von Willebrand Disease : A Clinico-haematological Spectrum.

Background: Bleeding disorders are commonly seen in clinical practice. von Willebrand Disease (vWD), is the commonest and yet a profoundly under diagnosed cause, having a wide spectrum of clinical presentation. Of its three types, type 1 vWD (70% of the total vWD cases) has the mildest and a highly variable clinical and laboratory presentation.

Distraction - A Minimally Invasive Technique for Treating Camptodactyly and Clinodactyly.

Camptodactyly and clinodactyly are relatively common congenital anomalies affecting about 1% to 2% of the general population. Though functional impairment is uncommon other than in very severe cases, patients affected do present very often for correction. The kind of surgeries available is as diverse as the aetiology of the conditions.

Conventional B-mode Ultrasonography for Evaluation of Retinal Disorders.

Sonographic study of 164 patients (328 eyes) in the present series highlights the advantages of ocular ultra sonography (B-mode) in the evaluation of retinal disorders especially in patients with opaque ocular media. B-mode sonography of the eye is a rapid, cheap, safe and reliable investigation for the eye. The sensitivity and specificity of this modality in detecting ocular pathologies has been recorded as extremely high and is of great value to the eye surgeon for a preoperative assessment of the posterior segment when fundoscopy is not possible due to opaque ocular media from various causes.

Role of Biopsy from Gastric Corpus in Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori Infection in Patients on Acid Suppression Therapy.

There are reports of migration of Helicobacter pylori from the gastric antrum to the proximal stomach following acid suppression therapy. The diagnosis of H pylori infection is usually based on rapid urease test and histology of gastric antral biopsies. 50 consecutive patients of peptic ulcer, 22 on proton pump inhibitors and 28 on histamine-2 receptor antagonists for at least 4 weeks were subjected to biopsies from the gastric corpus in addition to the antrum at the time of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Biliary Lithiasis: Prevalence and Ultrasound Profile in a Service Hospital.

Real time gray scale ultrasonography of upper abdomen was carried out in 1237 cases for varied indications. Overall prevalence of biliary lithiasis was 11.56% with female to male ratio of 4:1.

Role of Molecular Typing in Live Related Donor Renal Transplantation.

In renal transplantation, a good HLA-DR match is associated with higher success rate of graft outcome. It is particularly so In high risk recipients. Serological HLA-DR typing is not always easy due to a number of technical problems.

ACCURACY OF SERUM - ASCITES ALBUMIN GRADIENT IN THE AETIOLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS OF ASCITES.

50 adults with ascites admitted to our hospital were studied. Simultaneous samples of ascitic fluid and blood were collected and subjected to analysis including ascitic fluid total protein and serum ascites albumin gradient The cut off value of serum-ascites albumin gradient for differentiating between high and low gradient was taken as 1.1 gm % and of ascitic fluid protein for differentiating exudate and transudate as 2.

DIAGNOSING DISSEMINATED INTRAVASCULAR COAGULATION IN ACUTE INFECTION : CAN WE DO WITHOUT FDP & D-DIMER.

Alterations in coagulation profile viz. platelet count, prothrombin time (PT), partial thromboplastin time with kaolin (PTTK), thrombin time (TT) and fibrinogen were studied in 96 patients (73 males and 23 females) of acute infections. Fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) level >25µg fibrinogen equivalent unit (FEU)/ml along-with D-dimer >1.

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CHEST RADIOGRAPHIC FEATURES BETWEEN HIV SEROPOSITIVE AND HIV SERONEGATIVE PATIENTS OF PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS.

Chest radiographic appearance of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) positive patients was reviewed. A study group of 50 HIV +ve cases and a control group of 100 HIV -ve cases were analysed. The chest radiographs of HIV seropositive group showed significantly higher incidence of thoracic lymphadenopathy (36% vs 8%, P<.

USEFULNESS OF EVALUATION OF ANTIMEASLES ANTIBODIES IN PRETERM BABIES.

As per WHO recommendations, measles vaccine is administered at the age of 9 months which is based on studies demonstrating seroconversion (from positive to negative) at this age. However this contention may not hold good in preterm babies since they may have lower initial levels of passively transferred IgG antimeasles antibodies of maternal origin. To explore this possibility, 50 preterm babies (gestational age less than 37 weeks) were studied for antimeasles antibodies.

IS PROPHYLACTIC USE OF OCTREOTIDE BENEFICIAL IN PREVENTING COMPLICATIONS AFTER PANCREATIC SURGERY?

Major complications following pancreatic surgery are related to the digestive exocrine secretions of the gland. Octreotide, a potent inhibitor of the pancreatic secretions may be of value in reducing the complication rate, particularly fistula formation and possibly the mortality after pancreatic surgery. Between Jan 97 and Jun 99, 19 patients who underwent pancreatic surgery were given perioperative Octreotide in a dose of 100 micrograms eight hourly for 7 days starting from the morning of the surgery.

GRANULOCYTE MACROPHAGE COLONY STIMULATING FACTOR IMPROVES IMMUNOGENECITY OF HEPATITIS B VACCINE IN HEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS.

Only 20-50% of hemodialysis patients, develop protective antibodies following double dose Hepatitis B vaccination. Early reports suggest augmented response with concomitant use of Granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GMCSF). This study was done to assess the response rate to hepatitis B vaccine in hemodialysis patients with use of GMCSF.

LUPUS NEPHRITIS-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF 17 PATIENTS.

Over a 3 year period from June 94 to June 97, out of 28 patients of systemic lupus, 17 were diagnosed as renal lupus. Demographic data showed 12 females and 5 males, mean age being 32.2 years (range 12 to 54 years).

VITAMIN 'K' DEFICIENCY HAEMORRHAGIC DISEASE OF NEW-BORN AND PRESENT CONTROVERSIES.

Vitamin K deficiency haemorrhagic disease of newborn (HDN) is a well known entity and presents in 3 different clinical forms - early, classical and late. The coagulopathy is due to deficiency of vitamin K dependent procoagulant factors II, VII, IX, X. In the event of vitamin K deficiency Protein Induced in Vitamin K Absence (PIVKA) arc in excess and its estimation is very helpful in diagnosis even after starting the treatment.

Post streptococcal glomerulonephritis co-existing with acute rheumatic fever--a case report.

A case of post streptococcal acute glomerulonephritis co-existing with acute rheumatic fever is reported. The relevant literature is briefly reviewed.

Acute filarial myositis.

An uncommon case of filariasis presenting as acute myositis is described. The patient was treated initially with steroids and antihistamines with no response. Later on with the confirmation of filariasis he was treated with diethyl carbamazine with complete recovery.