Background. This study was performed to evaluate the results of vacuum assisted wound therapy in patients with open musculoskeletal injuries. Study Design and Setting. Prospective, randomized, and interventional at tertiary care hospital, from 2011 to 2012. Materials and Methods. 30 patients of open musculoskeletal injuries underwent randomized trial of vacuum assisted closure therapy versus standard wound therapy around the upper limb and lower limb. Mean patient age was 39 ± 18 years (range, 18 to 76 years). Necrotic tissues were debrided before applying VAC therapy. Dressings were changed every 3 or 4 days. For standard wound therapy, debridement followed by daily dressings was done. Data Management and Statistical Analysis. The results obtained were subjected to statistical analysis. Results. The size of soft tissue defects reduced more than 5 mm to 25 mm after VAC (mean decrease of 26.66%), whereas in standard wound therapy, reduction in wound size was less than 5 mm. A free flap was needed to cover exposed bone and tendon in one case in standard wound therapy group. No major complication occurred that was directly attributable to treatment. Conclusion. Vacuum assisted wound therapy was found to facilitate the rapid formation of healthy granulation tissue on open wounds in the upper limb and lower limb, thus to shorten healing time and minimize secondary soft tissue defect coverage procedures.

Indian J Hematol Blood Transfus 25(3):91-95 AbstractPurpose Blood transfusion is an important part of patient management. Indications for blood use must be clear in the mind of ordering clinicians, to avoid its misuse and also to avoid unnecessary exposure of the patient to donor blood antigens, adverse reactions and transfusion transmissible diseases.Methods In a retrospective pilot study, details of whole blood and components transfused were noted and correlated with the patient's diagnosis and indications for transfusion, during 1 month.Results The blood units supplied were 720. Whole blood was the most utilized product; followed by packed red blood cells. Supply of blood was maximum to the surgical wards. The patients of trauma followed by malignancy and surgery required whole blood mostly. Anemia was the most common indication for blood products.Conclusions Periodic review of blood component usage is very important to assess the blood utilization pattern in any hospital.

Background: Hypertensive pregnancy may be responsible for vascular damage, enhanced systemic inflammation and insulin resistance in the placenta as oxygen and nutrient transfer is impaired and oxidative stress is generated affecting the placental growth and development. Placental growth pattern in hypertensive pregnancies shows a variable pattern owing to placental insufficiency. Present study was done to investigate the morphological and histological changes in placenta in hypertensive pregnancy.Methods: A total of 42 pregnant women with hypertensive disorder with gestational age 28-42 weeks and singleton pregnancy were enrolled as cases in the study. A total of 42 matched normotensive pregnant women were enrolled as controls. All the women were followed up till delivery. At delivery, placental specimen were collected and assessed for morphological, morphometric and histological changes. Findings were compared with normotensives. Data was compared using Independent sample’s ‘t’-test and Chi-square test.Results: Mean age of cases was 27.60±4.37 years, majority were gravida 1/2 (66.7%), 45.2% had moderate to severe edema, 50% had urinary albumin levels >100 mg/dl. A total of 8 (19.0%) had gestational hypertension, 16 (38.1%) had preeclampsia, 10 (23.8%) had severe preeclampsia and 8 (19.0%) had eclampsia. Mean placental weight and diameter of cases was significantly higher than that of control group. Mean placental thickness was also higher but difference was not significant statistically. Calcification, infarction and hematoma were seen in 45.2%, 16.7% and 11.9% of cases as compared to 28.6%, 4.97% and 0% of controls. Histologically, syncytial knots, cytotrophoblastic cellular proliferation, hyalinized area, proliferation of medium sized blood vessels, stromal fibrosis and fibrinoid necrosis in significantly higher proportion of cass as compared to controls (p<0.05). Mean fetoplacental ratio was 5.01±0.99 and 5.24±0.61 in controls (p=0.195).Conclusions: Hypertension during pregnancy affects the placental growth and development.

Von Meyenburg complex is a benign biliary hamartoma observed in approximately 3% of the autopsies conducted. These hamartomas are small, multiple and can be seen anywhere in the liver. There is usually no abnormality in liver function tests, and the patient is mostly asymptomatic. They serve as a diagnostic dilemma, particularly during metastatic workup in suspected cancer patients. Imaging studies are usually noncontributory, and biopsy is necessary for a definite diagnosis. We present here a middle-aged North Indian male who underwent liver biopsy to rule out metastasis.

Introduction:To report on the demographic profile and survival outcomes of North Indian population affected with stage III and stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Materials and Methods:From November 2008 to January 2012, 138 consecutively diagnosed NSCLC patients were included in this study. The patient, tumor and treatment related factors were analyzed. Median overall survival (OS), Kaplan-Meier survival plots, t-test, Cox proportional hazards models were generated by multivariate analysis [MVA]) and analyzed on SPSS software (version 19.0; SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL).Results:Median OS of stage III patients was 9.26 ± 1.85 months and 2-year survival rate of 13% while stage IV patients had median OS of 5 ± 1.5 months with a 2-year survival rate of 8%. Cox regression modeling for MVA demonstrated higher biologically equivalent dose (BED) (P = 0.01) in stage III while in stage IV non-squamous histology (P = 0.01), administration of chemotherapy (P = 0.02), partial responders to chemotherapy (P = 0.001), higher BED (P = 0.02), and those with skeletal metastasis alone (P = 0.17) showed a better OS.Conclusion:Our data showed that a higher BED is associated with favorable outcomes, indicating a role of dose escalated radiation therapy to the primary lesion in both stage III and essentially in stage IV NSCLC. Additionally, optimal use of chemotherapy relates to better survival. The developing, resource restrained nations need to follow an economically feasible multimodality approach.

Background:Articular chondrocytes have got a long lifespan but rarely divides after maturity. Thus, an articular cartilage has a limited capacity for repair. Periosteal grafts have chondrogenic potential and have been used to repair defects in the articular cartilage. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the differentiation of free periosteal grafts in the patellofemoral joint where the cambium layer faces the subchondral bone and to investigate the applicability of periosteal grafts in the reconstruction of articular surfaces.Materials and Methods:The study was carried out over a period of 1 year on 25 adult, male Indian rabbits after obtaining permission from the institutional animal ethical committee. A full-thickness osteochondral defect was created by shaving off the whole articular cartilage of the patella of the left knee. The defect thus created was grafted with free periosteal graft. The patella of the right knee was taken as a control where no grafting was done after shaving off the articular cartilage. The first animal was used to study the normal histology of the patellar articular cartilage and periosteum obtained from the medial surface of tibial condyle. Rest 24 animals were subjected to patellectomy, 4 each at serial intervals of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 48 weeks and the patellar articular surfaces were examined macroscopically and histologically.Results:The grafts got adherent to the underlying patellar articular surface at the end of 4 weeks. Microscopically, graft incorporation could be appreciated at 4 weeks. Mesenchymal cells of the cambium layer were seen differentiating into chondrocytes by the end of 4 weeks in four grafts (100%) and they were arranged in a haphazard manner. Till the end of 8 weeks, the cellular arrangement was mostly wooly. At 16 weeks, one graft (25%) had wooly arrangement of chondrocytes and three grafts (75%) had columnar formation of cells. Same percentage was maintained at 32 weeks. Four grafts (100%) at 48 weeks showed columnar orientation. The control side showed no changes over the shaved off articular surface in all the rabbits. One rabbit at 4 weeks had a dislocation of the patella on the control side. None of the rabbits developed any infection or wound dehiscence.Conclusion:Autologous periosteal graft transplantation can be a promising substitute for articular cartilaginous defects.

BACKGROUNDUrinary bladder cancer is the 9 th most common cancer worldwide and 13 th most numerous cause of death from cancer. VEGF expression has been shown to be a prognostic marker and predicts the risk of recurrence and its high expression is related to lymph node metastasis. The study was undertaken to determine the expression of VEGF in urinary bladder tumours and its possible benefits in determining the prognosis of patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS50 cases of transitional cell carcinoma of urinary bladder diagnosed by histopathology were taken and expression of VEGF was observed on immunohistochemistry the results of staining intensity and percentage of positive cells were added and final scoring was done. RESULTSExpression of VEGF correlated with grade of tumor and was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). Maximum number of patients with high grade TCC showed a score of 3 for VEGF whereas in maximum patients with low grade TCC score of 1 for VEGF was obtained. CONCLUSIONExpression of VEGF was found to be higher in patients with high grade TCC as compared to low grade TCC. Therefore, VEGF can be used as an important IHC marker to assess the utilization of antiangiogenic therapy in patients with urinary bladder malignancy.

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