Singap Med J
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There is very little information in literature describing ethnic variations in etiologic and clinical outcome of acute pancreatitis in the Asian population. This study describes the demographic, etiologic and clinical course of acute pancreatitis among the three main races in Malaysia namely, the Malays, Chinese and Indians. One hundred and thirty-three consecutive patients were admitted for acute pancreatitis for the period January 1994 to July 1999 and they consisted of 77 males and 56 females with a mean age of 43.5 years (SD+/- 14.7). ⋯ Severe disease developed in 25% of the cases reviewed but there was no difference in of the rate of severe pancreatitis in terms of ethnic groupings or etiologic factors. The overall mortality rate was 7.5% and the commonest cause of death was multi-organ failure. The study recognises that there are differences in the characteristics of acute pancreatitis among the three major races in the country and this divergence is primarily due to sociocultural habits.
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Sedation with ketamine for paediatric procedures in the emergency department--a review of 500 cases.
Ketamine has been used to "consciously" sedate patients for a variety of paediatric procedures in our department since 1998. This is a retrospective review of the first 500 paediatric patients given ketamine for conscious sedation. Ketamine was given, either intramuscularly (3-4 mg/kg) or intravenously (1-2 mg/kg) together with atropine (0.02 mg/kg), with or without intravenous midazolam (0.05 mg/kg). ⋯ Seventy-five point six percent of our patients were less than six years old and the male to female ratio was 1.9:1. Ninety-six percent of our patients were discharged home well and only one child (0.2%) was admitted for observation possibly as a consequence of ketamine. We find ketamine to be a relatively effective drug for use for conscious sedation in children.