Publications by authors named "Rafidah Abu-Bakar"

Article Synopsis
  • Advanced ultrasound techniques offer better insights into non-melanoma skin cancers compared to traditional methods like dermoscopy, enhancing assessment of tumor margins and morphology.
  • In a study of 11 skin tumors (mostly basal and squamous cell carcinomas) from patients aged 66 to 98, ultrasound effectively measured tumor depth and correlated well with histological findings.
  • The ultrasound showed that all tumors were solid and stiff, with high levels of neovascularity, indicating its potential as a quick and useful pre-operative tool.
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Background: Cardiac tamponade as the presenting manifestation of systemic lymphoma is relatively uncommon. Pericardium is the commonest site of involvement in secondary malignancies with systemic lymphoma involving the heart in 20% of the cases.

Case Presentation: We describe a case of a 78-year-old gentleman, who presented with symptoms of new onset cardiac failure, and hemodynamic compromise.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) compared to other imaging methods for diagnosing significant coronary artery disease (CAD), aiming to improve understanding of its value in healthcare.
  • Researchers searched existing studies to create a cost-effectiveness calculator that estimates the quality-adjusted life years (QALY) and lifetime costs associated with CMR versus alternatives like SPECT and CCTA.
  • Results indicate that CMR is often a cost-effective option for diagnosing CAD, being preferable in 10 out of 15 studies, while also showing that CCTA may not be cost-effective in the US when considering the latest imaging performance data.
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Introduction: The aim of this study was to identify the ultrasound features which are associated with malignancy in subcentimetre thyroid nodules.

Methods: This retrospective study included 454 thyroid nodules <10 mm in size in 413 patients from 2012 to 2016, which were subjected to fine needle aspiration cytology. Each nodule was classified according to the ultrasound patterns of the 2015 American Thyroid Association guidelines and the high suspicion ultrasound features (solid, hypo-echogenicity, irregular margins, microcalcifications, taller-than-wide, interrupted rim calcifications, and extrathyroidal extension) were identified for evaluation of their diagnostic performance.

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Respiration-induced movement of abdominal organs hampers the targeting accuracy of non-invasive surgical techniques such as focused ultrasound surgery and radiosurgery. Unaccounted organ movement can result in either under dosage or damage to intervening healthy tissues. The respiration-induced movement is known to be significantly large in kidneys; however, the impact of abnormalities such as tumors and cysts on kidney movement is poorly understood.

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Background And Aims: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease and is closely related to metabolic syndrome and its risk factors. Worldwide, epidemiological studies have reported NAFLD prevalence rates of 5% to 30% depending on geographical variations. While epidemiological data suggest a progressively increasing prevalence of metabolic risk factors in Singapore, there are limited data about NAFLD per se in the community.

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The aim of this work was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of grey-scale, color Doppler, and dynamic ultrasound (US) for diagnosing carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) using the medical diagnostic test called nerve conduction study (NCS) as the reference standard, and to correlate the increase in median nerve (MN) cross-sectional area (CSA) with severity of CTS. Fifty-one patients (95 wrists) with clinical symptoms of idiopathic CTS were recruited. The CSA and flattening ratio of the MN were measured at the distal radio-ulnar joint, pisiform, and hamate levels; bowing of the flexor retinaculum was determined at the hamate level.

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Around 50% of the population harbour thyroid nodules on ultrasonography, up to 7% of which may be malignant irrespective of size. While fine-needle aspiration biopsy is reliable, subjecting every thyroid nodule to this procedure is not cost-effective. Hence, ultrasonography is used primarily to characterise thyroid nodules, whereas nodules that have suspicious features are subject to a fine-needle aspiration biopsy.

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Myocardial infarction as a result of wasp stings is a rare manifestation of acute coronary syndromes. It has been ascribed to kounis syndrome or allergic angina whose triggers include mast cell degranulation leading to coronary vasospasm and/or local plaque destabilisation. Its exact pathophysiology is still not clearly defined.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in diagnosing focal liver lesions (FLLs) by comparing its results to standard diagnostic methods like histopathology, CT, and MRI.
  • The research involved 73 patients with 82 FLLs, where CEUS effectively identified 43 malignant lesions and 29 benign lesions, achieving a sensitivity of 86.0% and specificity of 90.6%.
  • The findings suggest that CEUS is a promising diagnostic tool for distinguishing between malignant and benign liver lesions, particularly when other imaging options are not suitable.
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