Pattern of diabetic foot - presentation and complications in rural Indian population

Background: Foot ulcer is one of the most common and deadest complications of diabetes mellitus. This is also a frequent cause of hospitalization and disability. Most of the patients with diabetic foot ulcers living in developing countries present to healthcare facilities fairly late with advanced foot ulcers because of poor economic status, inadequate knowledge of self-care, sociocultural reasons and poor and inadequate diabetes healthcare.Methods: A prospective study was conducted in the department of Surgery, JNMC Sawangi (Meghe), Wardha of DMIMS (DU) with the aim to evaluate the pattern of distribution of foot ulcers in diabetic foot patients and related complications. We enrolled 30 diabetic patients in the study, of these 21 (70%) were males and 9 (30%) were females with male to female ratio 2.33.  Results: The mean age of presentation was 52.93 ± 14.10 and the mean duration of diabetes was 8.20 ± 10.06. The maximum numbers of lesion was present in the region of second to fifth metatarsal (53.33%), followed by heel (26.66%) and great toe (10%). Maximum patients 9 (30%) had grade II lesions as per Wagner’s classification and 12 (40%) had II B as per University of Texas diabetic wound classification. Associated deformity was present in 36.66%, insensitivity to the 5.07 S-W monofilaments in 56.66%, impaired vibration in 43.33%, and abnor­mal Achilles tendon reflex in 40%. Ankle–brachial index <0.8 was present in 33.33%. Only 13.33% patients were using customized footwear whereas 46.66% were walking barefoot, the difference was statistically significant P = 0.0027.Conclusion: The health education to promote Knowledge, Attitude, Behavior and Practice (KABP) is essential to prevent diabetes associated foot complications.

Predictors of urinary retention in benign prostate hyperplasia

Background: Acute urinary retention (AUR) is one of the most significant complications or long-term outcomes of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Because of the high prevalence of BPH and its effect on the patient's quality of life, additional research is needed to better predict the risk factors of AUR. The study was aimed to find out the incidence and factors responsible for retention of urine in BPH.Methods: It was a prospective study, conducted at a medical college after the approval from IEC. The study included the patients admitted to the surgical wards admitted with the symptoms of lower urinary tract symptom and presented with acute urinary retention. Duration of the study was 2 months. A total 40 patients were studied over this duration. The outcome of the study was analyzed by these factors: Age in years, Symptom severity, Prostate Volume on DRE and USG Grade.Results: The mean age of presentation was 64.87±7.85 with median age of 65 years (range 45-82 years) with mean IPSS score of 17.45and the mean PVR was 110.80 ± 85.52 with median 110 (range 0-500). Maximum number of patients having Grade 3 and 4 enlargements had PSA level 9-12 ng/ml. The PSA levels and the grade of enlargement on USG were statistically significant (p-0.004).Conclusions: Out of the four factors considered to be the independent risk factors, all of them have positive correlation with the symptom of acute urinary retention. None of these four factors i.e. age in years, symptom severity, prostate Volume on DRE and USG grade could establish significant correlation.

Site selection for vascular access creation in hemodialysis in end stage renal disease

Background: Chronic kidney failure is characterized with progressive and irreversible diminishing of glomerular filtration rate. AVF has been unanimously considered the gold standard vascular access of choice for hemodialysis. Arterio-venous fistula (AVF) for hemodialysis should be created in patients with endogenous creatinine clearance < 20 mL/min/1,73m2. Aim of current study was to choose the proper site for arteriovenous fistula creation with minimal complications.Methods: It was a prospective study, carried out in the dept. of surgery from April 2008 to August 2013. A total of 140 patients were studied over the period. The fistulae were created using radial artery cephalic vein side to side and brachial artery cephalic vein side to side or end to side anastomosis. Statistical analysis used: Mean, Standard deviation, Standard error.Results: A total 140 patients were studied, out of them 104 were males and 36 were females. The radiocephalic site was used for 82 (58.57%) patients and 58 (41.43%) patients were operated on brachiocephalic site. The mean inner diameter of radial artery, brachial artery and cephalic vein (intima to intima) at elbow and wrist were 21.49001 ± 0.901 (SE - 0.28492), 3.72533 ± 1.06837 (SE - 0.30841) and 0.68079 ± 0.49551 (SE - 0.116790) respectively. The mean flows velocity of brachial and radial artery were 76.10526 ± 4.54477 (SE - 1.04264) and 52.64286 ± 5.5968 (SE - 1.495810) respectively. The success rate of AV fistula on table was 97.85% (137 out of 140). The incidence of complication was 18.57%.Conclusion: The site for fistula creation depends on the quality of the artery and vein. To achieve good success rates preoperative color Doppler is essential to evaluate the vessels. The complication rates can be minimised by following standard operating protocols.

Predictors of urinary retention in benign prostate hyperplasia

Background: Acute urinary retention (AUR) is one of the most significant complications or long-term outcomes of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Because of the high prevalence of BPH and its effect on the patient's quality of life, additional research is needed to better predict the risk factors of AUR. The study was aimed to find out the incidence and factors responsible for retention of urine in BPH.Methods: It was a prospective study, conducted at a medical college after the approval from IEC. The study included the patients admitted to the surgical wards admitted with the symptoms of lower urinary tract symptom and presented with acute urinary retention. Duration of the study was 2 months. A total 40 patients were studied over this duration. The outcome of the study was analyzed by these factors: Age in years, Symptom severity, Prostate Volume on DRE and USG Grade.Results: The mean age of presentation was 64.87±7.85 with median age of 65 years (range 45-82 years) with mean IPSS score of 17.45and the mean PVR was 110.80 ± 85.52 with median 110 (range 0-500). Maximum number of patients having Grade 3 and 4 enlargements had PSA level 9-12 ng/ml. The PSA levels and the grade of enlargement on USG were statistically significant (p-0.004).Conclusions: Out of the four factors considered to be the independent risk factors, all of them have positive correlation with the symptom of acute urinary retention. None of these four factors i.e. age in years, symptom severity, prostate Volume on DRE and USG grade could establish significant correlation.

Initial invasive or conservative strategy for stable coronary disease

BACKGROUND Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, whether clinical outcomes are better in those who receive an invasive intervention plus medical therapy than in those who receive medical therapy alone is uncertain. METHODS We randomly assigned 5179 patients with moderate or severe ischemia to an initial invasive strategy (angiography and revascularization when feasible) and medical therapy or to an initial conservative strategy of medical therapy alone and angiography if medical therapy failed. The primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, or hospitalization for unstable angina, heart failure, or resuscitated cardiac arrest. A key secondary outcome was death from cardiovascular causes or myocardial infarction. RESULTS Over a median of 3.2 years, 318 primary outcome events occurred in the invasive-strategy group and 352 occurred in the conservative-strategy group. At 6 months, the cumulative event rate was 5.3% in the invasive-strategy group and 3.4% in the conservative-strategy group (difference, 1.9 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.8 to 3.0); at 5 years, the cumulative event rate was 16.4% and 18.2%, respectively (difference, 121.8 percentage points; 95% CI, 124.7 to 1.0). Results were similar with respect to the key secondary outcome. The incidence of the primary outcome was sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction; a secondary analysis yielded more procedural myocardial infarctions of uncertain clinical importance. There were 145 deaths in the invasive-strategy group and 144 deaths in the conservative-strategy group (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.32). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, we did not find evidence that an initial invasive strategy, as compared with an initial conservative strategy, reduced the risk of ischemic cardiovascular events or death from any cause over a median of 3.2 years. The trial findings were sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction that was used

Health-status outcomes with invasive or conservative care in coronary disease

BACKGROUND In the ISCHEMIA trial, an invasive strategy with angiographic assessment and revascularization did not reduce clinical events among patients with stable ischemic heart disease and moderate or severe ischemia. A secondary objective of the trial was to assess angina-related health status among these patients. METHODS We assessed angina-related symptoms, function, and quality of life with the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) at randomization, at months 1.5, 3, and 6, and every 6 months thereafter in participants who had been randomly assigned to an invasive treatment strategy (2295 participants) or a conservative strategy (2322). Mixed-effects cumulative probability models within a Bayesian framework were used to estimate differences between the treatment groups. The primary outcome of this health-status analysis was the SAQ summary score (scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better health status). All analyses were performed in the overall population and according to baseline angina frequency. RESULTS At baseline, 35% of patients reported having no angina in the previous month. SAQ summary scores increased in both treatment groups, with increases at 3, 12, and 36 months that were 4.1 points (95% credible interval, 3.2 to 5.0), 4.2 points (95% credible interval, 3.3 to 5.1), and 2.9 points (95% credible interval, 2.2 to 3.7) higher with the invasive strategy than with the conservative strategy. Differences were larger among participants who had more frequent angina at baseline (8.5 vs. 0.1 points at 3 months and 5.3 vs. 1.2 points at 36 months among participants with daily or weekly angina as compared with no angina). CONCLUSIONS In the overall trial population with moderate or severe ischemia, which included 35% of participants without angina at baseline, patients randomly assigned to the invasive strategy had greater improvement in angina-related health status than those assigned to the conservative strategy. The modest mean differences favoring the invasive strategy in the overall group reflected minimal differences among asymptomatic patients and larger differences among patients who had had angina at baseline