Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in aluminum phosphide poisoning in Nepal: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Aluminum phosphide is a very common suicide agent in developing countries like Nepal. Due to the unavailability of a specific antidote, mortality is very high because the phosphine molecule that is formed leads to inhibition of the cytochrome oxidase enzyme system in mitochondria. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation provides life-saving support to the cardiovascular and respiratory systems until the deadly poison is eliminated from the body. CASE PRESENTATION: We encountered one case of 67-year-old Asian woman, a known case of major depressive disorder, who presented to our center with suicidal ingestion of aluminum phosphide with cardiovascular and respiratory dysfunction. On presentation in our emergency room, she had an ejection fraction of 20% and had to be immediately intubated for respiratory failure. Based on the evidence of almost 100% mortality with aluminum phosphide poisoning, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was initiated in our intensive care unit. Her general condition and hemodynamics gradually improved over the course of 2 days and she was weaned from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and ventilator by post-extracorporeal membrane oxygenation days 3 and 4, respectively. After psychiatric evaluation and establishment of normal vital parameters, she was moved out of intensive care unit on post-extracorporeal membrane oxygenation day 6 and discharged to home on post-extracorporeal membrane oxygenation day 10. CONCLUSIONS: Although this seems to be a small step in terms of global perspective, it is a giant stride for a developing country. The management of reversible but severe cardiac and respiratory failure certainly opens up newer scopes where we can ensure a quality health care service being made accessible even to the most underprivileged people.

Hemolysis induced cross-matching difficulty with intravenous immunoglobulin: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Intravenous immunoglobulin is one of the most common modalities of treatment for Guillain-Barré syndrome. Although minor complications are easily preventable with pre-medications, rare complications like hemolysis occur at unexpected times and carry risks of repeated transfusions. A complication like difficulties in cross-matching blood is an uncommon event and is often not anticipated. We present one such rare case. CASE PRESENTATION: A 56-year-old man of Asian origin had presented to our hospital with rapidly progressive weakness of bilateral upper and lower limbs over 4 days. Guillain-Barré syndrome was diagnosed by nerve conduction velocity testing and lumbar puncture examination. On the third day of admission in hospital he was intubated because of respiratory failure. Intravenous immunoglobulin at 0.4 mg/kg per day for 5 days was planned and started. Our patient was scheduled for tracheostomy on a routine basis anticipating prolonged requirement of ventilator support. As the blood was being arranged, the blood bank facilities informed us about difficulties in cross-matching of the blood. Repeated samples and attempts at cross-matching were futile. After reviewing the available literature and diagnosing a case of hemolysis, relevant tests were performed and they were positive. CONCLUSIONS: Anti-A and anti-B antibody present in intravenous immunoglobulin preparations sensitize the red blood cells to hemolysis and this occurrence is often incriminated as a cause of cross-matching and sometimes blood grouping difficulty. Although a high dose of intravenous immunoglobulin or repeated courses are often cited as reasons for hemolysis, individual variability in responses is common and it is not surprising to see one like we had in our case.

eFAST for the diagnosis of a perioperative complication during percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

A 29-year-old patient with normal preanesthetic evaluation was planned for percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) for right nephrolithiasis with right pyelolithiasis. Surgery was performed under general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation with muscle relaxation. At the conclusion of surgery, when the patient was turned over to supine position, tense abdomen was noted. Immediately extended focused assessment with sonography in trauma (eFAST) was done in which both right and left quadrants of abdomen including pericardial and suprapubic region, right and left thoracic, and both lung basis were examined. Fluid collection was seen in Morison's pouch which was drained by the urologist under real-time ultrasonography guidance by anesthesiologist. Distension of abdomen subsequently subsided and patient had normal vitals. Trachea was extubated and patient shifted to post-operative ward. eFAST and FAST scans are routine procedures in the rapid assessment of trauma victims in emergency settings. The fluid extravasation during a routine PCNL procedure may lead to abdominal compartment syndrome. This case demonstrated that use of eFAST rapidly detected abdominal collection and ruled out life-threatening conditions such as hemothorax and pneumothorax and prevented abdominal compartment syndrome. Our case is only an example that potentially lethal conditions like these may be encountered in the perioperative setting and the knowledge of eFAST scan may be of great help.

Adverse reproductive outcomes associated with teenage pregnancy.

INTRODUCTION: It is debated whether teenage pregnancy is associated with an adverse reproductive outcome. This study assessed the reproductive outcomes in teenage pregnancy in Nepal, a developing setting. METHODS: A hospital based retrospective cohort study of 4,101 deliveries to compare the outcomes between teenage and non-teenage pregnancies. RESULTS: Pregnancy in teenagers was associated with significantly increased risk (P<0.05) of delivery of very and moderately preterm births and Low Birth Weight babies. There was no significant difference in risk of having small for gestational age babies, low APGAR score at birth at 1 min and 5 min, stillbirth, neonatal death, and post partum hemorrhage. However, the risk of having delivery by episiotomy, vacuum or forceps and Caesarean section was significantly lower (P<0.05) among teenage mothers. CONCLUSION: Teenage women were more likely to have preterm births and low birth weight babies. However, they were less likely to have delivery by episiotomy, forceps or vacuum and Caesarean sections. In other respects, there were no significant differences between teenage and non-teenage mothers.

Acute bacterial meningitis in Nepal.

This study was conducted at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, a tertiary care hospital in Nepal from January 2001 to March 2002. The prevalence of bacterial meningitis, its causative organisms and their antibiotic sensitivity patterns were studied in cerebrospinal fluid of 448 suspected cases. The prevalence of acute bacterial meningitis was 8.3%. There was no significant association (p > 0.05) of the disease with gender (X2 = 0.0234) and among different age groups (X2 = 6.07875) studied. The causative bacteria were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (24.3%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (16.2%), Staphylococcus aureus (16.2%), coagulase negative staphylococci (10.8%), Escherichia coli (10.8%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (8.2%), Neisseria meningitidis (5.4%), Acinetobacter spp. (5.4%) and Aeromoanas spp. (2.7%). Imipenem was the most effective antibiotic, however, 11.1% of P. aeruginosa, 25.0% of E. coli and 50.0% of Acinetobacter spp. were resistant to the drug.

Detection of P. vivax antigens in malaria endemic populations of Nepal by ELISA using monoclonal antibodies raised against Thai isolates.

An indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using monoclonal antibody (MAb) originated from the native Thai isolates of P. vivax (McPV1) and the polyclonal antibody (PAb) raised against Nepali isolates of P. vivax was developed for detection of P vivax antigens in red cell lysates. The assay was specific (100%) since it was positive only with P. vivax-infected erythrocytes and was negative when erythrocytes from 40 healthy individuals from malaria non-endemic areas and 40 P. falciparum infected erythrocytes were tested. When the assay was applied to 203 vivax blood samples already proven by microscopic examination collected from Dhanusha district of Nepal, and using the cut-off level of the mean optical density (OD) (0.144) of 40 healthy individuals who had been living in malaria-endemic areas (0.073) + 2 SD (0.016), the assay could detect 189/203 samples, indicating the sensitivity of the test was 93.1% with a detection limit of erythrocytes of 240 parasites/10(6) erythrocytes. In addition, the assay was negative when 40 blood samples with fever of unknown origin, collected from the same malaria-endemic areas, were tested. However, there was a significant correlation between OD values and parasitemia (r=0.649; p=0.018). The results indicate that MAb-PAb indirect ELISA using MAb raised against Thai isolates of P. vivax as the coating antibodies, and polyclonal antibodies raised against local Nepali isolates as the detecting antibody, could detect P. vivax antigens with high degrees of sensitivity and specificity. Furthermore, it seems that the McPV1 MAb raised against Thai isolates of P. vivax could recognize the antigens of Nepali isolates in a wide range of blood samples.