Geographical neurosurgery.

Disparities in manpower and facilities notwithstanding, neuroepidemiology might explain the observed differences in the mix of neurosurgical caseload in different parts of the world. The highest incidence rate of primary intracranial tumor was in Europe and the lowest rate in Africa. Glioma was more common in the West, teratoma in Japan and the Far East and meningioma in Africa.

Magnetic resonance imaging of the normal and injured lateral collateral ligaments of the ankle.

Background And Aims: To study the role of MR Imaging in evaluating both normal and injured lateral collateral ligaments of the ankle.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-four patients with clinically diagnosed inversion injury to the ankle and 20 healthy volunteers underwent Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the ankle with special emphasis on the lateral complex ligaments.

Results: The anterior talofibular (ATFL) and posterior talofibular ligaments (PTFL) were identified in 100% of the ankles of normal volunteers in the axial plane.

Febrile illness a major cause of profound childhood deafness in Nigeria.

A prospective study of 63 children with profound deafness seen personally at the E.N.T.

Idiopathic granulomatous inflammation of the female genital tract: a separate entity?

Case: A 35-year-old woman had recurrent, histologically confirmed idiopathic granulomatous inflammatory lesions involving the vulva, anoperineum, vagina, and cervix. This is the first report of involvement of the entire lower female genital tract in this pathological process. The disease has clinical and histological characteristics similar to the genital manifestations of Crohn's disease and the MelkerssonRosenthal syndrome (cheilitis granulomatosa of Miescher).

Anaerobes and fungi in chronic suppurative otitis media.

Microbiology of 102 ears with chronic suppurative otitis media was studied for aerobes, anaerobes, and fungi. Forty-four percent were pure cultures, 33.3% were mixed, and 18.

Diagnostic problems of tuberculous cervical adenitis (scrofula).

Purpose: This study was designed to review the diagnostic procedure for tuberculous cervical adenitis and propose a simple protocol for the work-up of patients with suspected tuberculous cervical adenitis. Moreover, it served to increase physician awareness of tuberculosis as possible cause of cervical mass.

Patients And Methods: We performed a retrospective study of 57 patients with tuberculous cervical adenitis who were treated at North West Armed Forces Hospital, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia between March 1989 and April 1993.

Screening for iron deficiency anemia in a well baby clinic.

With a view to combating the long-term effects of iron deficiency anemia in infants, we carried out a screening program of infants at nine months of age in the Well Baby Clinic. We screened 4751 infants using complete venous blood count analysis, 2668 were anemic (Hb <11 gm/dL). Those with hemoglobin less than 10 gm/dL were recalled to be given iron therapy and further follow-up.

Hereditary spastic paraplegia and Evans's syndrome.

Two brothers with hereditary spastic paraplegia and Evans's syndrome are recorded. Rapid deterioration of functional motor ability followed the development of Evans's syndrome.

Pyogenic sacroiliitis in children: Diagnostic dilemma and management.

Pyogenic sacroiliitis is a relatively rare condition in children. Vigilance and careful clinical examination of the joint could minimize the delay in diagnosis. In areas endemic for brucellosis, negative serology, raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate, positive magnetic resonance imaging, isotope bone scan and bacteriological culture confirm diagnosis.

Laparoscopic orchidopexy: one-stage alternative for non-palpable testes.

Laparoscopy was utilised in the evaluation of 24 non-palpable undescended testes in 19 children. The procedure was accurate in all patients while ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) failed to localise the testes in most cases. At the same time laparoscopic orchidopexy was performed on 15 testes (62.

Outcome of commercial renal transplantation: two years follow-up.

The results of living non-related renal transplants from India involving unethical exploitation of the donor are inferior. We followed-up 12 patients from our unit who went to a center in Bombay for renal transplantation and compared the results with our local new renal transplant programme. Two-year graft survival was 70% compared to 88% with our new renal transplant program.

A paediatric day-case unit: better care at lower cost.

The authors outline benefits deriving from the establishment of a paediatric day-case unit in a Saudi Arabian hospital.

Parental presence during procedures: a survey of attitudes amongst paediatricians.

As a child's primary caretaker, the parent plays a significant role in the management of paediatric pain. Is this what physicians want and allow? This paper analyses the results of a survey conducted among paediatricians. Three hundred and fourteen consultant paediatricians were sent questionnaires about their attitudes towards parental presence during medical procedures performed on children under local anaesthesia.

A controlled trial of high-intensity double-surface phototherapy on a fluid bed versus conventional phototherapy in neonatal jaundice.

Objective: To evaluate a simple, relatively inexpensive method using the fluid bed to provide high-intensity double-surface (HIDS) phototherapy and to confirm that the method described is more effective than conventional phototherapy (CPT) in the treatment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia.

Design: Prospective controlled study.

Method: HIDS phototherapy (26 to 30 microW/cm2 per nanometer) on the fluid bed (n = 22) versus conventional (7 to 10 microW/cm2 per nanometer) phototherapy (n = 28) was used to treat neonates weighing more than 1500 g with hyperbilirubinemia.

Sickle cell anaemia in Saudi-Arabian children.

Forty-one Saudi Arabian children aged between six months and 13 years had a total of 68 admissions for complications of sickle cell anaemia during 1992. Review of their in-patient records and the relevant out-patient notes revealed a change in the clinical profile as compared to previous years. Hand-foot syndrome is virtually non-existent and vaso-occlusive crisis remains the commonest cause of admission.

Normal pelvic dimensions for Saudi Arabian women in Tabuk obtained by computed tomography pelvimetry.

Good obstetric management is based on knowledge of the normal parameters of one's patient population and this is particularly true regarding the pelvis and labor. There is little information in the literature describing the normal values of the Saudi female pelvis. Computed tomography (CT) pelvimetry offers reliable assessment of the pelvis while only exposing the patient to about one-third the radiation of conventional x-rays.

Epidermal inclusion cysts of the clitoris as a complication of female circumcision and pharaonic infibulation.

Female circumcision and pharaonic infibulation is still performed on young females in many parts of the world. It is estimated that two thousand young women living in Britain undergo this ritual every year. The most common complication of this procedure is epidermal inclusion cysts within the infibulation cicatrix.