Background: Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 8.2 million deaths in 2012. Febrile neutropenia (FN) is fever associated with abnormally low neutrophil count signifying an immunocompromised state secondary to malignancy or its treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical outcome of chemotherapy induced febrile neutropenia.Methods: This was a hospital based prospective, descriptive observational study. Patients of either sex, age (18-90 years), with cancer on chemotherapy, single oral temperature ≥101°Fahrenheit (38.3°C) or a temperature ≥100.4° Fahrenheit (38.0° C) for ≥ one hour with absolute neutrophil counts <500 cells/mm3 or <1000 cells/mm3 with a predicted decrease to less than 500 cells/mm3 in the next 24 hours, only with first febrile episode occurring during study period and prior or concurrent radiation therapy were included in this study.Results: Among 87 patients, 70 (80.5%) were less than 60 years and 17 (19.5%) were ≥60 years. The mean age of study patients was 44.46±15 years, (range 18 to 77 years), 31(35.6%) were male and 56 (64.4%) were female. Talcott’s and MASCC risk predicting tool versus outcome, p values for Talcott’s and MASCC were significant (<0.05).Conclusions: Neutropenic fever is a potentially life-threatening complication of cancer chemotherapy. MASCC and Talcott’s model can be used to identify low and high risk patients. MASCC risk index may have a better performance than the Talcott’s model in risk classification.

Background: Cataracts in children are rare, accounting 7.4-15.3% of pediatric blindness. Pediatric cataract is a treatable leading cause of childhood blindness. Rashtriya bal swasthya karyakram (RBSK) is an important initiative aiming at early identification and early intervention for children from birth to 18 years. The objective of our study was to know the impact of RBSK, in management of childhood cataract, at a tertiary eye care center.Methods: This was a hospital based retrospective study, done from December 2018 to December 2019. This study included all patients of congenital and developmental cataract during this study period. The patients aged less than or equal to 18 years were included. All statistical analyses were done at 5% (p<0.05) significance using Graph Pad instat version 3.0 and Microsoft excel 2019.Results: During a study period of thirteen months, 357 eyes of 210 patients with congenital or development cataract were included. There were 142 (67.61%) male patients and 68 (32.38%) were female. The maximum number of patients were seen in the age group of 4-6 years 52 (24.7%), followed by the age group of 7-9 years 48 (22.8%). Bilateral cataracts were seen in 148 (70.4%) patients and unilateral cataract in 61 (29.0%) patients. The most common type of cataract was lamellar cataract seen in 150 (42%) eyes.Conclusions: RBSK is changing the lives of children and their families by reducing the burden of childhood blindness due to cataract and improving the quality of the life, especially in financially underprivileged families.

Background: Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. It is very important to diagnose glaucoma in early stages so that timely management can be done. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), is a newer device which helps to diagnose glaucoma early. The aim of our study was to evaluate the RNFL, ONH, and mGCA (GCL+IPL) measurements for early glaucoma detection using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).Methods: Total 30, POAG (primary open angle glaucoma) suspects were compared with 30 normal controls. The Cirrus HD-OCT optic disc cube 200 × 200 protocol was used to measure ONH, RNFL and macular parameters.Results: The average cpRNFL thickness of all quadrants was significantly lower in POAG suspects, (84.13±7.42 μm versus 103.85±8.95 μm, p<0.001). The superior GCL+IPL thickness of POAG suspects and controls was 75.75±2.60 μm and 80.05±1.74 μm, respectively, (p<0.001). The inferior GCL+IPL thickness of POAG suspects and controls was 75.98±2.59 μm and 80.00±1.79 μm, respectively, (p<0.001).Conclusions: The SD-OCT is an important device to diagnose POAG suspects, early. The GCA measurements and average RNFL (especially superior and inferior) measurements, both are equally good to discriminate between glaucoma suspects and normal controls.