METHODS: Medical records of all paediatric patients presenting with symptom of stridor from January 2010 to February 2015 were reviewed retrospectively. The patients' demographic data, clinical notes, laryngoscope findings, diagnosis and management were retrieved and analysed.
RESULTS: Out of the total 137 patients referred for noisy breathing, 121 patients had stridor and were included in this study. There were 73 males and 48 females-most were of Malay ethnicity (77.7%). The age of presentation ranged from newborn to 10 years, with a mean of 4.9 months. Eighteen patients (14.9%) had associated congenital pathologies. The majority were congenital causes (90.9%), in which laryngomalacia was the commonest (78.5%), followed by subglottic stenosis (5.0%), vallecular cyst (2.5%) and congenital vocal fold paralysis (2.5%). Twelve patients (9.9%) had synchronous airway lesion. The majority of the patients were managed conservatively. Thirty-one patients (25.6%) required surgical intervention, of which only one needed tracheostomy.
CONCLUSION: Laryngomalacia was the commonest cause of stridor among paediatric patients. A synchronous airway lesion should be considered if the child has persistent or severe symptoms. The majority of the patients were managed conservatively.
Materials and Methods: In this study, medical records of 47 patients who underwent a two-stage surgical procedure for intra-articular distal tibia fractures accompanying soft tissue injury were retrospectively examined. Delta frame was applied in all cases within 24 hours following admission to the emergency department in accordance with AO principles. Those cases where fibular plate was applied during the initial stage and the second stage were classified as Group 1 and Group 2 in order to compare recorded data between the two groups.
Results: According to the results of the study, there were 25 cases in Group 1 and 22 cases in Group 2 in which fibular plate was applied at the first stage and the second stage, respectively. The mean follow-up was found as 27.7±7.0 months in Group 1 and 28.2±6.2 months in Group 2 (p=0.778). No difference was found between the two groups in terms of the age, sex, hospital stay, the time between two surgical procedures, tibiofibular angle and AOFAS scoring (p>0.05).These two groups were also similar in mechanism of injury, Denise-Weber or AO classification, rates of tibiofibular malalignment on post-operative CT, fibular rotation, intra-articular tibial step-off, tibial varus-valgus duration of union, rate of infection, fibular angulation and the presence of the flap/graft/debridement (p>0.05).
Conclusion: In conclusion, two-stage surgical procedure in intra-articular distal tibiofibular fractures may be an effective method decreasing soft tissue complications. The timing of the open reduction and internal fixation of the fibula at different stages may not necessarily have an impact on the success of the post-operative tibial reduction, the total duration of surgery, syndesmosis malalignment or soft tissue complications.
METHODS: This is a retrospective non-randomized study of outcomes and tumor recurrence of all patients diagnosed with mandibular ameloblastoma from August 1997 until August 2017 (20 years) requiring free fibula osteocutaneous flap reconstruction at a single institution. The patients were identified through an electronic operative database; subsequently, their medical records and photo documentation were retrieved.
RESULTS: Twenty-seven patients were included in this study. Eighteen patients were male, while nine were female. The majority of the patients (48.1%) were in their third decade of life when they were diagnosed with ameloblastoma. All of them underwent radical resection of the tumor with a surgical margin of 2 cm (hemimandibulectomy in cases with a large tumor) and immediate mandibular reconstruction with a free fibula osteocutaneous flap. Two patients required revision of a vascular anastomosis due to venous thrombosis postoperatively, while one patient developed a flap recipient site infection. The flap success rate was 100%. There was no tumor recurrence during a mean follow-up period of 5.6 years.
CONCLUSIONS: Mandibular ameloblastoma should be treated with segmental mandibulectomy (with a surgical margin of 2 cm) to reduce the risk of recurrence. Subsequent mandibular and adjacent soft tissue defects should be reconstructed immediately with a free fibula osteocutaneous flap.
Materials and Methods: Data collection was performed retrospectively on a total of 293 cases from Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Kedah, Malaysia. The data consisted of personal information, treatment history, and investigation findings, including blood results, USG abdomen results, and CT scan results. The site of culture and sensitivity were also obtained. The total direct medical cost was based on the antibiotics/treatments received by the patients, diagnostic test and investigations performed. The trend analysis used to see the pattern of costs from 2014 to 2017. All the costs were compared based on patients' status and duration of stay at the hospital using the independent t-test.
Results: The overall mean of direct medical cost for melioidosis amounted to US $233.61 (RM931.33). Overall, the finding confirms a huge reduction (44.7%) of direct medical cost from 2014 to 2017 (P = 0.001). From 2015 to 2016, there was a 19.1% reduction of direct medical cost (P>0.95), followed by a 38.8% reduction in costs from 2016 to 2017 (P = 0.019). In the case of the duration of stay, the mean of total direct medical cost among patients with ≥14 duration of stay was higher compared to those with <14 duration of stay (p < 0.001). There was no significant mean difference of direct medical cost between patients who were cured and died.
Conclusion: Despite the higher mortality of melioidosis cases compared to other infectious diseases, there is a limitation in the amount of published data on the management cost of melioidosis. The importance of cost in managing this disease should be underlined to perform a fully prepared management toward the disease.
METHODS: A cohort of 611 male Malaysian Army recruits were recruited and followed up at 3 and 6 months. Pain catastrophising, MSD, sociodemographic and work factors were measured using a self-administered questionnaire, and MSI incidence was retrieved from the medical records. Multivariable fixed effects regression was used to model the cumulative incidence of MSD and MSI.
RESULTS: Approximately 12% of the recruits were diagnosed with incident MSI and 80% reported incident MSD. Higher pain catastrophising at baseline was associated with higher 6 month MSD risk (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.6 per 1 SD increase of Pain Catastrophising Scale (PCS) scores; 95% CI 1.2 to 2.0), and longitudinally associated with MSD incidence (aOR 1.2, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.4). Pain catastrophising was not associated with MSI incidence (aOR 1.0, 95% CI 0.8 to 1.3). The association between pain catastrophising and self-reported MSD was stronger among recruits with self-reported past injury (p for interaction <0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: Pain catastrophising was able to predict symptomatic MSD, and not physician-diagnosed MSI, and these findings are directly related to individual health beliefs. Pain catastrophising has a greater influence on how military recruits perceived their musculoskeletal conditions during training, and efforts to reduce pain catastrophising may be beneficial.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective review of patients' medical records was conducted at a private medical centre that delivered the IM protocol for patients with advanced and recurrent ovarian cancers. We explored and analysed the overall survival and disease progressions of those who received the IM treatment for at least 2 months.
RESULTS: Forty patients with advanced ovarian cancers fulfilled the inclusion criteria for this case series. An overall of 75% of the cases achieved remission with initial IM treatment, 17.5% had a partial response and 7.5% showed progressive disease. The overall 5-year survival for all 40 cases is 53.1%. When explored further, the 5-year survival for cases who received CAM only is 75%, and cases who received combined limited chemotherapy with CAM had a 5-year survival of 55%. At study endpoint, 11 cases died due to ovarian cancer.
CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that CAM may be a valuable addition to conventional therapy to treat and improve the survival of patients with ovarian cancers. A formal randomized control trial is required to evaluate the efficacy and long-term outcomes of using IM to treat advanced and recurrent ovarian cancers.
DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective study at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM).
METHODS: This was an analysis based on medical records of adult patients at HUSM. Data regarding demographics, laboratory investigations, attributable causes and CKD stage were gathered.
RESULTS: A total of 851 eligible cases were included. The patients' mean age was 61.18 ± 13.37 years. CKD stage V was found in 333 cases (39.1%) whereas stages IV, IIIb, IIIa, and II were seen in 240 (28.2%), 186 (21.9%), 74 (8.7%) and 18 (2.1%), respectively. The percentage of CKD stage V patients receiving renal replacement therapy was 15.6%. The foremost attributable causes of CKD were diabetic nephropathy (DN) (44.9%), hypertension (HPT) (24.2%) and obstructive uropathy (9.2%). The difference in the prevalence of CKD due to DN, HPT and glomerulonephritis between patients ≤ 50 and > 50 years old was statistically significant.
CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that DN and HPT are the major attributable causes of CKD among patients at a Malaysian tertiary-care hospital. Furthermore, the results draw attention to the possibility that greater emphasis on primary prevention of diabetes and hypertension will have a great impact on reduction of hospital admissions due to CKD in Malaysia.