Primary total hip arthroplasty: health related quality of life outcomes.

Purpose: The health related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes of total hip arthroplasty (THA) present a pertinent and clinically important problem in modern orthopaedics. Our goal was to report and compare the health-related outcomes after THA in respect to type of fixation in patients with hip osteoarthritis (H-OA) one year after operation.

Methods: A total of 145 patients with H-OA who received THA were evaluated.

The possibilities and limitations of direct digital radiography, ultrasound and computed tomography in diagnosing pleural mesotelioma.

The goal of this study was to compare the possibilities and limitations of direct digital radiography of the chest (DDR), the use of ultrasound of the chest (US) and single slice computed tomography of the chest (CT) in diagnosing pleural mesothelioma. The study was conducted during the course of one year, on 80 patients who were successively referred to a specialized institution, under clinical suspicion of mesothelioma. The method of investigation was the comparison of findings, obtained by the reviewed methods of examination, with the pathohistologic results of a biopsy performed on each patient.

Stenotic occlusive lesions of internal carotid artery in diabetic patients.

Diabetes deteriorates atherosclerotic changes in the arteries. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence and localization of stenotic atherosclerotic lesions of the internal carotid artery (ICA) in patients with diabetes. A prospective analysis of angiography findings was carried out in 150 diabetic and 150 non-diabetic patients with symptoms of cerebral ischemia using double-blind angiogram readings by two independent investigators.

Atherosclerotic lesions of supra-aortic arteries in diabetic patients.

The aim of this prospective study was to determine the prevalence and localization of stenotic atherosclerotic lesions of supra-aortic arteries in diabetic patients according to age and sex. Angiograms obtained by digital subtraction angiography were analyzed in 150 diabetic patients (study group) and 150 non-diabetic patients (control group) with symptoms of cerebral ischemia. Diabetic patients were found to have a significantly higher prevalence of stenotic atherosclerotic lesions of the internal carotid artery.

C-reactive protein level in severe stenosis of cerebral arteries.

Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) as a non-specific inflammatory biomarker has been demonstrated to actively contribute to all stages of atherogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between CRP concentrations and the severity of stenosis of cerebral arteries.

Methods: Lipid parameters and CRP levels were measured in the sera of 119 patients with stenosis of the extracranial cerebral arteries established by angiography and compared with the control group, with a normal appearance of the cerebral arteries on ultrasound examination.

Evacuation times of civilians and soldiers wounded during the war in Croatia.

Objective: The goal of this study was to estimate the mean time needed for evacuation of wounded persons from the site of injury to a medical institution.

Methods: A database that includes medical and demographic data for persons treated in Croatian hospitals during the 1991-1995 war in Croatia was used.

Results: A total of 61.

[Care of military and civilian casualties during the war in Croatia].

Aim: The Yugoslav People's Army as aggressor on Croatia was well organized and equipped with weapons and medical supplies. On the other hand, the Republic of Croatia as a new country had no army of nor medical corps of its own. At the beginning of aggression we decided to establish an integrated civilian-military medicine system.

[Diagnostic results of the carotid artery duplex ultrasonography performed in the private offices in Zagreb].

The purpose of the investigation was to evaluate the diagnostic value of duplex ultrasonography (DU) of the cerebral arteries in the patients with cerebrovascular insufficiency performed in private offices in Zagreb town. The investigation was performed for all patients referred to digital subtraction angiography (DSA) after DU examination performed in one of private offices (in total, 12 offices) during the period of three years. During mentioned period 127 patients were examined (100 male, 67 female, age 28-79 y, mean 62 y) according to DU exams performed in private offices.

Privatization in the health care system of Croatia: effects on general practice accessibility.

This paper analyzes some effects of the privatization process in primary health care in Croatia, and in particular evaluates actions taken by providers to improve their accessibility for patients. The sample was stratified by regional density of practices and the status of practices in relation to privatization. Three groups of general practices were included in the study and were assessed twice (in 1997/1998 and 1999/2000): (1) 106 privatized before the beginning of the study; (2) 96 privatized during the study period and (3) 65 that were not yet privatized.

Efficacy of breast shielding during CT of the head.

In light of increasing frequency of CT examinations in the past decades, the aims of this prospective study were to investigate scatter radiation breast exposure in head CT and its dependence upon body constitution, and to assess the efficacy of lead shielding as a means of breast dose reduction. In 49 women referred to head CT for objective medical reasons one breast was covered with lead apron during CT scanning. Radiation doses were measured by use of thermoluminescent dosimeters, at skin of both breasts and over the apron.

[Epidemiology of Helicobacter pylori infection].

About 50% of adults in the developed and 80-90% in the developing countries are estimated to be infected by Helicobacter pylori. Being 68% nationally, this rate is higher in the northern continental parts of Croatia, which also have higher gastric cancer rates. Low socio-economic status, poor living conditions in childhood (the age when Helicobacter pylori is typically acquired), and exposure to the stomach content of an infected person are risk factors for Helicobacter pylori.

[Privatization of the Croatian health care system: effect on indicators of health care accessibility in general medicine].

The aim of the privatization of the primary health care is to reduce cost and improve the quality of service by introducing the market-based system. In the Republic of Croatia, the privatization of the primary health care started in 1995. It was based on renting the existing facilities at a moderate price to the practitioner.

Usefulness of Doppler waveform analysis in differential diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy.

We compared Doppler spectral parameters in acute inflammatory, reactive, lymphomatous, and metastatic lymph nodes, and evaluated pulsed Doppler sonography as a method for distinguishing between different causes of cervical lymphadenopathy. Spectral Doppler analysis with measurements of resistance index (RI), pulsatility index (PI), peak systolic velocity (PSV), and end-diastolic velocity (EDV) was performed in 197 patients with cervical lymphadenopathy. Results of Doppler analysis were compared with findings of cytology and histology or with clinical presentation and follow-up.

Transformation of health services from civilian to wartime medical corps--example from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the multiethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croats and Muslims, attacked by the Yugoslav army and Serbs, had to employ rationally their poorly provisioned civilian health services so that they could respond to the extremely numerous and prompt needs of war conditions. The health services in the areas controlled by Croats and Muslims had to be reorganized twice because of sudden changes of wartime conditions. With further development of the situation, when all three sides participated in the conflict, the number of wounded increased rapidly.

Biochemical risk factors in angiographically established stenosis of cerebral arteries.

Aim: To determine the significance of the association between biochemical risk factors for cerebrovascular atherosclerosis (lipid parameters, lipoprotein(a), total homocysteine, total antioxidant status, trace elements, and electrolytes) and the degree of stenosis of cerebral arteries scored by digital subtraction angiography.

Methods: The study included 35 patients with angiographically established < 50% stenosis of cerebral arteries and 55 patients with > or =50% stenosis of cerebral arteries, including obliteration. The control group consisted of 51 patients with normal cerebral arteries on ultrasound examination.

Persistent cervical intersegmental artery and aortic arch coarctation.

A 15-year-old girl presented with upper extremity hypertension and continuous precordial murmur. Arteriography revealed aortic coarctation proximal to the origin of the left subclavian artery. An anomalous artery originated from the aortic arch, between the left common carotid artery and the stenosis.

[Role of 0.5 T magnetic resonance and duplex ultrasonography in the imaging of stenotic and oblitertive changes in the carotid arteries].

The aim of the study was to determine diagnostic value of magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) of the carotid artery, performed with less expensive machine of 0.5 T, and value of duplex ultrasonography (DU) in the same patients. Diagnostic values of MRA and DU were examined by comparison with the results of digital subtraction angiography (DSA) or with the operative finding.

Breast compression and radiation dose in two different mammographic oblique projections: 45 and 60 degrees.

Introduction: Standard mammography includes two views, craniocaudal and medio-lateral oblique. Depending on patient's body constitution, central beam angle in mediolateral oblique projection may vary, with 45 degrees being suitable for the majority of patients in routine daily practice. With continuous improvement in X-ray technology and radiographers' training, the risk of radiation induced cancerogenesis is considerably reduced and acceptable when compared to benefit.

Asymptomatic carotid stenosis: selective or routine use of intraluminal shunt.

Background: To evaluate the use of temporary intraluminal shunt (IS) during operations in our patients for asymptomatic carotid stenosis (ACS) of the internal carotid artery (ICA).

Methods: Complications of ICA endarterectomy were reviewed in two groups of asymptomatic patients. In group A (144 patients, operation 1972-1985) temporary IS was used in 43 patients with the intraoperatively measured ICA back pressure <50 mmHg.

Treatment of autonomous and toxic thyroid adenomas by percutaneous ultrasound-guided ethanol injection.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of US-guided percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) in the treatment of autonomous and toxic thyroid adenomas.

Material And Methods: PEI was performed in 42 patients with solitary, scintigraphically "hot" nodules (n=37) or toxic nodular goiter (n=5). The nodular volume ranged from 2.

Successful closure of large pseudoaneurysm of peroneal artery using transluminal temporary occlusion of the neck with the catheter.

Pseudoaneurysm is well-known complication resulting from surgical or interventional vascular procedures. We present the case of a 51-year-old patient with a large iatrogenic pseudoaneurysm of the peroneal artery, a very rare location. The pseudoaneurysm developed after orthopedic surgery of the knee.

Possible discrepancies between dicentric chromosome frequencies and recorded ionizing radiation doses: in vivo study.

Background: The available data on the effects of radiation on humans are limited to the reports of accidental exposure or studies of patients under diagnostic and therapeutic treatment; few reports refer to a occupationally exposed population groups.

Methods: The research was conducted on 66 subjects employed in the Department of Nuclear Medicine and 41 nonemployed controls. For each of them chromosomal analysis and gamma-spectrometer analysis of 24-hour urine were carried out.

Organization and activity of the health service in the Croatian province of Lika in the first year of the war.

The aim of this report is to present the various aspects of the reorganization of the health service in the Croatian province of Lika during the first year, 1991-1992, of the war in Croatia. In the former Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, the health service was completely in the hands of the state, and Croatia was not able to transform it in the first year of its independence. The paper documents the personnel, supplies, and equipment that the health service of Lika had at its disposal in the first year of the war, the division of the health service into the stationary and front-line medical corps, and the evacuation protocols developed to transfer surgical patients to the rear-area hospital.

[The age of diagnostic radiologic equipment in Croatia].

The quality of health care also depends partly on technological equipment. Among the devices which diminish the quality of services if they are old, increasing at the same time the danger when used, are certainly those in radiodiagnostics. Besides, their age controls the dose of radiation to which patients and professional staff are exposed.