West African journal of medicine
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Comparative Study
Preventable trauma deaths in Ibadan: a comparison of revised trauma score and panel review.
The proportion of preventable trauma-related deaths may be a reflection of the quality of trauma care in a health institution. ⋯ Despite access to emergency care within the first six hours (golden hours) the overall survival of our trauma patients is poor. The severity of the injuries, inadequate resuscitation, and missed injuries by medical personal are some of the factors associated with poor outcome of trauma care.
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One in ten patients on anticancer medication will develop febrile neutropenia irrespective of tumour type. There is need to protect our patients from this fatal condition while optimising chemotherapy. This may be difficult for a poor country. ⋯ febrile neutropenia in resource limited countries can be managed with good history and physical examination skills. Aminoglycosides are important components of empiric treatment in Ghana.
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cerebrovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Nigeria. Non-contrast computerized axial tomography (CT) is the routine imaging modality of choice for acute stroke evaluation, because it is widely accessible, convenient, has a short imaging time, and is sensitive for detection of haemorrhage. ⋯ ischaemic CVD is the most common stroke. The rate of misdiagnosis of stroke is high in the Osogbo environment.
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Compartment syndromes in children are rare, rarer still is the occurrence of metachronous compartment syndrome. ⋯ This case shows that a child could develop metachronous compartment syndrome in the legs following trivial injury and high index of suspicion is needed to recognize it. It also illustrates the importance of carrying out fasciotomy of all the four compartments to avoid recurrence of the pathology.
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Soft tissue infection and foot disease are well known complications among diabetes mellitus patients. With an increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Africa, management of these complications is expected to become a major problem. ⋯ Foot infections, cellulitis, abscesses and gangrene are the common surgical complications of diabetes mellitus patients in Ghana. Abscess of the hand is the commonest non-foot soft tissue surgical complication and had good outcomes. Overall, females presented earlier and had better outcomes than males.