Rheumatology at the general practitioner/hospital interface: a study of prevalence and access to specialist care.

Four general practices with a combined population of 23,300 in the west of Scotland participated in a record research and questionnaire assessment of 551 patients with rheumatic diseases. The study describes the prevalence, levels of disability found, and the types of service used. Even with this number of patients it was not possible to detect any significant differences in disability levels, use of second line drugs, or aids/appliances when comparing practices with adequate or inadequate access to rheumatological facilities (general practitioner perception). General practice is an appropriate setting in which to investigate the effect of service provision, but larger studies will be needed to reach more definite conclusions.     

Operative management of thyroid abnormalities in a general medical practice hospital in sub-Saharan Africa

This is a retrospective analysis of 82 patients undergoing thyroid operations in a general medical practice hospital in sub-Saharan Africa. All patients complained of neck swelling, and in 75% of patients this was the only symptom. Indications for operation included cosmesis in 74%, suspected malignancy in 13%, hyperthyroidism in 7% and pressure symptoms in 5%. Operative complications included recurrent laryngeal nerve injury in two (2.4%), wound haematoma in two (2.4%), wound infection in three (3.6%) and hypoparathyroidism in one (1.2%).There were no deaths and no instances of thyroid storm.Thyromegaly can be operatively managed in a hospital such as ours with a relatively low morbidity rate using conservative gland extirpation techniques.This conservative approach may result in under treatment for thyroid malignancies but should result in a lower incidence of recurrent nerve damage and hypoparathyroidism in the majority of people who undergo thyroidectomy solely for cosmetic indications.     

Permanent pacemaker practice at a Scottish district general hospital between 1987 and 1993.

BACKGROUND--Raigmore is a district general hospital offering a permanent pacemaker service to its catchment population of 233,500. It has been argued that the British public would be better served by a less centralised pacing service. There also exists the view, however, that a lower rate of complications and best follow up practice are achieved by specialised centres. The pacemaker practice over a 79 month period (January 1987 to July 1993) was thus reviewed with these issues in mind. METHODS--The pacemaker records of all new implantations for the period under observation were reviewed retrospectively. Data were acquired under the headings age, sex, symptoms, electrocardiographic (ECG) indications, and complications (early and late). Comparison was made with United Kingdom national data, a previous audit from Raigmore, and two recently published large series from specialist centres (one British and the other French). RESULTS--The mean age of patients who underwent implantation was 74 years and 47.5% were male. The most common presenting symptoms were syncope (46%), dizzy spells (24.5%), and heart failure (11.5%). The most common ECG indications for pacing were complete heart block (wide QRS) (28%), atrial flutter/fibrillation with bradycardia (21.6%) and complete heart block (narrow QRS) (9.6%). The implantation rate was 184/million population/year in 1993. The early and late complication rates were low (2.48%). CONCLUSIONS--The presence of a pacing centre in a remote part of the United Kingdom fulfils a necessary service and has low complication rates, with implantation rates and patterns that are comparable with those in other parts of the country.     

The scientific bases of cancer management: at the interface between fundamental research and clinical practice

Summary From 1950 to 1985 the 5-year survival rate of cancer patients in industrialized countries, has slowly increased from 25% in 1950 to 50% in 1985. This progress has been due to earlier diagnosis and to a gradual improvement of treatment modalities. Clinical needs have stimulated basic research and clinical investigation. In turn, biological research has introduced new concepts and new agents. Clinical investigation and applied research have brought about an improvement in therapeutic methods and a better understanding of the growth and progression of human cancers which has, in particular, led to the concept of adjuvant treatment of occult metastases. The major recent breakthroughs in fundamental research have reinforced the value of close cooperation between clinicians and fundamentalists. Most of the new biologic tools are specific and only active on tumors cells with well-defined characteristics. Furthermore some new techniques such as adoptive immunotherapy can induce complete tumor regression in some patients and have no detectable effects in other patients with apparently similar tumors. Some cytokines have different effects on experimental and human tumors. The cytokine network is so complex that the administration of one of them can induce unpredictable effects. It has been recognized that experimental tumors and in vitro studies can be misleading and there is no substitute for clinical studies on patients. Moreover clinical experience has documented the amazing ability of tumors to become resistant to all these new agents. Numerous new therapeutic methods are being explored, however with the current state of knowledge it appears that although they can help to control tumors, they still fail to eradicate them. We must therefore learn how to integrate them with conventional therapies. Advances in therapy shall be achieved only by well-designed clinical trials. Thus at the interface between fundamental research and clinical practice there is an urgent need for oncologists with a strong scientific background and laboratory scientists with a deep interest in clinical investigations.Abbreviations MOPP mechlorethamine, vincrestine, procarbazine, prednimurtine - ABVD Adrianycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, dacarbazine - CEA carcinoembryonic antigen - CT chemotherapy - RT radiotherapy - EGFr epidermal growth factor receptor - ER, PR estrogen and progesterone receptors - CSF colony-stimulating factor The Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology publishes in loose succession Editorials and Guest editorials on current and/or controversial problems in experimental and clinical oncology. These contributions represent exclusively the personal opinion of the author The EditorsHarold Dorn Memorial Lecture held at the closing ceremony of the International Congress of Cancer, Hamburg, August 1990     

Work-load and outcomes of diabetes care in general practice.

The effect of starting a general practice diabetes clinic on practice work-load and intermediate outcome measures was studied retrospectively using patient records. The 35 diabetic patients included had been diagnosed greater than 4 years before the diabetes clinic started and were followed for 6 years in the clinic, together with a group of age- and sex-matched controls. There was a significant rise in the consultation rates of the diabetic patients, due to an increase in diabetes-related consultations, from 3.9 consultations yr-1 to 6.7 consultations yr-1 (p less than 0.001). There was a fall in HbA1c level of 0.22 (99% CI 0.13, 0.32) %Hb yr-1 over the 6 years and in body mass index of 0.37 (99% CI 0.22, 0.52) kg m-2 yr-1, suggesting an improvement in diabetes management.     

Practical management of medical conflict in hospital practice

Practical management of a conflict in hospital practice is based on specific rules of administrative law which govern our hospital activity in terms of medical responsibility. But beyond this, it calls upon notions of common sense, medical and above all civil and diplomatic behaviour, so as not to create a critical situation in this already very unpleasant context. The author also describes some approach techniques to allow the physician facing this situation to extricate himself as well as possible. In addition, all requests for explanations, however "aggressive", do not necessarily end in the law courts, and that only 15 to 20% of cases prosecuted are eventually found guilty.     

Patient differences related to management in general practice and the hospital: a cross-sectional study of heart failure in the community.

AIM: To compare patients treated for heart failure in relation to the management in general practices versus hospital admission. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twelve randomly selected general practices (GP) were screened for patients receiving ACE-inhibitor, digoxin, or loop diuretic treatment. The first 500 volunteers of 959 potential subjects were invited to a cardiac examination after exclusion of 235 frail, physically or mentally disabled patients. A diagnosis of heart failure during hospital admission (Hospital-HF, n = 102) was more related (p < 0.05) to male sex (45% vs. 21%), advanced age (73 vs. 70 years), breathlessness (75% vs. 62%), LV systolic dysfunction (47% vs. 20%), objective cardiac abnormality (92% vs. 65%) and higher 4-year mortality (33% vs. 15%) than patients taking loop diuretics due to signs and symptoms of heart failure in GP (GP-HF). Patients without clinical heart failure (n = 301) had the same survival but less symptoms and cardiac abnormalities than GP-HF patients. CONCLUSION: A surplus morbidity and mortality was related to a hospital-based rather than a GP based diagnosis of HF. Patients managed in GP were different from patients entering previous clinical trials of heart failure. We estimate that the pool of patients hospitalised with systolic heart failure would be increased from 1.3 to 1.4 more if all patients from primary care were included.