Annals of Saudi medicine
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Annals of Saudi medicine · May 2009
Comparative StudyBlood pressure standards for Saudi children and adolescents.
Blood pressure levels may vary in children because of genetic, ethnic and socioeconomic factors. To date, there have been no large national studies in Saudi Arabia on blood pressure in children.Therefore, we sought to establish representative blood pressure reference centiles for Saudi Arabian children and adolescents. ⋯ Blood pressure values in this study differed from those from other studies in developing countries and in the United States, indicating that comparison across studies is difficult and from that every population should use their own normal standards to define measured blood pressure levels in children.
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Annals of Saudi medicine · Mar 2009
Knowledge, attitudes and prevalence of tobacco use among physicians and dentists in Oman.
Tobacco use among Omani physicians and dentists has not been studied, so we conducted a crossectional survey using a WHO questionnaire to measure prevalence and to learn about smoking practices among this population and about their knowledge and attitudes of the health effects of tobacco use and tobacco control. The 1191 subjects who participated (787 men and 404 women) ranged in age from 24 to 65 years with a mean (SD) of 41.7 (6.8) years for men and 38.1 (6.9) years for women. The prevalence of tobacco use was 16.4% among males and less than 1% among females. ⋯ Tobacco users were significantly less favorable to strict control and policy measures than never tobacco users and had less knowledge of some of the health effects of tobacco use. Tobacco use among physicians and dentists in Oman is lower than in other countries in the region, but remains a cause of concern. Programs and policies should strive to maintain the low level of tobacco use or reduce it further.
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Annals of Saudi medicine · Mar 2009
Extracorporeal circulatory systems in the interhospital transfer of critically ill patients: experience of a single institution.
Critically ill patients with acute circulatory failure cannot be moved to other institutions unless stabilized by mechanical support systems. Extracorporeal heart and lung assist systems are increasingly used as a bridge to end-organ recovery or transplantation, and as an ultimate rescue tool in cardiopulmonary resuscitation. ⋯ Our experience proves that minimized extracorporeal assist devices allow safe assistance of patients with isolated or combined heart and lung failure in need of interhospital transfer. Critically ill patients get a chance to reach a center of maximum medical care.
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Annals of Saudi medicine · Mar 2009
Management of traumatic brachial artery injuries: a report on 49 patients.
The brachial artery is the most frequently injured artery in the upper extremity due to its vulnerability. The purpose of our study was to review our experience with brachial artery injuries over a 9-year period, describing the type of injury, surgical procedures, complications, and associated injuries. ⋯ Prompt and appropriate management of the brachial artery injuries, attention to associated injuries, and a readiness to revise the vascular repair early in the event of failure will maximize patient survival and upper extremity salvage.
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Annals of Saudi medicine · Mar 2009
Review Case ReportsDisseminated peritoneal Schistosoma japonicum: a case report and review of the pathological manifestations of the helminth.
Schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia, bilharziasis, bilharziosis or snail fever) is a human disease syndrome caused by infection from one of several species of parasitic trematodes of the genus Schistosoma. The three main species infecting humans are S haematobium, S japonicum, and S mansoni. S japonicum is most common in the far east, mostly in China and the Philippines. We present an unusual case of S japonicum in a 32-year-old Filipino woman who had schistosomal ova studding the peritoneal cavity and forming a mass in the right iliac fossa.