Epidemiology of diabetic retinopathy in Egypt: a hospital-based study.

Purpose: To determine the prevalence and determinants of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in patients ≥18 years at the Cairo University and Sixth of October University hospitals.

Patients And Methods: This is a cross-sectional survey among known diabetic patients attending diabetic clinics. Patients were randomly selected to complete an interviewer-administered questionnaire and a medical assessment.

Bevacizumab (Avastin) as an adjunct to vitrectomy in the management of severe proliferative diabetic retinopathy: a prospective case series.

Purpose: To evaluate the role of preoperative intravitreal bevacizumab as an adjunct to vitrectomy in diabetic eye disease.

Methods: Twenty eyes of 18 patients were recruited and underwent a single intravitreal injection of bevacizumab 1.25 mg 1 week prior to vitrectomy.

Detection of early glaucomatous damage in pseudo exfoliation syndrome by assessment of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness.

Purpose: To detect early glaucomatous changes in pseudo exfoliative patients with normal intraocular pressure (IOP), visual field and optic nerve head appearance; by measuring retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness using optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Design: A prospective observational case-control study.

Participants: Twenty non-glaucomatous (normal IOP, fundus and visual field) pseudo exfoliative patients and 20 age matched healthy control subjects.

Patency of superior ciliary sulcus in aphakic silicone oil-filled eyes: an ultrasound biomicroscopy study.

Objective: To assess the patency of the superior ciliary sulcus in aphakic silicone oil-filled eyes by ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM).

Design: Prospective interventional series.

Participants: Twelve eyes of 12 patients were included in this study.

Magnetic resonance imaging in fetal anomalies: What does it add to 3D and 4D US?

Objective: The objective of our study is to evaluate the contribution of adding MRI findings to sonographic data when assessing fetal anomalies and to determine how this addition may affect the management of pregnancy.

Study Design: We prospectively examined 26 fetuses who had sonographically suspected congenital anomalies over a period of 1 year. 2D/3D and 4D ultrasound, Doppler and magnetic resonant imaging was done for all patients.

Retrograde holmium:YAG laser disintegration of stones in pelvic ectopic kidneys: would it minimize the risk of surgery?

Purpose: To study the safety and efficacy of the holmium:YAG laser for disintegration of stones in pelvic ectopic kidneys.

Patients And Methods: Between October 2005 and October 2006 four consecutive patients with large obstructing calculi (>3 cm in diameter) in the pelves of pelvic ectopic kidneys were prepared to be treated using retrograde ureterorenoscopy and holmium:YAG laser lithotripsy. All the patients were investigated with x-rays of the kidney, ureters, and bladder (KUB) and intravenous urography (IVU).

Pattern of ocular trauma in Egypt.

Purpose: To review the epidemiology of serious ocular trauma presenting to Kasr El Aini Hospital, Cairo University.

Methods: This is a prospective epidemiological and clinical study of ocular trauma patients admitted to Kasr El Aini hospital during a 6-month period; January-June 2000. Cases were analyzed with respect to: (1) demographics, (2) time, place and nature of trauma, (3) type of injury, (4) time to receive care, and (5) management and visual outcomes following primary repair.

Hand osteoarthritis and bone mineral density in postmenopausal women; clinical relevance to hand function, pain and disability.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess phalangeal bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal females with hand osteoarthritis (OA) and to correlate the measured levels with the radiographic OA grade, pain, function and disability of the hand.

Methods: The study group constituted 40 postmenopausal women with hand OA (range; 45-83 years). Socio-demographic data were collected.

Lobectomy or pneumonectomy for multidrug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis can be performed with acceptable morbidity and mortality: a seven-year review of a single institution's experience.

Objective: Combination chemotherapy is considered the first-line treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis. Despite related morbidity, the need for surgical resections coincides with the emergence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. This study presents a single-institution retrospective audit of the surgical management of 23 patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Extended supracricoid laryngectomy with excision of both arytenoids: the modified reconstructive laryngectomy.

Conclusion: Modified reconstructive laryngectomy (MRL) with excision of both arytenoid cartilages will expand the range of indications for conservative surgery in the management of cancer of the larynx.

Objective: The present work describes a modification of the standard reconstructive laryngectomy procedure, in order to address problems related to aspiration, and to improve functional results.

Patients And Methods: The study was conducted in Cairo University Hospital.

The role of heat shock protein 60, vascular endothelial growth factor and antiphospholipid antibodies in Behçet disease.

Background: Behçet disease is a systemic inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology. T cells in this disease proliferate vigorously in response to a specific peptide of heat shock protein (HSP) 60 in an antigen-specific fashion. Vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) is a cytokine participating in the inflammatory process.

Retinal toxicity of triamcinolone's vehicle (benzyl alcohol): an electrophysiologic and electron microscopic study.

Purpose: To assess retinal toxicity of the vehicle of triamcinolone, benzyl alcohol (BA), when injected into the vitreous cavity of rabbits.

Methods: This prospective comparative experimental study included 24 pigmented rabbits assigned into two groups: group 1 (experimental, n = 12) received intravitreal 0.1 ml of BA, and group 2 (control, n = 12) received intravitreal 0.

Comparative clinical trial of topical anesthetic agents in cataract surgery: lidocaine 2% gel, bupivacaine 0.5% drops, and benoxinate 0.4% drops.

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of lidocaine gel, bupivacaine drops, and benoxinate drops as topical anesthetic agents in cataract surgery.

Setting: Kasr El-Aini Hospital, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.

Methods: This prospective randomized study comprised 90 patients scheduled for routine cataract extraction.

Human albumin is effective in prevention of severe OHSS.

Severe OHSS is an iatrogenic, potentially life-threatening complication of controlled ovarian hyperstimulation. Intravenous human albumin, administered around the time of oocyte retrieval has been claimed to prevent development of this serious event. It was hypothesized that albumin acts through its osmotic pressure and through the binding and inactivation, at a critical time of the cycle, of an hCG-mediated factor secreted by the corpora lutea, that impedes capillary integrity and leads to the development of OHSS.

Endoscopic ultrasonographic study of the azygos vein in patients with varices.

Background And Study Aims: Using EUS in the study of portal hypertensive patients, various divisions of the gastroesophageal collateral circulation can be demonstrated. The azygos vein, which is the main drainage system for varices, can also be scanned endosonographically. We studied the azygos vein in control subjects and portal hypertensive patients using EUS.

'Squeeze delivery' excision of subcutaneous lipoma related to anatomic site.

A small cosmetic incision followed by 'squeeze delivery' was attempted for 190 lipomas in 116 patients. This technique was successful without resort to widening of the incision or using scissor dissection in 87 lipomas (46 per cent). Success was not related to size but to the site of the lipoma.

The value of combined use of N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate and ethanolamine oleate in the management of bleeding esophagogastric varices.

Background And Study Aims: Recently, tissue adhesive material has been used to improve the initial control of bleeding from huge esophagogastric varices, and to prevent them from rebleeding, in contrast to the conventional sclerotherapy. The present study assessed the value of the combined use of the tissue adhesive substance: N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate and ethanolamine oleate 5% for management of bleeding esophagogastric varices.

Patients And Methods: One hundred and fourteen patients with documented active variceal bleeding at the time of endoscopy were alternatively randomized into two groups.

Endoscopic diagnosis of gastric varices.

In this retrospective study, the presence and appearance of gastric varices were analyzed among patients presenting at Kasr El Aini Hospital with variceal bleeding during the period from 1984 to 1989. Two groups of patients were studied. The first group included 970 patients with documented variceal bleeding with no history of sclerotherapy.

Is Schistosoma mansoni replacing Schistosoma haematobium in the Fayoum?

Schistosoma mansoni is progressively replacing S. haematobium along the Nile River in Egypt. This change has occurred in the past 15-20 years following construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s.

Ultrasonographic prediction of esophageal varices in Schistosomiasis mansoni.

Bleeding from esophageal varices is a common and serious problem in Schistosomiasis mansoni. A simple and accurate method of detection would facilitate measurement of individual and community morbidity and allow institution of preventive measures. An ultrasonographic scoring system grading periportal fibrosis, portal vein diameter, spleen size, and portasystemic anastomoses was evaluated as a predictor of esophageal varices and a past history of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage in 43 patients with hepatosplenic schistosomiasis.

Abdominal ultrasonography for assessing morbidity from schistosomiasis. 2. Hospital studies.

Abdominal ultrasound, which uses a pulse echo device to record reflected waves of a sound beam in 2 dimensions, has revolutionized the evaluation of schistosomal morbidity. It is relatively inexpensive, rapid, simple to perform and portable, causes no biological hazards to the subject and, because of its speed, is ideal for diagnosis and directing interventions, e.g.

Obturator internus muscle autotransplantation: a new concept for the treatment of obstructive constipation. An anatomical, physiological and pathological study.

The feasibility of using obturator internus muscle autotransplantation in order to construct an anal dilator mechanism for the treatment of obstructive constipation was studied anatomically, physiologically and pathologically. Electromyographic studies of 15 obturator internus muscles in 10 healthy adult male volunteers and 3 other muscles in patients with documented spastic anal sphincters demonstrated the ability of the obturator internus muscles to contract during straining at stools. The proposed surgical approach was studied in 9 cadavers (5 stillbirths and 4 adults), followed by formal anatomical dissection of the obturator internus muscle and tendon, pudendal nerve and vessels, inferior rectal nerve and nerve to the obturator internus.

Schistosoma haematobium infection in Egyptian schoolchildren: demonstration of both hepatic and urinary tract morbidity by ultrasonography.

Parasitological, clinical and ultrasonographical studies were performed upon 422 schoolchildren aged 12-16 years living in a village in the Fayoum where Schistosoma haematobium, but not S. mansoni, was transmitted. Over half of the children gave a history of receiving praziquantel therapy during the preceding 2 years.