Two hundred and eighty-eight newly diagnosed cases of leukemia (164 males and 124 females, 167 adults and 121 children, 245 acute and 43 chronic, 151 myeloid and 137 lymphoid), aged between 6 weeks and 78 years, were examined for eye changes in the oncology wards within 2 days of diagnosis before starting chemotherapy. Ocular lesions were present in 102 patients (35.4%)--retinal vascular changes in 91 (31.6%); infiltration of ocular tissues in 5 (1.7%), and neuro-ophthalmic signs in 6 (2.1%) cases. Some of the patients had more than one ocular lesion in one or both eyes. The eye changes were seen more often in adults (49.1%) than in children (16.5%), and in myeloid leukemia (41.0%) than in lymphoid leukemia (29.2%). Eye symptoms were present in 29 patients (10%) at initial diagnosis. Since ocular lesions were detected in many asymptomatic leukemia patients, eye examination should be included as a part of routine evaluation at initial diagnosis in these patients.
This is an analysis of histologically proven neoplasms encountered in Sarawak in 1976 and 1977. There were 1447 benign and 1368 malignant tumours. The detailed breakdown of malignant neoplasms with their racial and sex distribution is reported, Lymph node involvement, with primary and metastatic lesions, constituted the largest single group with 22.3 per cent of all malignancies. The next in order of frequency was the Reproductive system with a marked preponderance of Cervical Carcinoma in females. The next in frequency were Skin cancers (8.85%) and Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma (8.4%). Primary liver cell cancer and Breast cancer constituted 5.85 per cent and 5.79 per cent respectively of all malignant tumours. The high prevalence of malignant neoplasms in Chinese is suggestive of racial predisposition.