Carcinoma is one of the most common cause of morbidity and mortality all over the world. Chemotherapy is main stay of treatment with other modalities in the management. Present study had been conducted to evaluate prescribing pattern of anticancer drugs. An observational, retrospective study was conducted in the oncology department of ESI hospital over a period of one year. Data of patients greater than 19 years and diagnosed as carcinoma were included in the study. Out of 197 enrolled patients, majority were female (134, 68%) and in the age group of 41-60 years (147, 74.61% patients). Carcinoma of breast (58, 29.44%) was most commonly reported followed by carcinoma head and neck (46, 23.35%), and carcinoma cervix (34, 17.25%). Chemotherapy was commonly used as combination regimens (160, 81.21%). 5-Fluoro Uracil (5-FU) and platinum based combination were most frequently prescribed (60, 30.45%) especially in head and neck carcinoma (46, 23.35%). Platinum based combinations were also used in management of lung carcinoma. Dexamethasone, Ranitidine, Ondansetron, were used as palliative therapy either to prevent or manage adverse reactions of anticancer drugs.

Background: Hypertensive disorders represent the most common medical complication of pregnancy, with a reported incidence of 6-10% and accounts for 15% of maternal mortality. Effective management of pregnancy induced hypertension is vital to improve maternal and foetal outcomes. As data are scarce on comparison of labetolol and methyldopa this study was undertaken. The objective of present study is compare the efficacy and safety of Labetalol versus Methyldopa in the management of Mild to Moderate pregnancy induced hypertension. To evaluate effect of both drugs on maternal and foetal outcomes.Methods: A comparative observational study is designed. 30 patients who received methyldopa and 30 patients who received labetalol were included in the study. Methyldopa was started at a dose of 250-500 mg thrice daily while labetalol was started at a dose of 100-400 mg twice daily. Patients were followed up during antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum period for efficacy, safety, maternal, and perinatal outcomes.Results: Methyldopa and Labetalol reduced mean systolic and mean diastolic blood pressures significantly. safety profile of both drugs was similar. Spontaneous vaginal deliveries were observed more with labetolol significantly.Conclusions: Labetalol is equally efficacious as methyldopa and well tolerated in the treatment of new onset hypertension during pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: Poisoning with various substances is an important cause of death and disability worldwide. The types of poisons that are encountered in the emergency medicine departments encompass a wide range of substances. Apparently, geographic location, sociodemographic factors, ease of availability of poisons and many other cryptic factors contribute to the wide spectrum of substances that cause poisoning. Pesticides, drugs and chemicals are reported to be the most commonly used poisons in India. Management of poisoning is quite challenging for the health care professionals globally. Factors such as the uncertainty in the identification of allegedly consumed poison, varied clinical features and the need for timely access to specific information for treatment, complicates poisoning management. This study was therefore conducted to explore the clinical features, management and outcomes of poisoning cases reporting to a tertiary care centre in south India. OBJECTIVE: To identify the spectrum of poisons and evaluate their clinical manifestations, medical management and clinical outcomes. METHODOLOGY: All cases of poisoning that were reported at a tertiary care hospital in South India for a period of 18 months from January 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014 were included in this study. A data abstraction sheet was designed to document demographic details (age and gender), poison consumed, duration of stay in the hospital, clinical features, treatment administered, need for life support and patient outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 145 poisoning cases were reported during the study period. Among them, 58.5% were males and 41.3% were females. Majority of victims were in the age group of 21-30 years. Intentional poisoning was observed in 86.2%, whereas the rest were accidental poisonings. Organophosphorus (OP) poisoning was the most common poisoning encountered in this study. It accounted for 25.5% of the total cases of poisoning. The nature of poison was undetermined in 8.9% of the cases. Apart from organophosphorus poisoning, significant proportion of poisoning comprised of several other substances like hair colours, home remedies for medical ailments and chemicals used in the household. Though, they were small in numbers independently, cumulatively they contributed to a significant proportion of poisoning cases. All of the poisoning cases had complete recovery. CONCLUSION: Organophosphorus poisoning was the most common type of poisoning. Several chemicals like hair colours, phenyle, urea and drugs like norethisterone and thyroxine were used with suicidal intention. There were no casualties. Timely management of poisoning according to evidence based guidelines potentially minimises morbidity and mortality due to poisons and helps improve patient outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Effective postoperative pain control is an essential component of the care of the surgical patient. Inadequate pain control, apart from being inhumane, may result in increased morbidity or mortality. Opioids have been the mainstay of treatment for postoperative pain but their side effects such as respiratory depression, sedation, constipation, urinary retention, nausea, vomiting, hypotension, bradycardia, and itching limit their use. Tramadol is a semi-synthetic opiate which has the advantage of less respiratory depression (<1%) besides its good analgesic effect. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have recently gained wide spread popularity in postoperative pain management. Most NSAIDs have been used for treatment of postoperative pain. However, associated side effects include peptic ulcer disease, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, renal dysfunction, altered liver function, and platelet dysfunction. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of Tramadol and Diclofenac in relieving postoperative pain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A randomized, open labelled, prospective, comparative clinical study was conducted in 80 postoperative patients, to compare the efficacy and safety of Diclofenac and Tramadol. Diclofenac was prescribed to 40 post-operative patients and Tramadol to another 40 post-operative patients for treatment of pain. Patients were assessed for pain score only once in a day. They were asked to report the average pain intensity over the past 24 hours. Pain was assessed from the time of shifting of the patient to post-operative ward till discharge of the patient from the hospital or number of days the study drugs was given, whichever was earlier. RESULTS: The mean pain score on post op day 0 in Diclofenac group was 9.25 and that in Tramadol group was 8.97 (P =0.16).The mean pain score on post-operative day 7 in Diclofenac group was 2.50 and that in Tramadol group was 3.00 (P =0.67.5).The overall incidence of adverse effects was 2.5% in Diclofenac group and 7.5% in Tramadol group (p=0.31) CONCLUSION: Both, Tramadol and Diclofenac were equally effective in reducing post-operative pain. The difference in requirement of rescue analgesia and incidence of adverse effects was statistically insignificant in both the groups.