BACKGROUND: Dengue virus infection is on the rise and there is increasing number of ocular complications that are being reported. Most common ocular complications are macular edema, macular hemorrhages, and foveolitis. There are case reports on branch retinal vessel occlusions. Most of the ocular complications are attributed to the bleeding tendency and transudative process in dengue viral infection. This is a case report of ischemic central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) concomitant with dengue fever.
CASE PRESENTATION: A 41 year old Malay female was admitted to medical ward and diagnosed to have "dengue fever with warning signs". On the day of admission she noted sudden onset of right eye blurring of vision. She presented to our clinic 1 week later. Ocular examination revealed right eye visual acuity of <20/1000 and ischaemic CRVO with macular edema. She had no other risk factors to develop retinal vein occlusion. She progressively developed proliferative retinopathy and received multiple laser therapy. There was no anterior segment neovascularization. However, her vision improved to only 20/400 despite of resolution of macular edema and new vessels elsewhere.
CONCLUSION: Dengue virus infection is known to cause thrombocytopenia which can result in hemorrhagic events. It can also cause procoagulant state which can result in thrombotic events secondary to immune reaction. Awareness among treating physicians of such ocular complication which can result in significant morbidity for patient is necessary.
Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is the most common cause of amputations in Malaysia. This study aimed to identify the predictive factors for major lower limb amputation among patients with type 2 DM (T2DM) who were admitted to a hospital, in order to reduce its likelihood.
Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 218 patients with T2DM who were admitted to Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan, Kuantan, Malaysia, for diabetic foot problems from June 2011 to July 2012. A form was developed to document the patients' profiles, comorbidities, complications, investigations, treatment and clinical outcomes. The predictors for major lower limb amputations were determined using univariate and stepwise logistic regression analysis.
Results: A total of 31 patients underwent major lower limb amputations (25 transtibial, 6 transfemoral). The following factors were found to be associated with the incidence of major lower limb amputations: T2DM duration ≥ 10 years, diabetic neuropathy, diabetic nephropathy, presentation with gangrene, diabetic foot conditions of Wagner grade 4 or 5, and necrotising fasciitis. Patients who underwent major amputations had significantly lower haemoglobin and albumin levels, and higher total white blood cell counts, erythrocyte sedimentation rates, and C-reactive protein, urea and creatinine levels. However, only T2DM duration ≥ 10 years, positive bacterial culture and albumin levels were significant on stepwise logistic regression analysis.
Conclusion: T2DM duration ≥ 10 years, positive bacterial culture and low albumin levels were found to be significant predictive factors for major lower limb amputation among patients with T2DM admitted for diabetic foot problems.
Keywords: amputation; diabetes mellitus; diabetic foot; lower limb; type II.