Clinical and Radiographic Success of Electrosurgical Pulpectomy in Primary Teeth.

A pulpectomy requires the swift extraction of the inflamed tissue. Moreover, the speed of treatment is especially important in the case of uncooperative children. Conventional pulpectomies, however, often require an extended treatment period, which can therefore cause problems with such patients. Electrosurgical methods have been applied to pulpotomies for a number of years. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies to date have assessed its application to pulpectomies. The aim of this study was to compare clinical and radiographic success rates over a 6-month follow-up period between conventional and electrosurgical pulpectomies. A total of 50 children aged 4 to 8 years were enrolled in this randomized clinical trial. A pulpectomy of the first and second primary molar teeth was seen as the optimal treatment plan in all these patients. One group was treated using the conventional method (C group, 25 teeth) and the other with electrosurgery (ES group, 25 teeth). The patients were evaluated for the presence of pain, mobility, abscess, sinus tract, erythema, tenderness to percussion, internal and external root resorption, and radiolucency. Clinical and radiographic success rates and total working time were assessed. The Fisher's exact test and Mann-Whitney U-test were used for the statistical analysis. After 6 months of follow-up, the clinical and radiographic success rates were 90.5 and 85.7%, respectively, in the ES group, compared with 88.9 and 72.2%, respectively, in the C group. No statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups (p>0.05). Working time, however, was significantly shorter in the ES group (p<0.001). This suggests that pulpectomy with electrosurgery reduces treatment time, and is therefore quite useful in situations where duration of the treatment course is of crucial concern.

Association between troponin I level and cardiovascular risk factors in asymptomatic hemodialysis patients.

OBJECTIVE: Patients on hemodialysis (HD) have a high risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Cardiac troponins are biomarkers for diagnosing acute myocardial injury or infarction. There is considerable controversy that exists in the frequency and significance of cardiac troponins in predicting cardiac injury and ischemia in HD patients. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, all HD patients more than 18-year-old, who were at least 3 months under HD, and had no sign and symptom of active cardiovascular disease (CVD), in two HD centers were enrolled. One hundred and one patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Blood sample for cardiac troponin I (cTnI) was drown before the initiation of HD session during their routine monthly blood testing from patients' vascular access arterial line. cTnI levels were measured by a high-sensitivity assay, VIDAS troponin I Ultra kit, and correlated with patients' demographic, clinical, and laboratory results. FINDINGS: The patients' different demographic and clinical characteristics had no statistically significant correlation with troponin levels except for marginal trend for past medical history of diabetes and hyperlipidemia with corresponding P values of 0.072 and 0.055. Twenty-six patients had cTnI level more than 0.01 ΅g/L and only two patients had cTnI level more than 0.11 ΅g/L. For laboratory results, only fasting blood sugar had statistically significant correlation with patients' cTnI level (r = 0.357, P = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Frequency of significant elevation of cTnI level in our asymptomatic HD patients was very low and if such elevation is found in this population, it may be considered as a sign of active CVD.