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Biomedical subjects

A Sachdev

Publications and source records attributed to A Sachdev.

51 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Hepatoma induced by thorium dioxide.

A 74-year-old man complained of anorexia and weight loss. Twenty-six years earlier he had received an injection of Thorotrast. A needle biopsy of the liver showed thorium dioxide granules and periportal fibrosis. On laparotomy, a hepatoma of the left lobe of the liver was discovered. Hepatic malignancy should be suspected in any patient with abnormal results of liver function tests, particularly an elevated level of alkaline phosphatase, who previously has had an injection of Thorotrast.

Aged↗

Elective surgery for corrosive-induced gastric injury.

Gastric cicatrization is a well recognized late sequela of corrosive gastric injury, but the optimum timing and type of surgery for this complication are still unclear. Over a 7-year period (1988-1994) 34 patients underwent elective surgery for gastric lesions secondary to corrosive ingestion. A total of 18 (53%) patients had an associated esophageal stricture and presented with dysphagia, 15 (44%) patients had features of gastric outlet obstruction, 6 (18%) had diffuse gastric injury, and 28 (82%) had a segmental lesion. A tube jejunostomy was done in 23 (68%) patients to improve nutrition and resulted in a significant increase in weight and in the serum protein level after 8 weeks of tube feeding. Elective surgery was performed 3 to 24 months (average 7 months) after ingestion of the corrosive substance. Gastric resection was done in 20 (59%) patients and gastrojejunostomy (without vagotomy) in 11 (32%); at follow-up the latter group did not exhibit development of a stomal ulcer. In patients with an associated esophageal stricture, endoscopic dilatation was successful in 89% patients and simplified the surgical approach. In conclusion, the success of surgery for corrosive-induced gastric injury depends on selecting the right procedure and intervening at the appropriate time.

Acids↗

Gastric outlet obstruction in carcinoma gall bladder.

BACKGROUND: Gastric outlet obstruction is occasionally reported to occur in advanced gall bladder malignancy and may require palliative surgery. A review of 39 patients who required gastroenterostomy for symptomatic or incipient gastric outlet obstruction in carcinoma gall bladder is presented. METHODS: This retrospective review included 24 women and 15 men over nine years who underwent gastrojejunostomy for locally advanced neoplasms of the gall bladder. RESULTS: Twenty two patients with carcinoma gall bladder had symptomatic gastric outlet obstruction whereas in 17 patients gastrojejunostomy had been performed for intraoperatively assessed impending obstruction. Thirty-four patients had concomitant jaundice. In most cases, there was obstruction of the first two parts of the duodenum, mostly by direct tumoral infiltration (64%). All patients underwent anterior gastrojejunostomy, with billoenteric bypass in 15 patients. There were two postoperative deaths. Eight patients developed postoperative delayed gastric emptying; all settled on conservative management, though two patients had recurrent refractory vomiting. Thirty patients had no vomiting till a follow up ranging from 36 days to 11 months. CONCLUSIONS: Gastric outlet obstruction may frequently complicate gall bladder cancer and a satisfactory palliation can be achieved in most patients by gastrojejunostomy.

Adult↗

Helicobacter pylori in gastric cancer in India.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Helicobacter pylori infection has been implicated in pathogenesis of gastric cancer. Since there is paucity of reports from developing countries on association of H. pylori with gastric cancer, we performed case control study to find out the relationship between H. pylori and gastric cancer and also compared characteristics of gastric cancer and H. pylori positivity in younger and older patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Gastrectomy (n = 37) or endoscopic biopsy (n = 43) samples from area adjoining the cancer were collected from 80 patients of gastric cancer. Tissue specimens were stained with hematoxylin-eosin and Giemsa stains and histological type of cancer was determined according to Lauren, as intestinal or diffuse type. The presence of H. pylori was assessed by Giemsa staining. Eighty age and sex matched patients with non-ulcer dyspepsia (NUD) served as controls. RESULTS: Of 80 patients, 48 had intestinal type, 28 diffuse type and 4 had mixed type of gastric cancer. Tumour was located in antrum in 37, in body in 31, and at other sites in 12 cases. H. pyolri infection was present in 29 of patients compared to 36 patients with non-ulcer dyspepsia (p > 0.05, odd ratio 0.69, confidence interval 0.37-1.32). The positivity for H. pylori was higher in intestinal type than in diffuse type (p < 0.05) of gastric cancer but similar in patients with growth in antrum and body (p = NS) of stomach. There was no significant difference in tumor type, tumor site, frequency of intestinal metaplasia and H. pylori positivity (39% vs 35%, P > 0.05, odd ratio 1.19, confidence interval 0.44-3.23) in younger (< 45 yrs) and older (> 45 yrs) patients. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately one-third of patients with gastric cancer show presence of H. pylori infection on histological examination. No difference in H. pylori positivity were observed in young and old patients of gastric cancer.

Adult↗

Prescribing patterns and cost of antihypertensive drugs in an internal medicine clinic.

BACKGROUND: Antihypertensive agents are selected primarily for their ability to prevent morbidity and mortality related to hypertension. METHODS AND RESULTS: Prescribing trends and the cost of antihypertensive drugs were studied in 300 patients attending an internal medicine clinic. Beta-blockers were the most frequently used group of drugs (46.7%), followed by calcium-channel antagonists (34.3%) and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (30%). Diuretics were used in only 13.2% of the prescriptions. Atenolol (36%), amlodipine (29.3%) and enalapril (19%) were the most frequently used individual drugs. Propranolol, furosemide, amlodipine and atenolol were the least expensive drugs used, with annual drug acquisition costs of Rs 80, 102, 182 and 318, respectively. Benazepril (Rs 1778), diltiazem SR (Rs 1777), lisinopril (Rs 1660), prazosin (Rs 1416) and losartan (Rs 1365) were the most expensive drugs in terms of annual drug acquisition costs. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study emphasize the need to encourage frequent use of diuretics. Since the costs of different antihypertensives vary considerably, newer and relatively expensive antihypertensives should be prescribed only when clearly indicated.

Adult↗

Adult onset celiac disease in north India.

INTRODUCTION: Informations on celiac disease among Indian adults is scarce. With the availability of improved and more accessible diagnostic tools for celiac disease, the disease is being more frequently recognized among the adults. Therefore, a retrospective analysis of duodenal biopsies were performed to identify adult celiac disease among Indian patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the patients, who had villous atrophy on duodenal biopsy between February, 1997 to June 2001, was performed. The clinical presentation, laboratory parameters, treatment and follow up details of patients diagnosed as adult onset celiac disease were analysed. Diagnosis of celiac disease was established in these patients as per ESPGAN criteria. RESULTS: There were 68 duodenal biopsies during the study period. Thirteen (10 were under 15 years of age and 3 had followup biopsy) biopsies were excluded. Eleven (20%) out of 55 patients with villous atrophy in their duodenal biopsy satisfied the ESPGAN criteria for the diagnosis of celiac disease. The age at the time of diagnosis ranged from 15-56 years (mean 36.8 years). Male to female ratio was 5:6. Chronic diarrhea (99%) was the most common presentation followed by weight loss (88%) and anemia (66%). Only one patient had refractory iron deficiency anemia (11%). Histopathological examination showed, subtotal villous atrophy in 6 patients and partial villous atrophy in 5. Nine out of 11 patients had raised concentration of IgA antigliadin antibody. Two patients also had raised concentration of antiendomysial antibody. All of them showed favorable clinical response to Gluten free diet. CONCLUSION: Coeliac disease is considered rare in the tropics. Our study shows that this disease may not be as infrequent as is thought.

Adolescent↗

Metastasis to thyroid from lung carcinoma.

Metastasis to thyroid gland are rare. The primary sites which metastasize to thyroid gland include the breast, lung, kidney and stomach. Among lung cancer metastasizing to the thyroid, adenocarcinomas are the commonest followed by squamous, small cell and large cell carcinomas. The bronchioloalveolar carcinoma has not been reported to metastasize to the thyroid. In this case report we document this rare occurrence.

Adult↗

Unusual haematological alterations in rheumatoid arthritis.

Three cases of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), presenting with refractory anaemia, thrombocytopenia and peripheral lymphocytosis respectively, were observed. In all the cases haematological manifestations were unrelated to disease activity or drug toxicity. These patients were detected to have pure red cell aplasia (PRCA) (normocytic normochromic anaemia, reticulocytopenia and absence of erythroid precursors in the bone marrow), immune thrombocytopenia (IT) (absence of splenomegaly and presence of increased megakaryocytes in the bone marrow) and multiple myeloma (MM) (lytic lesions on skull, paraproteinaemia and bone marrow plasmacytosis) respectively. PRCA and IT responded to glucocorticoids. Association with these three haematological alterations has rarely been reported. Our report highlights the need to regularly monitor blood counts in patients with RA.

Aged↗

Efficacy of endoscopic wire guided biliary brushing in the evaluation of biliary strictures.

Endoscopic brush cytology is a valuable technique for the evaluation of biliary strictures. The sensitivity of this technique varies from 30% to 83%, however, it can have specificity of 100%. We retrospectively evaluated the usefulness of wire-guided biliary brush cytology in biliary strictures in our hospital over a 3 years period from 1997 to 2000. Brushings from 58 biliary strictures were obtained during endoscopic retrograde cholangiography. They were compared with histological proof obtained by surgical biopsy or percutaneous fine-needle aspiration cytology and/or clinical findings. These were reported as benign or malignant. Eleven patients were excluded due to incomplete data. Eighteen patients had benign brushings. Fourteen of the 29 patients in whom histological confirmation of malignancy brushings was obtained were also reported as malignant. The sensitivity of endoscopic brushings was 48.2%, specificity 100% and diagnostic accuracy 55.2%. No major complications were seen in our study group.

Bile Duct Neoplasms↗