METHODS: We conducted a study on 34 patients with HRP and randomly assigned the patients to two treatment arm groups (n=17). The formalin group underwent 4% formalin dab and another session 4 weeks later. The irrigation group self-administered daily rectal irrigation at home for 8 weeks and consumed oral metronidazole and ciprofloxacin during the first one week. We measured the patients' symptoms and endoscopic findings before and after total of 8 weeks of treatment in both groups.
RESULTS: Our study showed that HRP patients had reduced per rectal bleeding (p = 0.003) in formalin group, whereas irrigation group showed reduced diarrhoea (p=0.018) and tenesmus (p=0.024) symptoms. The comparison between the two treatment arms showed that irrigation technique was better than formalin technique for tenesmus (p=0.043) symptom only.
CONCLUSION: This novel treatment showed benefit in treating HRP. It could be a new treatment option which is safe and conveniently self-administered at home or used as a combination with other therapies to improve the treatment outcome for HRP.
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MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved 168 women diagnosed with breast cancer. The inclusion criteria were age >18 years old, having histologically confirmed breast cancer, and being diagnosed between January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2012. The exclusion criteria were being illiterate and having cognitive impairment. For data collection patients' medical records and the Cancer Behaviour Inventory-Brief (CBI-B) Malay version questionnaire were used. Simple and multiple logistic regression methods were used to analyse the data.
RESULTS: Patients' mean (SD) age was 51.4 (10.8) years old. Most of the patients were Malays, married, diagnosed at stage 2 breast cancer (41%), and completed their breast cancer treatment. The mean score for self-efficacy for coping with breast cancer was 83.67 (95% CI: 81.87, 85.47). The significant factors positively correlated with self-efficacy for coping with breast cancer were higher educational background and a higher family income. However, factors such as a family history of breast cancer and breast surgery reduced the mean score of self-efficacy for coping with breast cancer.
CONCLUSION: The mean score of self-efficacy for coping with breast cancer in this study was moderate. Self-efficacy for coping with breast cancer in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia was not adequate among sufferers and improvement is needed probably by providing education to these patients.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Animals were procured and their organ lysates and sera were prepared and tested against Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 breast cancer (MCF-7), prostate cancer (PC3), Henrietta Lacks cervical cancer (HeLa), and normal human keratinocyte cells. Exoskeleton, appendages and hepatopancreas were dissected from the scorpion, whereas liver, lungs, heart, oviduct, gastrointestinal tract, gall bladder, kidneys, eggs and sera were collected from frog and organ lysates/sera were prepared. Growth inhibition assays and cytotoxicity assays were performed.
RESULTS: Appendages, exoskeleton lysates, and hepatopancreas from scorpion exhibited potent growth inhibition, and cytotoxic effects. Furthermore, lungs, liver, gastrointestinal tract, heart, oviduct, kidneys, eggs, and sera from frog displayed growth inhibition and cytotoxic effects.
CONCLUSION: Organ lysates, sera of scorpion, and amphibians possess anti-tumour activities. This is a worthy area of research as the molecular identity of the active molecule(s) together with their mechanism of action will lead to the rational development of novel anticancer agent(s).
METHODS: This study was designed in the form of cross-sectional analysis, in which, cancer survivors were recruited from the Sarawak General Hospital, the largest tertiary and referral public hospital in Sarawak. To capture the financial toxicity of the cancer survivors, the Comprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity (COST) instrument in its validated form was adopted. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was applied to determine the relationship between financial toxicity (FT) and its predictors.
RESULTS: The median age of the 461 cancer survivors was 56 while the median score of COST was 22.0. Besides, finding from multivariable logistic regression revealed that low income households (OR: 6.893, 95% CI, 3.109-15.281) were susceptible to higher risk of financial toxicity, while elderly survivors above 50 years old reported a lower risk in financial toxicity. Also, survivors with secondary schooling (OR:0.240; 95%CI, 0.110-0.519) and above [College or university (OR: 0.242; 95% CI, 0.090-0.646)] suffer a lower risk of FT.
CONCLUSION: Financial toxicity was found to be associated with survivors age, household income and educational level. In the context of cancer treatment within public health facility, younger survivors, households from B40 group and individual with educational attainment below the first level schooling in the Malaysian system of education are prone to greater financial toxicity. Therefore, it is crucial for healthcare policymakers and clinicians to deliberate the plausible risk of financial toxicity borne by the patient amidst the treatment process.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 22 cases of glioma diagnosed intraoperatively from January 2013 until August 2019 in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. The selected tissues were processed for cytology smear and frozen section. The remaining tissues were proceeded for paraffin section. The diagnosis was categorized as either low-grade or high-grade glioma based on cellularity, nuclear pleomorphism, mitotic count, microvascular proliferation and necrosis. The sensitivity and specificity of frozen section and cytology smears were determined based on paraffin section being as the gold standard. The accuracy of both techniques was compared using statistical analysis.
RESULTS: The overall sensitivity and specificity of cytology smear were 100% and 76.9%, respectively. Meanwhile, the sensitivity and specificity of frozen section were 100% and 84.6%. There was no significant difference in diagnostic accuracy between cytology smear and frozen section in glioma (p>0.05).
CONCLUSION: Cytology smears provides an alternative method for frozen section due to good cellularity and morphology on smear. Cytology smear is rapid, inexpensive, small amount of tissue requirement and less technical demand. This finding may benefit to the hospital or treatment centres where frozen section facility is unavailable.
PURPOSE: This study aims to semiquantitatively evaluate the standardized uptake value (SUV) of 99mTc-methylene diphosphonate (MDP) radionuclide tracer in the normal vertebrae of breast cancer patients using an integrated single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/computed tomography (CT) scanner.
OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE: Molecular imaging techniques using gamma cameras and stand-alone SPECT have traditionally been utilized to evaluate metastatic bone diseases. However, these methods lack quantitative analysis capabilities, impeding accurate uptake characterization.
METHODS: A total of 30 randomly selected female breast cancer patients were enrolled in this study. The SUV mean (SUVmean) and SUV maximum (SUVmax) values for 286 normal vertebrae at the thoracic and lumbar levels were calculated based on the patients' body weight (BW), body surface area (BSA), and lean body mass (LBM). Additionally, 106 degenerative joint disease (DJD) lesions of the spine were also characterized, and both their BW SUVmean and SUVmax values were obtained. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was then performed to determine the cutoff value of SUV for differentiating DJD from normal vertebrae.
RESULTS: The mean±standard deviations for the SUVmean and SUVmax in the normal vertebrae displayed a relatively wide variability: 3.92±0.27 and 6.51±0.72 for BW, 1.05±0.07 and 1.75±0.17 for BSA, and 2.70±0.19 and 4.50±0.44 for LBM, respectively. Generally, the SUVmean had a lower coefficient of variation than the SUVmax. For DJD, the mean±standard deviation for the BW SUVmean and SUVmax was 5.26±3.24 and 7.50±4.34, respectively. Based on the ROC curve, no optimal cutoff value was found to differentiate DJD from normal vertebrae.
CONCLUSIONS: In this study, the SUV of 99mTc-MDP was successfully determined using SPECT/CT. This research provides an approach that could potentially aid in the clinical quantification of radionuclide uptake in normal vertebrae for the management of breast cancer patients.