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BACKGROUND: Surgical site infection (SSI) persists as a global challenge, accounting for 20%-25% of all healthcare-associated infections. The SSI rate has been reported to range from 2.5% to 41.9%. Skin preparation with acceptable antiseptic preparations has a high recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control as an SSI preventive measure. AIM: The aim was to compare the efficacy of 10% povidone-iodine in 70% isopropyl alcohol with 2% chlorhexidine in 70% isopropyl alcohol in preventing SSI. METHOD: This prospective randomized study included patients who were followed up for 30 days looking for SSI. Swabs were taken from wounds that developed SSI. A culture of all swabs was done. RESULT: One hundred and fifty-three patients were recruited into the study. Overall, eight (5.23%) of the 153 patients developed SSI. The SSI rate in clean wounds was 2.6%, while the SSI rate in clean-contaminated wounds was 7.9%. No statistically significant difference was found (p=0.141) between the two groups.
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Background: Progressive improvement in the accuracy of profiling of hormone receptors in breast cancer provides the basis for targeted endocrine therapy, a major pillar of multimodal breast cancer treatment. However, the disparity in findings from comparatively smaller sample-sized studies in West Africa has led to somewhat conflicting conclusions and recommendations. Objectives: This study investigates the immunohistochemical (IHC) profile of breast cancer specimens for estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal receptor-2 (HER2)/neu, and Ki-67 in a tertiary hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria over 12 years. Materials and Methods: We reviewed 998 IHC reports, documented clinicopathologic parameters, computed patterns of biomarkers, and stratified them based on the American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists recommendations. Descriptive analysis including frequency, mean, and median were generated from the data extracted. Results: Out of the 998 cases, 975 (97.7%) were females and 23 (2.3%) were males. The mean age was 48.84 ± 11.99 years. Open biopsies were the most common types of specimens (320, 41.6%): lumpectomy and incisional biopsy of ulcerated, fungating or unresectable tumours. In those cases, 246 (32.0%) were samples of breast-conserving or ablative surgical extirpation (mastectomy/wide local excision/quadrantectomy), and 203 (26.4%) were obtained by core needle biopsies. Invasive ductal carcinoma was the most common histopathological type (673, 94.5%). The majority of graded tumours were intermediate grade (444, 53.5%). Four hundred and sixty-nine (48.4%) were ER positive, 414 (42.8%) were PR positive, and 180 (19.4%) were HER2/neu positive. Three hundred and thirty-four (34.0%) were triple-negative. Eighty-nine cases had Ki-67 staining done, and of these 61 (68.5%) had positive nuclear staining. Conclusion: Steroid hormone receptors and HER-2/neu proportions in our cohort are likely to be more representative than the widely varied figures hitherto reported in the sub-region. We advocate routine IHC analysis of breast cancer samples as a guide to personalized endocrine therapy.
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Renal ectopia, even though a benign condition, presents diagnostic challenges when its complications arise. Cold abscess in an abnormally sited kidney may, therefore, create a diagnostic conundrum for the clinician. We present the case of a 55-year-old male who had a suppurating ectopic kidney that mimicked an abdominal visceral mitotic lesion necessitating initial laparotomy, reviewed the literature, and highlighted the need to consider the differential diagnosis, especially in patients who have been referred from peripheral hospitals where generous antibiotic therapy has been instituted. We also recommend undertaking a preoperative split renal scintigraphy where available, especially when nephrectomy is considered.
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INTRODUCTION: Oncologic surgical extirpation, the mainstay of loco-regional disease control in breast cancer, is aimed at achieving negative margins and lymph node clearance. Even though axillary lymph nodal metastasis is a critical index of prognostication, establishing the impact of lymph node ratio (LNR) and adequate surgical margins on disease-specific survivorship would be key to achieving longer survival. This study examines the prognostic role of pN (lymph nodes positive for malignancy), LNR and resection margin on breast cancer survival in a tertiary hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria. METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal cohort study of 225 patients with breast carcinoma, documented clinico-pathologic parameters and 5-year follow up outcomes - distant metastasis and survival. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate the interaction of resection margin and proportion of metastatic lymph nodes with patients' survival. The receiver operating characteristic curve was plotted to determine the proportion of metastatic lymph nodes which predicted survival. The survival analysis was done using Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: Sixty (26.7%) patients of the patients had positive resection margins, with the most common immuno-histochemical type being Lumina A. 110 (49%) patients had more than 10 axillary lymph nodes harvested. The mean age was 48.6 ± 11.8 years. Tumour size (p = 0.018), histological type (p = 0.015), grade (p = 0.006), resection margin (p = 0.023), number of harvested nodes (p < 0.01), number of metastatic nodes (p < 0.001) and loco-regional recurrence (p < 0.01) are associated with survival. The overall 5-year survival was 65.3%. CONCLUSION: Unfavourable survival outcomes following breast cancer treatment is multifactorial, including the challenges faced in the multimodal treatment protocol received by our patients.
