No abstract

The diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) depends on clinical evidence of renal, rheumatologic, cutaneous, and neurologic involvement, supported by serological markers. Ocular involvement is not included in diagnostic criteria of SLE. Vaso-occlusive retinopathy, as the primary manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is relatively rare. We report a 30-year-old female, who suddenly suffered bilateral visual loss. Fundus examination revealed bilateral occlusive retinal vasculitis. She fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology criteria for diagnosing SLE; she had arthralgia, photosensitivity, positive ANA, high titre of anti-dsDNA, and proteinuria. A renal biopsy showed stage IV lupus nephritis. Treatment was initiated with pulse steroid and immunosuppressant. Best corrected visual acuity of both eye improved to finger counting after treatment. This case demonstrates that in patients with severe vaso-occlusive retinopathy, a generalized immunological disorder, like SLE, should be suspected.Bangladesh J Medicine Jan 2018; 29(1) : 36-40

Introduction: The habit of smoking bidis and cigarettes is of long standing and widely prevalent in the southern part of Asia and largely in Bangladesh. Currently there are limited data on the lung cancer patients of Bangladesh. Objectives: To determine the correlation of smoking and lung cancer patients of CMH, Dhaka and to review their demographic profile. Materials and Methods: This retrospective hospital based study was conducted at Cancer Center, CMH, Dhaka. A total of 128 patients of lung cancer were enrolled those who were admitted to CMH Dhaka from January 2011 to December 2014. Data were collected in a predesigned format from old documents. Results: Age range of 128 lung cancer patients were from 28 to 80 years. Most of the patients 114(89.06%) belonged to >50 years age group, male 105(82.03%), 106(82.8%) smoker, 14(10.94%) were non-smoker and in 8 (6.25%) cases the smoking habit was not mentioned in documents. Most of the patients 60(47.24%) were from Dhaka district and belonged to lower middle class background 110(85.93%). Common coexisting diseases were COPD 30(23.43%), HTN 32(25%) and DM 25(19.53%). Maximum lung cancer cases were squamous cell subtype 38(29.69%) and adenocarcinoma 35(27.43%). TNM stage group IIIA were 25(19.53%), IIIB 40(31.25%) and IV were 35(27.34%). Large majority of patients were treated with chemotherapy alone 89(66.42%) and concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy 31(24.13%). Most of the patients of lung cancer 123(96%) died within 2 years of diagnosis. Conclusion: In this study, there was a strong correlation between smoking and lung cancer. Majority were diagnosed late in advanced stage and treated with chemotherapy alone or chemotherapy and radiotherapy combined. Prognosis was poor in this series and 96% died within 2 years of diagnosis. Journal of Armed Forces Medical College Bangladesh Vol.15 (1) 2019: 32-34

Background: To compare the survival rate of paclitaxel plus cisplatin (PC arm), paclitaxel plus gemcitabine (PG arm) and gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GC arm) in chemotherapy patients with non resectable lung cancer. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study to evaluate chemotherapy response among non resectable lung cancer patients with their survival at cancer center CMH, Dhaka since 01 July 2013 to 31 March 2015. One hundred fifty-four (154) non resectable lung cancer patients were randomly divided into three groups, 50 patients in PC arm, 51 patients in PG arm and 53 patients in GC arm. In PC arm paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 (day 1) with cisplatin 75mg/m2 (day 1), in PG arm Paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 (day 1) with gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2 (days 1 and 8) and in GC arm gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2 (days 1 and 8) with cisplatin 100mg/m2 (day 1). Results: Patients characteristics were similar between the three groups. The overall response rate was 40% in the PC arm,43.1% in the PG arm, 43.4% in the GC arm. The median survival time in PC arm was 8.5 months, in PG arm was 8.8 months, in GC arm was 9.2 months. The major side effect was myelosuppression which accounts 71% patients. The average treatment costs were 57% and 30% lower in PC arm as compared with GC and PG arm respectively. Conclusion: The median survival time, disease free survival time and 1-year survival rate in PC, PG, GC arms without significant difference. Treatment were well tolerable; quality of life parameter was mostly similar but paclitaxel with cisplatin was most cost effective than others chemotherapy regimen. J Bangladesh Coll Phys Surg 2020; 38(4): 172-175

Pancytopenia is a triad of simultaneous presence of anemia, leucopenia and thrombocytopenia. It is result from a number of disease processes. Both hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic conditions manifest with features of pancytopenia.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out in the Department of Medicine, Dhaka Medical College Hospital between December 2016 to July 2017. We included adult patients of both sexes having age 16 years and above. Criteria for inclusion were persistent pancytopenia on peripheral blood film of more than one week duration. All patients underwent a detailed medical history and full physical examination followed by blood sampling for the investigations. After taking all the aseptic measures and with standard technique the diagnostic bone marrow aspiration and trephine biopsy were done.Results: There were 36 patients with pancytopenia which were included in this study. There were 20 (56%) males and 16 (44%) females with a 1.25:1 male to female ratio and a mean age 47.30 years ± 15.01 SD. The most common complaints were bleeding manifestation (29/36), followed by generalized weakness (27/36) and fever (25/36). Anaemia was the most common (100%) clinical feature followed by jaundice and splenomegaly (6/36). Aplastic anemia was the commonest cause that was observed in 27.78% (10/36) cases followed by Megaloblastic anemia 16.67% (6/36) and erythroid hyperplasia 13.88% (5/36).Conclusion: Aplastic anaemia is leading cause of pancytopenia in this study followed by megaloblastic anaemia and hypersplenism being second and third common causes respectively. Pancytopenia should be suspected on clinical grounds when a patient presents with unexplained anemia, prolonged fever and tendency to bleed.J Dhaka Medical College, Vol. 26, No.2, October, 2017, Page 157-161