Fifty-six living related renal transplants were performed between December 1975 and December 1980. All except eight of the recipients were male. The mean age was 29.5 years. Patient and graft survival were 86 percent and 73 percent at 1 year and 83 percent and 68 percent at 2 years respectively. Infection was the main cause of death and acute and chronic rejection were the main causes of graft failure. The donors were aged between 18 and 72 years old. There were 21 parent and 35 sibling donors. Donor nephrectomies were performed without mortality and our experience so far with the transplantation of kidneys from elderly donors has been encouraging.
Three consecutive cases of lacrimal gland carcinoma seen at the University Hospital during a twelve-year period are presented. One case was unusual, presenting at the age of sixteen years and developing metastases to the lungs. Adenoid cystic carcinoma is the commonest type of lacrimal malignancy and its clinico-pathological features and surgical management are discussed.
Forty patients with tubal ectopic pregnancies seen over an 18 month period are studied. Epidemiological parameters in the three major groups are compared. The diagnostic problems, signs and symptoms are discussed. Aetiological factors in this area are compared with changing trends in other centres. Pelvic inflammatory disease remains an important cause. The role of conservative approach in surgical treatment of ectopic pregnancy Z5 discussed. The crude incidence rate of ectopic pregnancy in Johore Baru Hospital between January 1978 and June 1979 is 1:358 deliveries.
Two Malaysian boys of Chinese origin who satisfy the necessary criteria of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis are reported. A brief description of the symptomatology, epidemiology, laboratory finding, pathology, pathogenesis and treatment of the illness was also given.
Aneurysms of the sinus of Valsalva are uncommon disorders and are usually congenital in origin. When these aneurysms rupture into an intracardiac chamber, they may be silent initially but later give rise to progressive heart failure due to left or right shunting and aortic regurgitation. The mortality and morbidity in untreated cases is high. We report 13 patients with ruptured aneurysms of the sinus of Valsalva who underwent surgical repair. There were seven males and six females with a mean age of 24.5 years. Three patients were asymptomatic and five were in congestive cardiac failure. The majority of patients (61.5%) had insidious onset of symptoms, only 2 cases presenting acutely. The connection was between the right aortic sinus and the right ventricle in 11 cases and the non coronary sinus and the right ventricle in 2 cases. Associated cardiac anomalies included a ventricular septal defect (8 patients) and aortic regurgitation (6 patients). There was 1 post operative death and 1 patient required re-operation three months later for a recurrence of the fistula. All 6 patients with aortic regurgitation required aortic valve replacement. All patients remained well and asymptomatic during follow up ranging from 2 to 19 years.
The role of fiberoptic bronchoscopy for rapid diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis was examined among 74 patients who were suspected of having the disease but had negative sputum smear for acid fast bacilli. Bronchial brushing and washing were routinely performed in all subjects and bronchial biopsy was performed on abnormal mucosa in 7 of them. The diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis was confirmed in 44.6% of the patients studied from smear examination, culture, histology or the combination of them. Rapid diagnosis was achieved in 54.5% of the confirmed cases from smear or histology within a few days of examination. Two of the cases had concomitant bronchogenic carcinoma. We conclude that the fiberoptic bronchoscopy is a useful investigation for this group of patients as confirmation of the diagnosis can be made fairly rapidly in a significant proportion of them, hence the treatment can be started confidently.
A retrospective study was made to determine relative incidence of lymphoma subtypes in Malaysia. High grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was found to be common. Low grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and Hodgkin's disease were relatively rare in this Malaysian series. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of B-cell immunophenotype was four times as common as that of T-cell lineage. There was a high incidence of primary extranodal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
A retrospective review of patients with congenital dislocation of the hip (CDH) seen in the Institute of Orthopaedics, Kuala Lumpur General Hospital from 1975 to 1988 is presented. There was a female predominance of 17 to five. The average follow-up was 43 months and the average age at final assessment was 63 months. The results were assessed clinically and radiographically using Severin criteria. Eighty eight percent of the hips had excellent or good clinical results at final review compared with 40% of the hips which had excellent or good radiological grading (Severin I and II). Initial acetabular angle before treatment and types of treatment appeared to have a correlation with the final result. The incidence of avascular necrosis was 16%.
This case report highlights one of the common but usually unrecognised causes of sinus bradycardia in clinical practice. The reasons for misdiagnosis and/or delay in diagnosis of such a condition is also discussed.
Differences in fertility between the three major ethnic groups (Malays, Chinese and Indians) in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore have existed since before the onset of fertility decline in the late 1950s and remain today, although the relative positions and the actual differences have changed due to the varying rates of decline. By 1987, the Malays experienced the highest fertility and the Chinese the lowest in both countries but in Singapore the Malay fertility was lower than the Chinese fertility in Peninsular Malaysia. The fertility differentials will lead to changes in the ethnic composition in both countries but more so in Peninsular Malaysia.
Tuberculous liver abscess is uncommonly seen in our experience. We report a case of a 17-year-old boy who presented with typical clinical features of liver abscess, where a diagnosis of tuberculous liver abscess was made on laparotomy and biopsy of the abscess wall.
The eye harbours bacteria from the time of birth throughout life. Owing to its antibacterial properties, the normal conjunctival flora plays a significant role in the defence against superficial ocular infections. In view of its protective action as well as its probable role in causing ocular disease under certain circumstances, the study of the normal flora and its pattern of antibiotic susceptibility could provide useful information in the prevention and treatment of post-surgical infections. While several such surveys have been reported from various parts of the world, no data is available for the Malaysian population. This survey seeks to establish the pattern of bacterial flora in healthy conjunctivae of Malaysians. In addition, the bacterial flora of a nondiabetic population was compared to that of a diabetic population to see if there were any differences.
Stevens-Johnson syndrome is relatively rare. The authors report a retrospective study of 34 patients seen at the University Hospital in Malaysia over 16 years and discuss the epidemiology, clinical features, complications, investigations, etiologic association, mortality, sequelae, course of the disease, and the use of steroid.
A questionnaire on smoking habits was administered to 4106 Form IV school children in Kuala Lumpur. The period of survey was from 9 to 20 April 1984. 2099 boys and 2007 girls were studied and their mean age was 16.1 years. 32.8% of the students had been initiated to smoking and the mean age of initiation was 13.3 years. The prevalence of smoking was found to be 9.8% and the mean duration of smoking was 2.5 years. Most of the smokers and occasional smokers were boys. About 42% of the smokers wished to stop smoking and only 1% of the non-smokers intended to smoke in the future. The study recommended that health education programmes should be started earlier in school.