Accuracy of the "triple test" in the diagnosis of palpable breast masses in Saudi females.

Background: For patients who present to clinicians with palpable breast lesions, the triple test: (physical examination, mammography and fine-needle aspiration cytology) can be employed to provide accurate diagnosis. In this study, the sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of triple test components were studied separately and in combination.

Material And Methods: During the study period (from January 1998 to December 1999), 140 patients with palpable breast masses were subjected to all components of the triple test followed by confirmatory open biopsy.

Surgical correction of main stem reflux in the superficial venous system: does it improve the blood flow of incompetent perforating veins?

Fifty-seven limbs (33 patients) with chronic venous ulceration were selected for this study. The criterion for selection was the presence of isolated superficial venous reflux. Long saphenous vein reflux alone was observed in 39 (68.

The role of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the management of acute cholecystitis in patients with sickle cell disease.

Background: As emergency surgery in sickle cell disease patients is associated with high morbidity, the aim of the study was to assess the safety of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the acute state for these patients.

Methods: Over a 5-year period, April 1994 till December 1998, 35 sickle cell patients with acute cholecystitis had laparoscopic cholecystectomy within the first 5 days of presentation. A retrospective study of these was undertaken.