Mortality-Related Factors in 1056 Radioiodine-Treated Patients with Well-Differentiated Thyroid Cancer in Southern Thailand

Background  

Reported risk factors for death related to well differentiated thyroid cancer vary, possibly depending on the methods and geographical site of data collection.     

Prospective observational study of the frequency and features of intra-abdominal abscesses in patients with melioidosis in northeast Thailand

Retrospective case series from Thailand have reported the presence of intra-abdominal abscesses in around half of patients with melioidosis, a much higher rate than our clinical experience would suggest. We performed a prospective, observational study of 230 adult patients with culture-confirmed melioidosis in which all patients underwent abdominal ultrasound. One or more abscesses were detected in the liver and/or spleen in 77 (33%) cases. These were often multiple (70%, 31/44 in hepatic abscesses and 88%, 50/57 in splenic abscesses) and clinically silent (27% of cases with abscesses presenting with abdominal pain). The mortality rate at 4 weeks post-discharge was lower in patients who were abscess-positive vs abscess-negative (10%, 8/77 vs 20%, 31/153).     

Clinical Factors Predictive of Pneumonia Caused by Pandemic 2009 H1N1 Influenza Virus

Pneumonia was the most common cause of death during the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus infection. Clinical risk factors for pneumonia caused by this virus are limited. We enrolled consecutive patients treated at the H1N1 Clinic in Thungsong Hospital in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand, during June–December 2009 who had positive polymerase chain reaction results for H1N1 virus. Clinical features for patients given a diagnosis with and without pneumonia were studied. There were 441 patients with positive polymerase chain reaction results for H1N1 virus. Of these patients, 51 (11.56%) had pneumonia. Three independent clinical factors for H1N1 pneumonia were myalgia, dyspnea, and an absolute neutrophil count > 7,700 cells/μL. Adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for these three variables were 0.413 (0.173–0.988), 2.625 (1.230–5.604), and 4.475 (1.882–10.644), respectively. Clinical features may be a useful tool for predicting risk for pneumonia caused by H1N1 virus.     

Outcomes of radical prostatectomy in thai men with prostate cancer

OBJECTIVE: Radical prostatectomy remains the standard treatment for early prostate cancer. Few data in the literature are from South East Asia. This study was conducted to evaluate the outcome of radical prostatectomy in Thai men. METHODS: A total of 151 patients with prostate cancer underwent radical prostatectomy at Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, between 1994 and 2003. Clinical staging, preoperative prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and Gleason score were evaluated with pathological stage and margin status. Follow-up PSA monitoring and survival were analysed. RESULTS: Of 121 patients with clinical localized disease, 79 (65.3%), 40 (33.1%) and two (1.6%) had localized, locally advanced and metastatic disease, respectively, on pathology. The chance of localized disease with a preoperative PSA of 10 ng/mL or less, more than 10-50 ng/mL and more than 50 ng/mL was 75.5%, 50% and 12.5%, respectively (all p < 0.001). The chance of localized disease with a Gleason score of 2-4, 5-7 and 8-10 was 85%, 55.1% and 20.8%, respectively (all p < 0.02). Mean follow-up was 30 months. Among 140 evaluable patients, 51 (36.4%) had adjuvant therapy and 136 (97.1%) had undetectable PSA without clinical progression. The cumulative PSA progression-free survival among patients with pathological T1N0, T2N0 and T3N0 disease was 0.83 at 82 months, 0.48 at 85 months and 0.31 at 57 months, respectively. CONCLUSION: Radical prostatectomy in Thai men shows excellent results. The trend is the same as in Western series. The chance of organ-confined disease and free margin was high in patients with clinical T2 or less, PSA less than 10 ng/mL and low Gleason score. PSA progression-free survival was high in patients with organ-confined disease.     

Surgical treatment of renal cell carcinoma with inferior vena cava thrombus: using liver mobilization technique to avoid cardiopulmonary bypass

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the results of surgical treatment of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with inferior vena cava (IVC) thrombus and describe the use of a transabdominal approach with liver mobilization to avoid cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). METHODS: From February 2002 to January 2006, 109 patients with RCC were surgically treated at Siriraj Hospital. Twelve patients had an IVC thrombus, infrahepatic (level I), retrohepatic (level II), suprahepatic (level III) and intra-atrial (level IV) in one, two, eight and one patient, respectively. Patients' characteristics, pathological features, survival and morbidity were evaluated. RESULTS: Mean age was 58 years (range, 37-74 years). CPB was used in one patient with level IV thrombus. All patients (92%) with level I-III IVC thrombi underwent successful removal by transabdominal approach without any form of bypass. Mean operative time was 302 minutes (range, 195-420 minutes). The mortality rate was 16% (2 of 12) with sepsis and pulmonary embolism. One patient had colonic injury requiring primary repair. At the mean follow-up of 17 months (range, 3-35 months), of 10 patients, one died due to distant metastases, two were lost to follow-up and seven (60%) were still alive. Five patients (42%) were disease-free at the last follow-up. CONCLUSION: These results support the aggressive surgical removal of RCC with IVC thrombus as the initial treatment. Most of the thrombi can be approached and safely controlled by a transabdominal approach without any form of bypass. Tumour thrombus removal provides a high survival chance and offers improvement in quality of life.     

Letter to the editor for a published article titled “The effect of online versus hospital warfarin management on patient outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis”

International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy -