{"title":"Laryngeal tuberculosis: an unsuspected danger.","authors":"D J Houghton, J D Bennett, F Rapado, M Small","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>It is always important to treat conditions which may be cancerous with respect and, where there is suspicion, to take biopsies for histological examination. A hoarse voice may, in addition, be a sign of tuberculosis of the larynx, and the clinical appearance can be similar to a carcinoma. Preoperative chest x-ray (not always performed) and an awareness by the histologist of such a possibility are important now that this condition is increasing in frequency in parallel with conditions where immunological status is compromised.</p>","PeriodicalId":22312,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of clinical practice","volume":"51 1","pages":"61-2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20105623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Vitamin B6 responsive sideroblastic anaemia in a patient with tuberculosis.","authors":"H Demiroglu, S Dündar","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A 39-year-old woman was admitted with fatigue, weight loss, and fever. Nothing, except skin pallor could be found on physical examination. Her haemoglobin (Hb) was 6.3 g/dl. The blood picture showed dimorphic red cell changes and there were dyserythropoiesis and ring sideroblasts in the bone marrow. After detailed investigations, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and anaemia was assigned to chronic disease. With anti-tuberculosis therapy (including isoniazid), her Hb and bone marrow findings returned to normal. After cessation of therapy, Hb fell to 8.9 g/dl. Bone marrow examination again showed dyserythropoietic morphologic abnormalities and ring sideroblasts. No reason could be identified to explain the recurrence of anaemia. When we realised that preparations of isoniazid included vitamin B6 to prevent the development of sideroblastic anaemia, we challenged with pyridoxin 200 mg daily. Her Hb rose to 14.6 g/dl. We suggest that in any cases with sideroblastic anaemia, if no cause can be identified, or anaemia persists or recurs despite therapy, pyridoxine therapy should be instituted.</p>","PeriodicalId":22312,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of clinical practice","volume":"51 1","pages":"51-2"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20105682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Statins and coronary artery disease--it's the clinical endpoints that count.","authors":"G Jackson","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":22312,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of clinical practice","volume":"51 1","pages":"2-3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20105765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
H Alsoub, A K Uwaydah, I Matar, M Zebeib, K M Elhag
{"title":"A clinical comparison of typhoid fever caused by susceptible and multidrug-resistant strains of Salmonella typhi.","authors":"H Alsoub, A K Uwaydah, I Matar, M Zebeib, K M Elhag","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The clinical features and response to therapy with ciprofloxacin were studied in two groups of patients: those infected by susceptible strains of Salmonella typhi and others infected by multidrug-resistant strains. There was no significant difference in the clinical presentation, laboratory findings and outcome between the two groups. Patients infected with multidrug-resistant strains, however, defervesced in significantly longer time (5.5 days) than those infected by susceptible strains (4.35 days) (p = 0.031). In areas with high prevalence of multidrug-resistant Salmonella infection, empiric treatment with quinolones or third-generation cephalosporins of all patients with suspected typhoid fever until the results of culture sensitivity tests are available may lead to better outcome.</p>","PeriodicalId":22312,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of clinical practice","volume":"51 1","pages":"8-10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20105768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Inhaled nitric oxide for right ventricular dysfunction following cardiac transplantation.","authors":"S J George, M J Boscoe","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A 55-year-old man developed postoperative hypotension following orthotopic cardiac transplantation, unresponsive to support with inotropes and counterpulsation. Acute right ventricular failure was confirmed by transoesophageal echocardiography, and the introduction of inhaled nitric oxide resulted in immediate improvement. A beneficial effect persisted for 11 days, with hospital discharge two months postoperatively.</p>","PeriodicalId":22312,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of clinical practice","volume":"51 1","pages":"53-5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20105681","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Stress echocardiography.","authors":"M B Mishra, J B Chambers","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Stress echocardiography has a number of advantages over exercise electrocardiography. It has superior sensitivity and specificity as it detects wall motion abnormalities, an earlier and more specific marker for myocardial ischaemia than ST segment depression. It can also localise ischaemia and identify hibernating myocardium. Compared with radionuclide imaging, stress echocardiography has similar accuracy but is cheaper and does not involve exposure to ionising radiation. The disadvantage of stress echocardiograph is that it requires expertise and specialist experience of at least 100 studies. Current research aims at improving objective methods of analysing results. The technique is justifiably being adopted throughout the UK.</p>","PeriodicalId":22312,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of clinical practice","volume":"51 1","pages":"41-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20105678","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The cult of the double-blind placebo-controlled trial.","authors":"S J Ellis, R F Adams","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial is held as the gold standard in medical knowledge, but this tool of investigation has its weaknesses. These include ethical limitations on the types of comparison that can be undertaken, the central conflict between best practice for an individual and trial protocols, problems of applicability to the general population and applicability of work done on one population to another, type II errors, publication bias, misuse and limitation of statistics, fraud, maintenance of blinding, asking the wrong question, and a simplistic, reductionist view of clinical management. The concentration on the randomised, controlled trial devalues information from other sources, such as natural history studies, clinical experience and case reports. The randomised, controlled trial is an important source of information and as physicians we should welcome more well-crafted trials, but they are not the only source of information.</p>","PeriodicalId":22312,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of clinical practice","volume":"51 1","pages":"36-9"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20105676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Assessment of thyroid nodules by technetium-99m-tetrofosmin scintigraphy.","authors":"G Akçay, H Uslu, E Varoglu, S B Tekin, C Gündogdu","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Thyroid nodularity is a common finding. The incidence of thyroid cancer in the general population is estimated at 0.1%. Thyroid nodules are evaluated by palpation, ultrasonography, radionuclide scintigraphy and fine-needle aspiration cytology. Routine thyroid scintigraphy is made by using Tc-99m-pertechnetate or the I-131 and I-123 scintigraphic method. Tc-99m-tetrofosmin accumulates in the myocardium, skeletal muscle, liver, spleen breast tissue, kidney and normal and pathological thyroid tissue. We investigated 36 patients (28 females and 8 males) with solitary and/or multiple thyroid nodules. All the patients were euthyroid, and their thyroid nodules were diagnosed by palpation and ultrasound examination. Thyroid scintigraphy was applied by Tc-99m-pertechnetate, then thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsy was performed. Finally, Tc-99m-tetrofosmin scintigraphy was carried out. Five patients (14.8%) had differential thyroid carcinoma, 23 (63.8%) had thyroid adenoma, 1 (0.02%) had Riedel's thyroiditis and 7 (19.4%) had follicular cyst. We detected 80% uptake in the early phase and 100% in the late phase by Tc-99m-tetrofosmin scintigraphy in the differentiated thyroid carcinoma group. In summary, we claim that Tc-99m-tetrofosmin may be an important scintigraphic method to identify thyroid malignancy from benign thyroid pathologies.</p>","PeriodicalId":22312,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of clinical practice","volume":"51 1","pages":"5-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20105767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Please write out the acronyms every time.","authors":"T O Cheng","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":22312,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of clinical practice","volume":"51 1","pages":"64"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20105628","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
F al-Azzawi, M J Van der Mooren, R Rolland, E Hirvonen
{"title":"A randomised study to compare the efficacy and safety of new 17 beta-oestradiol transdermal matrix patch with Estraderm TTS 50 in hysterectomised postmenopausal women. The Lyrelle Study Group.","authors":"F al-Azzawi, M J Van der Mooren, R Rolland, E Hirvonen","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study was designed to compare the efficacy and safety of two sizes of Lyrelle, a new matrix design transdermal oestrogen patch, with Estraderm TTS 50, a reservoir system. Three hundred and ninety-four (394) hysterectomised postmenopausal women between 30 and 65 years of age participated in this open-label, randomised, multicentre clinical trial. The main efficacy criterion was the reduction in the mean number of hot flushes per day at six months. Secondary efficacy end points included other climacteric symptoms as well as various psychofunctional and genitourinary disorders. A significant decrease from baseline in the mean number of hot flushes/day was observed in all three groups from the end of cycle 1, reaching 90% at the end of cycle 7. there was no statistically significant difference between Lyrelle 50 and Estraderm at any time point for any parameter; however, between-group differences between Lyrelle 80 and Estraderm for various parameters were seen in the first three cycles in favour of Lyrelle 80. A similar impact on blood lipid levels was observed in all three groups, without significant between-group differences. We conclude that the new Lyrelle patch is a highly effective system for transdermal oestrogen replacement therapy that may enhance long-term patient compliance.</p>","PeriodicalId":22312,"journal":{"name":"The British journal of clinical practice","volume":"51 1","pages":"20-3, 25-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1997-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"20105673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}