Functional recovery in the immediate post stroke period predicts the long-term prognosis of post stroke patients. Despite the advancement in stroke rehabilitation in improving the physical function of survivors, there are other factors that may influence functional recovery. We aimed to assess the functional recovery of ischaemic stroke patients attending a tertiary hospital and its associated factors in order to make recommendations for post stroke care after hospital admission. A three months prospective observational study looking at functional recovery using the Modified Barthel’s Index (MBI) and depression (Patient Heath Questionnaire-9) score of post stroke patients. There were 46 ischaemic stroke patients who were recruited for the study. At three months, only 37 patients were eligible for analysis. The mean age was 67.2 (SD 11) years with the Malays (50%) making up the majority of the patients, followed by Chinese (41.3%) and Indians (8.7%). There was a total of seven (15.2%) deaths. Hypertension was the most common risk factor (89.1%) followed by dyslipidaemia (65.2%) and diabetes mellitus (63.0%). The mean MBI difference was 45.2 (SD 27.0) with a median MBI of 17.0(IQR 33.0) at baseline compared to 85.0(IQR 42.0) at three months (p < 0.001, CI 35.98,55.45). The prevalence of depression (PHQ-9≥10) was 21.6%. Lower functional recovery was found among depressed patients (p
This is a retrospective descriptive study done to look at common presentation and method of detection of breast cancer. A total of 366 case records of patients attending the Breast and Endocrine Clinic at Hospital Kuala Lumpur were reviewed. The peak age of breast cancer presentation was 40 to 49 years (39.6%). Most (81.4%) patients presented with a lump in the breast and the lump was mainly self-detected (97.3%). The mean tumour diameter on presentation was 4.7± 3 cm. Medical staff detected the disease in 1.6% cases and 1.1% of cases were detected by mammogram. Most women detected the lump themselves, suggesting that Breast Self Examination (BSE) can be used for detection of the disease in places where there is cost and availability constrains for mammogram. Early detection with BSE can possibly offer better treatment options and quality of life despite the evidence that it does not reduce the mortality due to breast cancer.
Study site: Breast and Endocrine Clinic at Hospital Kuala Lumpur