vitamin B12 deficiency was significantly higher than those who did not smoke (p= <0.001). Also in patients using multivitamins, vitamin B12 deficiency was lower compared to nonusers (p=0.05). Conclusion Our study shows that for the patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM), long-term treatment with metformin and smoking are associated with higher chances of developing vitamin B12 deficiency. Clinicians should, therefore, recognize this significant element and should screen diabetics who are on metformin treatment for any B12 insufficiency, which may be hidden, especially patients coming with neurologic symptoms. Additionally, multi vitamins taken daily may have a protective role.

Post thrombolytic resolution of ST elevation in STEMI patients.

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of timing of thrombolytic therapy, cardiac risk factors and site of infarction on S.T. resolution post thrombolysis in STEMI patients. METHODS: This was a descriptive hospital based study conducted at the Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar. The duration of our study was 5 months from February 2015 to June 2015. Diagnosis of STEMI in symptomatic patients was based on the ECG recognized. Definition of Myocardial Infarction. Time from onset of chest pain to presentation of patients in emergency was noted through history of patients along with time of streptokinase. ECG recordings of patients were taken upon presentation in Emergency. Serial ECG monitoring was done after administration of Streptokinase (SK). ST resolution was observed in the lead with the maximum ST elevation. Data were presented as frequencies and percentages, chi square test was applied. RESULTS: Among 83 patients with STEMI 50.6% were males and 49.4% were females with the age group range of 30-83 years. Fifty nine patients (71.08%) with STEMI underwent thrombolysis within 12 hours of onset of chest pain while 24 patients (28.92%), underwent thrombolysis after 12 hours of onset of chest pain. Out of the 59 patients who received thrombolytic therapy before 12 hours, 43 (72.88%)completely resolved, while those who received thrombolytic therapy after 12 hours none of them completely resolved as per ECG findings. By applying chi-square test it gives us value of 36.470, and p-value <0.001. In our study 28 patients were diabetic and out of these six (21.43%) completely resolved as per ECG post thrombolysis, 9 (32.14%) partially resolved and 13 (46.43%) failed to resolve. On the other hand, in non-diabetics out of 55, 37 (67.27%) completely resolved, 12 (21.82%) partially resolved and 6 (10.91%) failed to resolve. Among 61 hypertensive, 26 (42.62%) had complete resolution and in 22 who were non-hypertensive, 17 (77.27%)had complete resolution on ECG. Hyperlipidemia and site of infarction didn't have statistically significant effect on the resolution of ECG post thrombolysis in STEMI patients. CONCLUSION: Patients with diabetes, hypertension and those who receive thrombolysis after 12 hours of onset of chest pain respond poorly to thrombolytic therapy as per ECG findings whereas hyperlipidemia and site of infarction don't affect the response of STEMI patients to thrombolysis.