Clinical Feature of Neonatal Sepsis: Role of Variation in Platelate Indices and Thrombocytopenia

Diagnosis of neonatal septicemia may be difficult as the early signs of sepsis may be subtle and different at different gestational ages. Platelet indices are helpful in the diagnosis as well as follow-up of sepsis including assessing the response of antimicrobial treatment if interpreted cautiously. However, these platelet indices are not appropriate always. The important platelet indices available for clinical utility include mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width and plateletcrit that are related to morphology and proliferation kinetics of platelets. Thrombocytopenia is a common hematological abnormality in neonates with sepsis. Abnormal MPV can aid diagnosing the cause of thrombocytopenia. Low MPV associated with thrombocytopenia has been found to result in clinical bleeding. Until recently, the mechanism of neonatal thrombocytopenias are unclear. As a result, classifications based on mechanism have proved of little practical help to neonatal paediatricians because of overemphasis of rare conditions of known mechanism. The studies addressing the importance of these platelet indices and thrombocytopenia may provide insights for the early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis and therapy that would reduce the mortality rate. This review presents the details about the thrombocytopenia and its mechanism as a diagnostic measure for neonatal sepsis

Morphologic spectrum of co-existing lesions in breast malignancy – A study of mastectomy specimens

Breast lesions is a family of heterogeneous entities with varying forms of presentation, morphology and clinical nature. Most of these lesions are traditionally classified into benign and malignant conditions. However, some lesions show marginal features and lie in a grey-zone between benign and malignant due to unreliable predictability. Pathological categorisation of such lesions is challenging, and under-diagnosis may leads to over-treatment or under-treatment. The shortage of these lesions makes acquisition of clinical evidence problematic and restricts the advancement of a sufficient evidence base to support informed decision making by clinicians and patients. Emerging molecular evidence is providing a greater understanding of the biology of these lesions, but this may or may not be reflected in their clinical behaviour. In the present study. we discuss some breast lesions that may leads to cancer malignancy. The idea of categories of breast lesions of uncertain malignant nature and breast lesions of limited metastatic potential, are recommended