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Biomedical subjects

E Q Archampong

Publications and source records attributed to E Q Archampong.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Cancer of the colon and rectum in Ghana: a 5-year prospective study.

A prospective study of 134 patients who presented to a teaching hospital in Ghana for the first time with colorectal cancer between January 1987 and December 1991 is reported. The mean number of new patients per year was nearly three times that of a decade ago. The disease afflicts both sexes equally and the age of highest incidence is in the seventh and eighth decades. Some 65 patients had colonic cancer and 69 rectal lesions. Most patients presented with advanced disease and only four of 109 in whom disease was staged (3.7 per cent) had Dukes A tumours. Right-sided cancer of the colon was more common than that of the left. The importance of rectal examination is emphasized by the finding that 78 per cent of rectal tumours were within reach of the examining finger. 'Curative' resection was possible in 60 per cent of patients with colonic cancer but in only 36 per cent of those with rectal tumours. The postoperative mortality rate of patients who underwent laparotomy was 13.6 per cent and in those who had resection 5.5 per cent. Long-term follow-up was poor. These results emphasize the need for accurate data collection on colorectal carcinoma, public education on the importance of early diagnosis and follow-up after treatment. These findings also call for a study of the epidemiology and aetiology of colorectal cancer in Ghana.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Relevance and resources in medical education: an African view.

The worldwide economic crisis enjoins all planners of social services to a principle of relevance and efficiency in the deployment of scarce available resources. On the continent of Africa this is more crucial for the compelling influence of natural disasters and the population explosion. In the field of medical education relevance implies commitment of training programmes to the health needs of the society and in Africa this means addressing crude birth rates of 46 per 1000, death rates of 22 per 1000, maternal mortality of 17 per 10,000, infant mortality of 112 per 1000 and a life expectancy of just under 50, statistics which represent the most dismal health indicators for the five continents of the world. The training of the African doctor should therefore ensure intimate familiarity with the environmental and sociocultural influences on health, placing a premium on capability for management of human, material and financial resources and a plan for team-work. It must also inculcate the appropriate learning strategy which emphasizes the searching and enquiring mind, applying this problem-solving attitude to the life-long practice of medicine. It is now accepted by most observers that these objectives are achievable most readily through a translation of the principles of primary health care into educational strategies. The planning of medical educational policy in Africa is thus a formidable task as it is to be done against a background of diminishing resources in real terms and the modern explosion of knowledge in science and technology. Selectivity which is sensitive to the service to which education is to be put is currently the most promising means to achieve relevance and efficiency.

Africa↗
PubMed1981

Double-channel pylorus: congenital or acquired.

It is difficult to decide on the best method of management for the double-channel pylorus because there is no agreement as to whether this uncommon condition is congenital or acquired. Of 60 cases reported in the literature 55 were associated with peptic ulcer disease strongly suggesting an acquired origin. A congenital origin should be accepted only if specific criteria obtain: (a) presence in early childhood, (b) presence of mucous, lamina propria and muscularis mucosae on microscopic examination and (c) characteristic findings as fluoroscopic examination. The authors report three patients with a double-channel pylorus. In one a prepyloric ulcer immediately preceded the development of the false antroduodenal channel. The other patients had peptic ulcer disease. All were treated conservatively. Operation is unnecessary except for complications that may arise. The authors' cases demonstrate that unless the diagnosis of double-channel pylorus is considered the radiologic and endoscopic findings may be misinterpreted.

Aged↗
PubMed1978

Diverticular disease in an indigenous African community.

Sixteen cases of diverticular disease of the colon occurring in an urban hospital in Ghana are described. Ten of the patients had diffuse diverticulosis affecting the greater part of the colon. Apart from a high incidence of presentation with rectal bleeding the disease shows no particular differences in manifestation from what is encountered in the advanced countries. Sixty per cent of the patients belonged to the higher social classes, but all had lived on traditional African high-residue food. Other factors as yet unknown may contribute to the pathogenesis of this disorder.

Aged↗
PubMed1976

Typhoid ileal perforations: why such mortalities?

The average mortality of 25 per cent in typhoid perforations of the ileum treated operatively could be reduced, because only half of the cases die of the lethal complications of myocarditis and toxaemia. The results of the present study show important differences between the preoperative fluid and electrolyte therapy of survivors and non-survivors as well as differences in the urinary output per hour. The perforation-operation interval as well as duration of the illness also have prognostic significance. The problem of enteric fever must ultimately be solved by preventive measures, but the results of this review indicate that attention to these factors could halve the present mortality.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Biliary tract disease and sickle cell anaemia in Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra.

This study has examined the incidence of biliary tract disease in the general medical and surgical wards of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital as well as the prevalence of the disease in patients attending the Sickle-cell Clinic. There were 72 confirmed cases of biliary tract disease (0.5 percent hospital admissions) of which 17 or 23.9 percent had a positive sickling (AS, SS, SC). When SS and SC patients only were considered the incidence of biliary tract disease was significantly higher than the rest of the population. The incidence in biliary tract disease among patients attending the Sickle-cell Clinic was in this semiprospective study found to be 14.6 per cent; analysis of several clinical variables indicated that haemolysis was an important causative factor. There were however several other unexplained factors which emphasize the need for a more detailed prospective study in this area.

Anemia, Sickle Cell↗
PubMed1972

The absorption and secretion of water and electrolytes across the healthy and the diseased human colonic mucosa measured in vitro.

An ;in-vitro' technique is described for measuring quantitatively the absorption and secretion of water and electrolytes, the short circuiting current, and the simultaneous bidirectional flux rates of ions across the healthy and diseased colonic mucosa. The results show that the normal colon absorbs both sodium and water and secretes potassium. In both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease there is a reversal of sodium and water flux and potassium secretion is increased.A measure of the simultaneous bidirectional flux rates under conditions of zero potential has allowed us to use the Ussing equation to analyse some of the factors involved in sodium transport across the healthy and diseased mucosa.

Adult↗
PubMed1972

Effect of luminal ions on the transepithelial electrical potential difference of human rectum.

Skin electrodes are the most convenient reference electrodes for clinical measurements of electrical potential differences (pd) across the epithelium of the alimentary tract but the presence of an electrical charge on normal skin introduces an error. In the present study, by comparison with results obtained using subcutaneous and intravenous electrodes, it was shown that an intradermal injection of saline abolished the skin potential differences. This simple method, therefore, allows skin electrodes to be used to measure the true transepithelial potential differences of gut mucosa. The method was applied to investigate the effect on the rectal potential difference of altering the composition of the luminal solutions. Changes in the cations (sodium, potassium, magnesium) showed that sodium was the most important cationic determinant of the potential difference, especially when sodium absorption was stimulated by giving mineralocorticoids. Changes in the anions (chloride, iodide, bromide, nitrate, bicarbonate, sulphate, phosphate, citrate, and acetate) indicated that the molecular size of the anion rather than its chemical nature was the significant factor and suggested that the ions had to cross a barrier relatively impermeable to anions of radius greater than 3.5 to 4 A degrees . Changes in osmolality and glucose concentration were without effect.

Aldosterone↗