Chest radiography for predicting the cause of febrile illness among inpatients in Moshi, Tanzania.

Aim: To describe chest radiographic abnormalities and assess their usefulness for predicting causes of fever in a resource-limited setting.

Materials And Methods: Febrile patients were enrolled in Moshi, Tanzania, and chest radiographs were evaluated by radiologists in Tanzania and the United States. Radiologists were blinded to the results of extensive laboratory evaluations to determine the cause of fever.

Assessment of left ventricular geometrical patterns and function among hypertensive patients at a tertiary hospital, Northern Tanzania.

Background: With hypertension, the cardiovascular system changes to adapt to the varying neuro-humoral and hemodynamic changes and this may lead to the development of different left ventricular geometric patterns, each carrying a different risk profile for major adverse cardiovascular events.

Methods: Using a consecutive sampling technique, a cross-sectional, prospective, hospital based study was done and two hundred and twenty seven (227) hypertensive patients were studied.

Results: The distribution of different abnormal LV geometrical patterns was 19.

Histoplasmosis among hospitalized febrile patients in northern Tanzania.

Histoplasmosis may be common in East Africa but the diagnosis is rarely confirmed. We report 9 (0.9%) cases of probable histoplasmosis retrospectively identified among 970 febrile inpatients studied in northern Tanzania.

Invasive bacterial and fungal infections among hospitalized HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected children and infants in northern Tanzania.

Objective: To describe the contribution of paediatric HIV and of HIV co-infections to admissions to a hospital in Moshi, Tanzania, using contemporary laboratory methods.

Methods: During 1 year, we enrolled consecutively admitted patients aged ≥2 months and <13 years with current or recent fever. All patients underwent standardized clinical history taking, a physical examination and HIV antibody testing; standard aerobic blood cultures and malaria film were also done, and hospital outcome was recorded.

Invasive bacterial and fungal infections among hospitalized HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected adults and adolescents in northern Tanzania.

Background: few studies describe patterns of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infections in African hospitals in the antiretroviral therapy (ART) era.

Methods: we enrolled consecutive admitted patients aged ≥ 13 years with oral temperature of ≥ 38.0°C during 1 year in Moshi, Tanzania.

Low sensitivity of T-cell based detection of tuberculosis among HIV co-infected Tanzanian in-patients.

Objective: To evaluate the performance of QuantiFERON-TB GOLD (QFTG) in a resource-poor setting among patients with and without HIV infection.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Two hospitals in Northern Tanzania.

Aetiology and presentation of HIV/AIDS-associated pulmonary infections in patients presenting for bronchoscopy at a referral hospital in northern Tanzania.

Objectives: To determine the aetiological agents of pulmonary infections in HIV-infected Tanzanians and to correlate the causative agents with clinical, radiographic features, and mortality.

Design: A prospective study.

Setting: Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC), Tanzania.

The impact of phantom CT scanning on surgery for the solitary pulmonary nodule.

A reliable preoperative method to distinguish benign from malignant peripheral solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs) would be clinically valuable. New techniques using epoxy resin plastic models of the thorax combined with calcium carbonate (phantom) nodules to determine the density of SPN have been proposed as a partial solution to this problem. During the first 3 years that phantom computed tomography (CT) has been available, 50 consecutive patients in whom SPN was discovered on screening chest x-ray film and who were considered to be candidates for surgery were evaluated by this technique.

The role of plain films, CT, tomography, ultrasound, and percutaneous needle aspiration in the diagnosis of inflammatory lung disease.

Traditionally, plain film chest radiography has been the mainstay in the roentgenographic evaluation of infectious disease in the chest. Plain film tomography has augmented the chest radiograph in the detection of cavitation and in evaluation of the bronchial tree. Newer imaging modalities including ultrasound, which evaluates the pleural space, and computerized tomography (CT), which examines the lung parenchyma, mediastinum, pleura, and chest wall, have further aided in diagnosis.

Chest pain as a predictor of coronary artery disease in patients with obstructive aortic valve disease.

To clarify the association between chest pain and significant coronary artery disease in patients who have aortic valve disease, 76 consecutive candidates for aortic valve replacement were evaluated prospectively with use of a historical questionnaire and coronary arteriography. Of the 76 patients, 19 (25 percent) had no chest pain, 21 (28 percent) had chest pain that was not typical of angina pectoris and 36 (47 percent) had chest pain typical of anigina pectoris. In 18 of 19 patients the absence of chest pain correlated with the absence of coronary artery disease.