BACKGROUND Once severe ischemia has lasted for about 20 minutes, myocardial necrosis ensues, affecting the subendocardium first and then proceeding in a time dependent wave front to reach epicardium about 4 to 6 hours later. Restoration of blood flow before necrosis is transmural, arrests the progression of necrosis and salvages the still viable but ischemic myocardium that would otherwise proceed to necrosis. We wanted to assess the occurrence of complications of half dose of streptokinase versus full dose of streptokinase in three weeks follow-up following thrombolysis therapy. METHODS Sixty elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction were enrolled in the study, presenting within 12 hours of onset of symptoms and having no contra-indication to thrombolytic therapy at GMC, Jammu for a period of one-year w.e.f. Nov. 2017 to Oct. 2018. RESULTS Out of the total 60 cases included in our study, 30 (50%) were assigned to the study group and 30 (50%) were included in the control group. Overall, 46 (76.7%) males and 14 (23.3%) females were included in the study. CONCLUSIONS Low dose streptokinase also achieved post-therapy outcome comparable to the standard dose, as assessed clinically and echocardiographically in a short-term follow-up of three weeks. Also, low dose streptokinase (7.5 lakh units) infusion was found to be associated with a lower incidence of haemorrhagic complications as compared to conventional full dose (1.5 million units) streptokinase infusion.

BACKGROUND High sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is an acute phase reactant with well documented sensitivity that is commonly used to diagnose infections and inflammatory conditions like COPD and Asthma. We wanted to study the plasma hs-CRP levels in patients of COPD and asthma. METHODS This is a prospective study conducted for a period of one year from Nov. 2017-Oct. 2018, conducted at GMC, Jammu, which is a tertiary care centre. In our study, out of 100 patients who were studied, 50 were male (50%) and 50 were female (50%) with male: female ratio of 1:1. RESULTS Thirty (30%) patients were asthmatics and seventy (70%) patients had COPD, with asthma to COPD ratio of 1:2.3. CONCLUSIONS High sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), which is an inflammatory marker, in the present study had a strong association with COPD and asthma both in males and females with interaction p-values in case of male asthmatics (0.003), female asthmatics (0.01), COPD males (0.001) and COPD females (0.

BACKGROUND In developing countries like India, as the life expectancy has increased, more and more elderly patients having ischemic heart disease are being diagnosed and treated. We wanted to evaluate as to whether thrombolysis with a lower dose of 7.5 lakh units of streptokinase was as efficacious as with streptokinase in conventional doses of 1.5 million units in achieving reperfusion of the infarct related coronary artery. METHODS The present study was conducted in elderly patients aged more than 65 years over a period of one year from Nov. 2016 to Oct. 2017 at GMC, Jammu which is a tertiary care centre. Sixty elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction were enrolled in the study, presenting within 12 hours of onset of symptoms and having no contra-indication to thrombolytic therapy. RESULTS A total of 60 cases included in our study. The mean age of the patients in the study group (cases) was 69.33 ± 5.78 years, while that of control group was 69.00 ± 4.83 years. Majority of the patients (19) were observed to be in the age group of 70-75 years in the study as well as control group. In the study group (cases), 9 (30%) were females and 21 (70%) were males, while in the control group 5 (16.7%) were females and 25 (83.3%) were males. CONCLUSIONS Low dose (7.5 lakh units) of streptokinase was as effective as the standard dose (1.5 million units) of streptokinase in achieving reperfusion of the infarct related coronary artery, in the elderly patients of acute myocardial infarction.