No abstract

In India, doctor’s in casualty frequently get confronted with snake bite. A wide range of complications occur in snake bite. Intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) is an unusual presentation following snake bite. Here authors discuss a patient presents with ICH after snake bite. Venom induced consumption coagulopathy is the most accepted theory behind intracerebral haemorrhage.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is not only merely limited to joints but has many extraarticular features. The major cause of mortality in RA is cardiovascular disease (CVD). Inflammation in RA predispose them to succumb to CVD. The aim of this study to observe whether therapy with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD) decreases inflammation and if it does so than it can be said that decrease the risk to develop CVD. Aim and objectives were to assess hs-CRP level in early and established RA both at diagnosis and again at 3 months of DMARD therapy and compare between them.Methods: Total 58 early RA (group A) and 58 established (group B) DMARD naïve RA patients were included in the study. Age, BMI, haemoglobin, random blood sugar, lipid profile, ESR, hs-CRP, RA factor and anti-CCP were measured. All of them were treated with DMARD and hs-CRP was again assessed after 3 months.Results: The mean hs-CRP level at diagnosis was 6.14±1.90 mg/l in group A while it was 10.39±3.13 mg/l in group B. The mean hs-CRP level after 3 months of DMARD was 2.56±1.35mg/l in group A while it was 7.91±3.13 mg/l in group B. The mean reduction in hs-CRP level in early RA (3.58±0.99 mg/l) was statistically significantly (p<0.001) higher than that in established RA (2.48±0.09 mg/l).  Conclusions: DMARD decreases level of inflammation in RA more efficiently if initiated early in the course of the disease.

Background: Epicardial Adipose Tissue (EAT) is recognized to be a cardiovascular risk factor. In addition to providing fuel to heart, it plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis though the secretion of adipokines. This study aims to find the correlation of EAT with Left Ventricular Mass (LVM) and Left Ventricular Mass Index (LVMI) in patients with essential hypertension. Increasing LVM and LVMI are predictors of poor cardiovascular outcome. So, if we find a positive correlation, we can say that measurement of epicardial fat in essential hypertension may help us identify high risk hypertensive patients.Methods: This study was carried out in SMS Hospital, Jaipur, after approval from the Ethics Committee. 100 consecutive eligible patients were included in the study after application of inclusion and exclusion criteria and taking proper informed consent. After history, examination and routine laboratory investigations, all patients underwent transthoracic 2D and Doppler echocardiography. EAT thickness, LVM and LVMI were measured and correlated using Spearman correlation coefficient.Results: The mean LVM was 139±42.12 g and mean LVMI was 35.76±11.28 g/m2.7. The spearman correlation coefficient (r) was calculated to be 0.691 between EAT and LVM and 0.677 between EAT and LVMI, indicating strong positive correlation between EAT and both LVM and LVMI. This implies that as; EAT increases, LVM and LVMI increases significantly.Conclusions: Thus, authors have found that EAT is positively correlated with LVM and LVMI. So, we can say that increase in EAT may lead to adverse cardiovascular outcome in patients with essential hypertension.

Very often clinicians are confronted with unconscious patients; the cause being hypoglycaemia. In addition to correction of hypoglycaemia promptly, a search for the cause of hypoglycaemia must be attempted at the earliest with a stepwise approach. Here, the authors present a rare case of recurrent hypoglycaemia where a stepwise approach ultimately led to a diagnosis, but there were various reports which were misleading. The diagnosis was insulinoma which was apparent from the history and presenting features. But, the initial investigations, even though having high sensitivity, were normal, thus leading to a more invasive approach. The patient was ultimately cured by enucleation.