Deaths in visceral leishmaniasis (Kala-azar) during treatment

Twenty-seven out of five hundred and fifty three patients hospitalized for visceral leishmaniasis (Kala-azar) died during treatment with sodium antimony gluconate. Data from these patients were evaluated to find out the cause of death. Eight patients had associated diseases such as pulmonary tuberculosis (3), severe malnutrition (1), acute gastroenteritis (1), spleenic infarction (1), acute renal failure (1) and atrial septal defect (1) which could be attributed to death. Twelve patients developed spontaneous haemorrhages from nose, gums and gastrointestinal tract and died, despite of adequate supportive measures. Seven other patients who were improving slowly with antimony therapy died unexpectedly. Though, cause of death could be explained in some patients with associated disease conditions, it could not be explained in others as significant clinical manifestations, haematological, biochemical and electrocardiographic alterations were not evident prior to death. Our impression is that mortality in Kala-azar patients during standard antimonial therapy is more related to the drug rather than the disease process.     

Prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis C virus in hemodialysis patients and renal transplant recipients

This work was carried out to study the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, its associated risk factors and possible routes of transmission in hemodialysis patients and renal transplant recipients. Ninety five patients and 15 normal controls were included in this study. Patients were classified into 3 groups: Group I (64 hemodialysis patients), Group II (16 renal transplant recipients) and Group III (15 patients with chronic renal insufficiency on conservative treatments). Each individual was subjected to full clinical examination, estimation of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), testing for antibodies to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV), screening for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs) and core antigen (anti-HBc) by modified ELISA technique. Anti-HCV was found in 87.5% of hemodialysis patients, 81.25% of renal transplant patients, 53.3% of the conservative group and in 13.3% of the control group. There was a significant correlation between the presence of anti-HCV and the duration on dialysis in groups I and II (p < 0.05), while no significant correlation was detected between HCV positive cases and the number of units of transfused blood in groups I and II (p > 0.05). Serum ALT was elevated in patients with HCV infection, but there was no significant correlation between the presence of anti-HCV and elevated ALT level among the examined groups of patients (p > 0.05). The prevalence of HCV infection was not correlated with the duration of renal transplantation and the type of immunosuppressive therapy (p > 0.05). Coinfection with HBV and HCV could occur, as previous infection with HBV was demonstrated. Anti-HBc was found in 51.8%, 66.7%, 37.5% of anti-HCV positive patients in groups I, II, II respectively. Anti-HBs was detected in 24.1% and 15.4% of anti-HCV positive in groups I and II. HBsAg was found only in 4.7% of anti-HCV positive hemodialysis.     

Evaluating inter-aural hearing preservation in bilateral paediatric cochlear implantation

Objective: To examine inter-aural hearing preservation results in children undergoing simultaneous bilateral cochlear implantation (CI).

Methods: Retrospective case review in tertiary referral centre. All children undergoing simultaneous bilateral CI between January 2013 and June 2014 (18 months). Patients eligible for inclusion in the study had pre-operative hearing thresholds of <90?dB at 250?Hz and ≥100?dB at 500?Hz. Patients with anatomical cochlear anomalies or missing data were excluded. Seven patients were included, 1 male, 6 female, mean age of 12 years 11 months at the time of surgery. All patients had simultaneous bilateral cochlear implant surgery, using the same implant and technique. All patients had pre- and post-operative unaided pure tone audiometry. Inter-aural hearing preservation results were compared in each patient.

Results: The achieved hearing preservation for 14 ears was complete in 5, partial in 7, and minimal in 2. Measurable hearing preservation was achieved in 86% overall. Inter-aural analysis revealed that only 2 (subjects 1 and 4) of the 7 patients had preservation results within the same preservation group (complete/partial/minimal). The mean inter-aural preservation difference was 30.7% with a range from 12.4% to 65.2%.

Conclusions: Several factors and techniques have already been identified in the wider literature to explain differences in hearing preservation results in CI. However, despite controlling for known factors, we demonstrate variable inter-aural results. This suggests that there may be more factors beyond the surgeon’s control influencing our ability to provide consistent results.