A forty-two year old lady presented with gradual, painless, progressive blurring of vision of her left eye for four months. There were no other associated ocular or systemic complaints. Examination showed decreased visual acuity in both eyes and a pale optic disc on the left side. Visual field examination revealed a temporal field defect of the right eye which aroused the suspicion of an intracranial mass lesion. MRI of her brain revealed a suprasellar meningioma. We would like to emphasize the importance of visual field examination of both eyes in patients presenting with unilateral loss of vision.
Thyroid associated ophthalmopathy is an autoimmune disorder affecting the orbital and periorbital tissues. Hyperthyroidism is commonly associated with thyroid associated ophthalmopathy, however in 5% to 10% of cases it is euthyroid. Genetic, environmental and endogenous factors play a role in the initiation of the thyroid ophthalmopathy. Smoking has been identified as the strongest risk factor for the development of the disorder. The pathogenesis involves activation of both humoral and cell mediated immunity with subsequent production of gycoaminoglycans, hyaluronic acid resulting in oedema formation, increase extraocular mass and adipogenesis in the orbit. The natural history of the disease progresses from active to inactive fibrotic stage over a period of years. Diagnosis is mainly clinical and almost all patients with ophthalmopathy exhibit some form of thyroid abnormality on further testing. Treatment is based on the clinical severity of the disease. Non-severe cases are managed by supportive measures to reduce the symptomatology and severe cases are treated by either medical or surgical decompression. Rehabilitative surgery is done for quiescent disease to reduce diplopia and improve cosmesis.
Digital mammogram has become the most effective technique for early breast cancer detection modality. Digital mammogram takes an electronic image of the breast and stores it directly in a computer. The aim of this study is to develop an automated system for assisting the analysis of digital mammograms. Computer image processing techniques will be applied to enhance images and this is followed by segmentation of the region of interest (ROI). Subsequently, the textural features will be extracted from the ROI. The texture features will be used to classify the ROIs as either masses or non-masses. In this study normal breast images and breast image with masses used as the standard input to the proposed system are taken from Mammographic Image Analysis Society (MIAS) digital mammogram database. In MIAS database, masses are grouped into either spiculated, circumscribed or ill-defined. Additional information includes location of masses centres and radius of masses. The extraction of the textural features of ROIs is done by using gray level co-occurrence matrices (GLCM) which is constructed at four different directions for each ROI. The results show that the GLCM at 0º, 45º, 90º and 135º with a block size of 8X8 give significant texture information to identify between masses and non-masses tissues. Analysis of GLCM properties i.e. contrast, energy and homogeneity resulted in receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve area of for Otsu’s method, 0.82 for thresholding method and for K-mean clustering. ROC curve area of 0.8-0.9 is rated as good results. The authors’ proposed method contains no complicated algorithm. The detection is based on a decision tree with five criterions to be analysed. This simplicity leads to less computational time. Thus, this approach is suitable for automated real-time breast cancer diagnosis system.
Avid functional 18F-FDG uptake of skeletal muscle is a known false positive finding of PET-CT study especially after involuntary muscle exercise just prior to the study. We describe the case of a 50-year-old man in whom the finding of avid 18F-FDG uptake of pectoralis major muscle was encountered during investigation of metastatic melanoma.
Adjunct cervical CT epidurography (CCTE) can be used to image impingement in patients with cervical brachalgia undergoing fluoroscopic-guided cervical transforaminal injection (TFI) of steroid/local anaesthetic where magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is contraindicated. CCTE images of the 9 patients on whom the authors performed CCTE post TFI over 6 years from 1998 to 2003 were retrospectively reviewed. CCTE is able to provide good images of the cervical spinal canal and its contents. CCTE may be an alternative imaging method for impingement in patients with cervical brachalgia contraindicated for MRI.
Background and Purpose: Clinical and radiological findings of intracranial abscesses may mimic the findings of brain tumours and vice versa. However, the discrimination is of great clinical importance in planning treatment and in following prognosis and response to therapy. This study evaluates the Computed Tomography (CT) perfusion parameters, especially the permeability index, with the aim of evaluating the usefulness of dynamic CT perfusion imaging as an alternative tool to differentiate necrotic brain tumours and intracerebral abscesses. Materials and Methods: A total of 21 patients underwent perfusion CT study and were divided into 2 groups: Group 1, patients with necrotic brain tumours (n=13); and Group 2, patients with cerebral abscesses (n=8). The mean perfusion parameters were obtained from the enhancing part of the lesion. The relative ratios were then calculated by using the results from mirrored regions within the contralateral hemisphere as reference. Results: The results of this study showed that there was significant difference in the relative permeability surface values between necrotic brain tumours and cerebral abscesses (p=0.005). By applying the ROC curve, a value of 25.1 for rPS was found to be the best estimate to distinguish necrotic brain tumours from cerebral abscesses with a specificity of 88 % and sensitivity of 70 %. Conclusion: CT perfusion, especially permeability surface, may allow for better differentiation of cerebral abscesses from brain tumours, making it a strong additional imaging modality in the early diagnosis of these two entities.
Presently, the tort system is used to regulate medical negligence litigation in Malaysia. Generally, this system provides for compensation only when a doctor or any other medical personnel assisting in the treatment of a patient is negligent. Previously, in determining whether a doctor was negligent in diagnosis, treatment and advice, the court had shown a deferential attitude towards medical judgment. This is in contrast to the attitude of the court towards other professions such as engineers and architectures where the court does not hesitate in questioning the appropriateness and reasoning of the standard practice adopted by those professionals. However, this deferential attitude which is encapsulated in the phrase “a doctor knows best” is slowly dissipating. This article will look at this development of the law by highlighting selected landmark cases that enumerate this change in court’s attitude. It is important for radiologists, in Malaysia in particular, to understand the implication in everyday practice.
MeSH terms: Health Personnel; Humans; Judgment; Malaysia; Malpractice; Physicians; Liability, Legal; Compensation and Redress
The case report, which has a long history in medicine, has seen its fortune wax and wane with time. We discuss the challenges facing the continued survival of the case report, including the inability of journals to cope with the increased load and increased cost of publication, ethical issues, the impact factor and the rise of evidence-based medicine. We highlight the important role that the case report will continue to play in medical research and education, as a means of sharing information and detecting novelty through observations. Most importantly, the case report serves as a stepping stone for young physicians and practitioners into the world of medical writing.
MeSH terms: Dental Porcelain; Publications; Publishing; Evidence-Based Medicine; Information Dissemination; Biomedical Research; Journal Impact Factor; Medical Writing
We present a young adult female with symptoms of acute tonsillitis and tender cervical lymphadenopathy. Despite a full course of oral antibiotics, she had persistent left lower cervical lymphadenopathy measuring 2.0 x 1.5 cm at 2 weeks post-treatment. Rigid and flexible scope examinations did not reveal any abnormalities in the nasopharynx, oropharynx or hypopharynx. Tuberculosis tests were negative and blood index results were normal. Fine needle aspiration cytology revealed a non-specific granulomatous inflammatory process. Excisional lymph node biopsy was performed, and the patient was diagnosed as having Kikuchi’s Disease (KD). We would like to highlight the diagnostic challenges in detecting this condition and the importance of differentiating KD from tuberculosis and malignant lymphoma, the latter of which requires aggressive treatment.
Background: Chronic pain is a common medical issue. Beside chronic devastating pain, patients also suffer dysfunction more generally, including in the physical, emotional, social, recreational, vocational, financial, and legal spheres. Integrated multidisciplinary and multimodal chronic pain management programmes offer clear evidence for relief of suffering and return to functional lifestyles. Materials and Methods: This retrospective review was performed in order to evaluate one-year outcomes among all newly referred patients of the multimodal chronic pain service at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM). All patients received multimodal pain therapy, including pharmacological, physical, and psychological therapy, exercise, and pain intervention. The variables evaluated were based on a patient’s global pain assessments, which were made using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), modified by patient self-report, and were taken within days to months of commencing our multimodal pain regime. Results: A total of 169 patients were enrolled in this study. Out of this number, 102 (60.4%) were seen at the pain clinic, and 67 (39.6%) were referred while they were inpatients. About one-third of the patients had chronic pain due to cancer. Our data showed that 128 (75.7%) of our chronic pain patients were successfully managed when ≥50% of pain relief (as measured by their VAS score) was achieved at any point during the course of the study period. In addition, 104 patients (61.5%) showed improvement in their modified ODI by 50% or more. Conclusion: A multimodal chronic pain service plays a significant role in managing chronic pain patients in a major hospital, as it is capable of delivering comprehensive and attainable care to manage refractory and intractable chronic pain.
Graves disease is a common cause of hyperthyroidism. Treatment options for Graves disease include antithyroid medication, surgery or radioactive iodine (I- 131) or RAI. This review will focus on the approach to RAI therapy; discussing dose selection, patient preparation, and consideration before and after administering RAI, examining aspects of pre-treatment with antithyroid medication as well as discussing possible adverse events including hypothyroidism and possible worsening of thyroid-associated opthalmopathy. Follow-up is lifelong with the aim of ensuring the patient remains euthyroid or on replacement therapy if there is evidence of hypothyroidism. While there are controversies in treatment of thyrotoxicosis with RAI, with appropriate patient selection and regular follow-up, radioiodine is a safe and effective modality in achieving high cure rates.
A rare case of thalassaemia-intermedia involving a nondeletion alpha thalassemia point mutation in the α1-globin gene CD59 (GGCGAC) and a deletion α+ (-α3.7) thalassaemia in which use of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) C-gram Hb subtype profile and DNA molecular analysis helped establish the diagnosis.
MeSH terms: Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; DNA; Globins; alpha-Thalassemia; beta-Thalassemia; Point Mutation; Sequence Deletion
This study looked at the causes of vision loss, levels of distance, near vision and the use of low vision devices (LVDs) in children studying at special schools in Malaysia. A total of 139 children from two special education schools took part. Visual acuity was measured with and without LVDs. Those who required further assessment were referred to Low Vision Clinic. Near visual acuity in 71 children ranged from N4 to N64. Sixty eight children could not read the N64 chart or they were totally blind. Only eight students were using LVDs before intervention. Seventy one children were referred for low vision assessment and 48 were found to benefit from the LVDs prescribed. The major cause of visual impairment was cataract(17%. Hand held magnifier was the most preferred LVD. Majority of the children attending the blind schools had residual vision but did not have LVDs. LVDs are able to significantly improve near visual acuity and hence there is a need to prescribe and train the children to use the LVDs
Patients with isolated severe head injury with diffuse axonal injury and without any surgical lesion may be treated safely without cerebral resuscitation and intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring. Seventy two patients were divided into three groups of patients receiving treatment based on ICP-CPPtargeted, or conservative methods either with or without ventilation support. The characteristics of these three groups were compared based on age , gender, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), pupillary reaction to light, computerized tomography scanning according to the Marshall classification, duration of intensive care unit (ICU) stays, Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) and possible complications. There were higher risk of mortality (p < 0.001), worse GCS improvement upon discharge (p < 0.001) and longer ICU stays (p = 0.016) in ICP group compared to Intubation group. There were no significant statistical differences of GOS at 3rd and 6th months between all three groups
In 2008, an outbreak of chikungunya infection occurred in Johor. We performed a retrospective review of all laboratory confirmed adult chikungunya cases admitted to Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Johor Bahru from April to August 2008, looking into clinical and laboratory features. A total of 18 laboratory confirmed cases of chikungunya were identified with patients presenting with fever, joint pain, rash and vomiting. Haemorrhagic signs were not seen. Lymphopenia, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, raised liver enzymes and deranged coagulation profile were the prominent laboratory findings. We hope this study can help guide physician making a diagnosis of chikungunya against other arborviruses infection.
Progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC) is characterized by early onset cholestasis, progressive liver cirrhosis, pruritus, poor growth and inexorable progression to liver cirrhosis in early childhood. The serum level of gamma-glutamyl transferase is low or normal, which is discordant with severe cholestasis. Five Malaysian patients with PFIC, who all had typical features of PFIC with early onset of severe and progressive cholestasis, pruritus, cirrhosis and liver failure, were described. Three patients died as a result of the disease, while another one died due to post-liver transplant complication. The only survivor has compensated liver cirrhosis. Patients with severe cholestasis but has spuriously low γGT should be suspected of having PFIC. Liver transplant, which is life-saving in a majority of patients with PFIC, should be considered in all patients with PFIC.
This voluntary, anonymous questionnaire survey was performed to assess the willingness of Basic Life Support (BLS) participants to perform bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). A total of 55 dental students and 73 school teachers were assessed on their willingness to perform bystander CPR after completion of their BLS training. In general, only 29.0% of the total 128 participants said that they would offer to perform CPR under any cardiac arrest condition and 69.0% said that they would just offer to call the ambulance but they would not offer to perform CPR. When analyzed separately, only 16.4% of school teachers said that they would perfom CPR as compared to 45.5% of dental students (p
Observations of racial differences in the prevalence of $Helicobacter$ $pylori$ in Malaysia have been intriguing. The Indians and Chinese consistently have a higher prevalence compared to the Malays. The racial cohort theory has been proposed to explain these differences where transmission and perpetuation of infection takes place within a racial group rather than between races, races being separate owing to the low rate of interracial marriages. Studies have demonstrated distinctive bacterial strains between races. Phylogenetic studies have shown that $H.pylori$ isolates amongst Chinese and Indians are distinctive while Malays have Indian and other strains suggesting a more recent acquisition of the bacterium from Indians. $H.pylori$ is recognized as the major causative factor in peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer. Despite the high prevalence of $H.pylori$, Indians have a relatively low prevalence of peptic ulcer disease and a low incidence of gastric cancer. This paradox with regards to gastric cancer has been termed the “Indian enigmaâ€. Bacterial strain differences between races may be putative but this observation may also indicate gastroprotective environmental factors or a lower genetic susceptibility to develop cancer in the Indians.
MeSH terms: Humans; Malaysia; Marriage; Peptic Ulcer; Phylogeny; Stomach Neoplasms; Incidence; Prevalence; Helicobacter pylori; Helicobacter Infections; Genetic Predisposition to Disease; Asian Continental Ancestry Group; Continental Population Groups
This is a retrospective study. The objective of this study is to review the factors influencing the outcome of treatment for the patients presented with idiopathic facial nerve paralysis. The demographic data, clinical presentation and management of 84 patients with idiopathic facial nerve paralysis (Bell’s palsy) were collected from the medical record office, reviewed and analyzed from 2000 to 2005. Thirty-four (72.3%) out of 47 patients who were treated with oral prednisolone alone, fully recovered from Bell’s palsy meanwhile 36(97%) out of 37 patients who were treated with combination of oral prednisolone and acyclovir fully recovered. The difference was statistically significant. 42 (93.3%) out of 45 patients who presented within three days to our clinic, fully recovered while 28 (71.8%) out of 39 patients presented later than three days had full recovery from Bell’s palsy. The difference was statistically significant. The outcome of full recovery is better with the patients treated with combined acyclovir and prednisolone compared with prednisolone alone. The patients who were treated after three days of clinical presentation, who were more than 50 years of age, who had concurrent chronic medical illness and facial nerve paralysis HB Grade IV to VI during initial presentation have reduced chance of full recovery of facial nerve paralysis.
MeSH terms: Acyclovir; Antiviral Agents; Demography; Facial Nerve; Facial Paralysis; Humans; Medical Records; Prednisolone; Retrospective Studies; Bell Palsy