No abstract

Secretory carcinoma of the breast is an extremely rare subtype of breast cancer characterized by intracellular or extracellular secretion and granular eosinophilic cytoplasm of the neoplastic cells. The disease which was considered to be predominant in younger age group has been recognized in adult population too and tends to show slow growth and indolent behavior. The disease occurs preferentially in females and only 27 cases have been reported amongst males. An optimal treatment for the disease subtype has been debated because of the paucity of data. We report two cases (one female and one male) of this rare disease that underwent treatment at our institution.

Telementoring as a subset of telemedicine has evolved over the past few years, but it is yet to be utilized to its full potential. The technology holds promise in bridging divides of distance and enables far-flung areas to be mentored in operative advances. It thus has a special bearing in countries like India where health care is short staffed and many areas lack availability of quality care. We describe the setting up of a telementoring facility at our centre. As against a 'routine' facility with dedicated equipments which cost heavily, our facility was set up using mostly equipments commonly available in an operating room. The facility is presently functional and allows telementoring through an encrypted Web-based service. Our set-up design can be emulated in centres with financial constraint and can help raise the standard of surgical care.

No abstract

Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated disorder that may be associated with various diseases that share a similar pathogenic immune mechanism. This study reports on the prevalence of various diseases in a cohort of CD patients in northern India. Patients diagnosed with CD based on modified ESPGHAN criteria were prospectively evaluated for associated concomitant diseases. Of the 363 patients evaluated, 207 (57.0 %) were male. The mean age was 19 years. Seventy-one percent of patients presented with typical diarrheal disease, while 29 % presented with atypical nondiarrheal disease. One or more associated diseases were noted in 70 (19.2 %) patients. Liver diseases were the most common association. Portal hypertension was present in 33 (9 %) patients; chronic liver disease was the underlying cause in 17 patients, while noncirrhotic causes were noted in 16 patients. Type 1 diabetes was seen in 13 and hypothyroidism in 11 patients. Other unreported or rarely reported associated diseases were also found in some of the patients. Associated comorbid diseases are common, and may need to be actively screened, in Indian CD patients.