The diagnosis of disseminated tuberculosis should be entertained in all patients with unexplained fever associated with hepatomegaly and/or splenomegaly with or without anomalies in liver function tests and haemogram. It should be considered as a possible cause of septic shock especially in patients with typical risk factors such as advanced age, diabetes, alcoholism or immunosuppression. Prompt therapy could be life saving in an otherwise potentially fatal condition. It is therefore appropriate to initiate anti-tuberculosis treatment as soon as such a diagnosis is suspected and not await final confirmation.
This is a report of 3 Chinese children with intestinal lymphangiectasia in Malaysia. Two children responded to a low fat diet and medium-chain triglyceride supplement. The third child has recurrent chylous ascites. None of the children has recurrent infections despite low CD4+ cells and low levels of IgG and IgA. Intestinal lymphangiectasia is a rare congenital disorder of the mesenteric lymphatic that leads to the obstruction of the lymphatics of the intestine and protein losing enteropathy. Restriction of dietary fat intake will usually result in remission. Recurrent chylous ascites is a problem and management can be difficult.
A case of chondrosarcoma of the nasal septum is presented with the result of treatment. The patient was admitted for a growth in the nose of four years' duration. Fine needle aspiration for cytological examination was suggestive of squamous cell carcinoma. She was treated with lateral rhinotomy and wide excision followed by septorhinoplasty. Histological examination showed that the lesion was chondrosarcoma. The patient remained free of disease 26 months after surgery.
This paper illustrates the role of 99m-Technetium(Tc) diethyl-iminodiacetic acid (EHIDA) hepatobiliary scintigraphy in a patient who developed obstructive jaundice as a result of afferent loop syndrome, which is a rare occurrence. The computed tomographic (CT) and ultrasonographic findings are also described.
Primary tumours of the liver are uncommon in childhood. Of these, more than two-thirds are malignant. As such, benign hepatic tumours are often not considered in the differential diagnosis of a hepatic mass in childhood. We report a case of hepatic mesenchymal hamartoma, a rare benign tumour, in a 10-month-old infant. This tumour is characterised by an admixture of ductal structures within a copious loose connective tissue stroma. Only approximately 160 cases had been reported in the literature. Awareness of the ultrasound (U/S) and computed tomography (CT) features, although not diagnostic, is helpful in distinguishing it from the more common malignant tumours. A correct preoperative diagnosis is important as surgical excision is often curative.
This report deals with a 54-year-old man with loss of memory. His impaired memory was found to be due to the atenolol he was on and he made a complete recovery on withdrawing the beta-blocker. This patient's experience stresses the need to consider beta-blockers as a potentially reversible cause of memory impairment.
Epidermal inclusion cyst (EIC) arising from the breast is an uncommon benign condition. We report two cases of enlarging EIC of the breast in two women in their forties. The diagnosis of this condition may not be straightforward with imaging alone if an EIC presents as an enlarging lump in the breast and mimics a benign breast lesion, most commonly a fibroadenoma or malignant lesion with benign imaging features. Excision is usually recommended for a definite histopathological diagnosis and for the prevention of potential risks of malignant transformation. Asymptomatic stable lesions do not require treatment; biopsy is unnecessary, and follow-up imaging suffices if typical sonographic and clinical findings are found.
A 38-year-old woman presented with right-sided parotid swelling, dry mouth and dry eyes of one year duration. Her Schirmer's test and sialometry were positive and histopathology showed lymphoplasmacytic infiltration. She also had concomitant normochromic , normocytic anaemia and mild haematuria. Her anti-nuclear antibody titre was also positive, 1:640, with a speckled pattern on immunofluorescence. We discuss the atypical presentation of systemic lupus erythematosus, particularly parotitis and secondary Sjogren's syndrome.
Four cases of salpingitis isthmica nodosa diagnosed from a total of 82 hysterosalpingograms, over a period of three years at the General Hospital, Kota Bharu, were reviewed. The diagnosis was made based on the radiographic appearance of globules of contrast medium in the periluminal tissues which were in continuity with the lumen of the fallopian tubes. Three of these patients had ectopic pregnancy. Diagnosis of salpingitis isthmica nodosa which is readily demonstrated by hysterosalpingogram, is extremely important because of its impact on ectopic pregnancy rates. Hysterosalpingography is indicated following ectopic pregnancy to show whether there is diverticulosis of the contralateral tube. By such knowledge, optimal treatment can be offered to patients wishing to attempt further conception. As the disease is relatively localised it is amenable to resection with reimplantation of the distal portion of the tube.
Spinal involvement in alkaptonuria is common. Patients usually present in the third or fourth decade with spondylosis or acute intervertebral disc prolapse. Alkaptonuria with root canal stenosis has however hitherto not been reported. We wish to report one such patient.
Incomplete form of tuberous sclerosis (TS) may present with acute complications such as haematuria, retroperitoneal haemorrhage or pneumothorax. Such cases may pose diagnostic difficulty. A patient with incomplete form of TS without any cerebral impairment who presented as an acute surgical abdomen is reported. The diagnostic criteria of TS are reviewed. Visceral manifestations of TS including acute complications are discussed. The importance of recognising such presentations is stressed.
During the 10-year period 1974-1983, 68 patients with intraperitoneal haemorrhage as a result of the rupture of a corpus luteum were managed at the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Most of the patients were aged between 18 and 35 years. In 63% of the patients the rupture occurred between the 14th and the 35th day of the menstrual cycle, and 10 patients had intraperitoneal bleeding severe enough (450-1500 mL) to require blood transfusion. The condition is often confused with other surgical emergencies such as appendicitis and ectopic pregnancy. An increased awareness of the problem in women of reproductive age and the use of laparoscopy, when indicated, will allow a more conservative approach to be adopted for those patients with minimal bleeding. The performance of an appendicectomy in the presence of blood in the peritoneal cavity did not appear to increase morbidity in those patients with a preoperative diagnosis of "appendicitis".
Pneumonia is an infamous life-threatening lung bacterial or viral infection. The latest viral infection endangering the lives of many people worldwide is the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19. This paper is aimed at detecting and differentiating viral pneumonia and COVID-19 disease using digital X-ray images. The current practices include tedious conventional processes that solely rely on the radiologist or medical consultant's technical expertise that are limited, time-consuming, inefficient, and outdated. The implementation is easily prone to human errors of being misdiagnosed. The development of deep learning and technology improvement allows medical scientists and researchers to venture into various neural networks and algorithms to develop applications, tools, and instruments that can further support medical radiologists. This paper presents an overview of deep learning techniques made in the chest radiography on COVID-19 and pneumonia cases.
Hemangioma is a disease of head and neck commonly, but its presence in the nasal cavity or sinus is rare. It is a form of benign tumour of vascular origin consisting of predominantly blood vessels. It can be categorized into capillary, cavernous and mixed type in accordance to its histopathology features. Retrospectively, we reviewed five cases of nasal hemangioma presenting at University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Center (UKMMC) between September 2007 and May 2015. Information on the patients age, gender, ethnicity, clinical symptoms, imaging findings (if available), treatment modalities were collected retrospectively for analysis. Five patients were analysed. Females were more affected than male with ratio of 4:1. All patients presented with unilateral lobular capillary hemangioma of the nasal cavity with 60 % (3/5) of the lesions on the right side and 40 % (2/5) on the left side. The common symptoms at presentation were epitaxis and nasal obstruction (5/5, 100 %), followed by rhinorrhea (3/5, 60 %) and facial pain (1/5, 20 %). All the patients underwent a surgical excision of the hemangioma. The five patients had no recurrence on subsequent follow ups. Computed tomography of paranasal sinuses can be performed to exclude bony erosions. Endoscopic sinus haemangioma excision provide good visualisation and better outcomes. In conclusion, nasal hemangioma should always be differential diagnosis for nasal lesions and surgical excision is still the preferred first line treatment.
COVID-19 is caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 and is a potentially fatal disease that is of great global public health concern. In addition to respiratory symptoms, neurological manifestations have been associated with COVID-19. This is attributed to the neurotropic nature of coronaviruses. The authors present a case of Bell's palsy associated with COVID-19 in a term primigravida.