Palliative care in the emergency department: An observational study of doctors in KwaZulu-Natal.

Background: The World Health Organization advocates the early, appropriate provision of palliative care (PC) to patients throughout the life course. Patient consultations to the emergency department (ED) have been recognised as opportunities to initiate or optimise their PC needs. This study aimed to assess the knowledge of and attitudes towards PC among doctors at emergency physician staffed EDs in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

The impact of basic dermatology education and training on primary healthcare providers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Background: Dermatological diseases are amongst the commonest reasons for consultation at primary care level. Yet, dermatology teaching in medical and nursing curricula is inconsistent and often insufficient to enable medical and nursing professionals to manage these conditions effectively.

Methods: We tested the knowledge of 100 doctors and 195 nurses who attended dermatology training sessions held in three health districts in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa, by using a quasi-experimental uncontrolled before-and-after study design.

Gender Differences in Oesophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma in a South African Tertiary Hospital.

(1) Oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma is common in Africa and has a male preponderance. The gender-based differences in clinical presentation and risk factor exposure are poorly studied in the African context. Our aim was to compare males and females with this disease.

Differentiation of breast tuberculosis and breast cancer using diffusion-weighted, T2-weighted and dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: The use of multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the evaluation of breast tuberculosis (BTB).

Objectives: To evaluate the value of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), T2-weighted (T2W) and dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) in differentiating breast cancer (BCA) from BTB.

Method: We retrospectively studied images of 17 patients with BCA who had undergone pre-operative MRI and 6 patients with pathologically proven BTB who underwent DCE-MRI during January 2014 to January 2015.