Scoring systems of severity in patients with multiple trauma.

Trauma is a major cause of morbidity and mortality; hence severity scales are important adjuncts to trauma care in order to characterize the nature and extent of injury. Trauma scoring models can assist with triage and help in evaluation and prediction of prognosis in order to organise and improve trauma systems. Given the wide variety of scoring instruments available to assess the injured patient, it is imperative that the choice of the severity score accurately match the application.

Pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators--general and anesthetic considerations.

A pacemaking system consists of an impulse generator and lead or leads to carry the electrical impulse to the patient's heart. Pacemaker and implantable cardioverter defibrillator codes were made to describe the type of pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillator implanted. Indications for pacing and implantable cardioverter defibrillator implantation were given by the American College of Cardiologists.

Scoring systems in the intensive care unit: A compendium.

Severity scales are important adjuncts of treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU) in order to predict patient outcome, comparing quality-of-care and stratification for clinical trials. Even though disease severity scores are not the key elements of treatment, they are however, an essential part of improvement in clinical decisions and in identifying patients with unexpected outcomes. Prediction models do face many challenges, but, proper application of these models helps in decision making at the right time and in decreasing hospital cost.

Inguinal hernias in patients of 50 years and above. Pattern and outcome.

Objective: to evaluate a one year experience with inguinal hernia repair, in patients of > 50 years, with respect to the type of inguinal hernia, type of surgery, postoperative complications and recurrence.

Methods: a prospective descriptive study of patients (n=57) > 50 years operated for inguinal hernia during a one year period. Tension-free meshplasty and herniorrhaphy, using 3"x6" polypropylene mesh and 2-0 polypropylene suture, were performed in elective and emergency surgery respectively.

Scrub typhus.

Scrub typhus is an acute febrile illness caused by orientia tsutsugamushi, transmitted to humans by the bite of the larva of trombiculid mites. It causes a disseminated vasculitic and perivascular inflammatory lesions resulting in significant vascular leakage and end-organ injury. It affects people of all ages and even though scrub typhus in pregnancy is uncommon, it is associated with increased foetal loss, preterm delivery, and small for gestational age infants.

Fournier's gangrene.

Fournier's gangrene (FG) is a synergistic polymicrobial gangrenous infection of the perineum, scrotum and penis which is characterised by obliterative endarteritis of the subcutaneous arteries, resulting in gangrene of the subcutaneous tissue and the overlying skin. FG affects all ages and both genders, with a male preponderance. It is a rare but life-threatening disease, and despite therapeutic advances in recent years, the mortality rate is 3%-67%, with an incidence of 1:7500-1:750,000.

Comparative evaluation of the sniffing position with simple head extension for laryngoscopic view and intubation difficulty in adults undergoing elective surgery.

The effect of patient position on mask ventilation, laryngoscopic view, intubation difficulty, and the stance adopted by the anesthesiologist during laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation was investigated in 546 anesthetized adults in this prospective, randomized study. Patients were randomly assigned to either the sniffing position group or the simple extension group. The distribution of Cormack grades was comparable between the two groups (P = 0.