Fifty patients were randomly recruited to receive either femoral nerve block (0.375% Bupivacaine) or an intraarticular local anaesthetic injection for pain control for arthroscopically-assisted ACL reconstruction. Both groups were evenly matched for age ( t-test p >0.05). Tourniquet time did not differ significantly between the groups ( t-test p=0.24). The VAS pain levels were not significantly different at 4 h and the first morning postoperatively in both groups. Femoral block (Median VAS: 20 & 18.5) did not confer a significant advantage (Mann Whitney U test p =0.36, 0.67) over intraarticular injection of bupivacaine (Median VAS: 18 & 20). There was no correlation between tourniquet time and postoperative pain ( r=0.19, 0.08). All patients but one were discharged home on the first postoperative morning. Our study demonstrates that pain levels can be sufficiently controlled by intraarticular infiltration of bupivacaine coupled with oral analgesia. The level of pain relief achieved could allow this procedure to be performed in a day surgery setting.

No abstract

HER-2/neu overexpression seen in 10.4% appears to predict a slight increased mortality in patients with primary malignant brain tumors, especially glioblastoma multiforme, and is associated with a high incidence of a second primary malignancy outside the CNS. Additionally, our data suggests that other clinical variables were predictive of increased mortality, including tumor location (occipital), histology (glioblastoma), and presenting symptoms (nausea/vomiting). The large, heterogeneous sample employed in our study allows more definitive conclusions to be made with regard to the usefulness of HER-2/neu and other clinical predictors of survival in patients with primary brain tumors.

The metastasis of bone marrow by the solid tumors is a sign of advanced stage of disease and poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to assess the pattern of bone marrow involvement of different solid tumors and their correlation with hematological findings. In a retrospective study we evaluated 434 aspirates and 76 biopsy sections from 124 cases of different types of solid tumors previously diagnosed on the basis of their clinical and histopathological findings. The hematological profile of the patients was done and correlated with the bone marrow findings. The study was carried out at a medical college hospital of northern India. Out of 124 cases of solid tumors 31 (25%) have metastasized to bone marrow. The highest number 25 (36%) of bone marrow involvement was seen in carcinoma prostate followed by gastric carcinoma and melanoma (25%) The least number (14.2%) cases of bone marrow metastasis were observed in endometrial carcinoma. Anemia was found the commonest (71.4%) hematological finding followed by thrombocytopenia in 45.1% cases. The bone marrow examination is an easy, convenient, sensitive and cost effective procedure for assessment of staging and monitoring of prognosis of solid tumors.

No abstract