The Efficacy of Bethesda System for Prediction of Thyroid Malignancies- A 9 Year Experience from a Tertiary Center.

INTRODUCTION: The best initial investigation for thyroid nodule is fine needle aspiration (FNA). Bethesda System is an international standardized system of reporting thyroid nodules and recommends subsequent management. Every institution should assess the risk of malignancy in each category to avoid unnecessary thyroid surgeries, with this aim we conducted a review at our center to calculate risk of malignancy in each category. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective 9-year (2009-2018) review of thyroid FNAs done at a tertiary care Centre. The FNA was stratified according to The Bethesda System. Histopathology reports of the operated cases were used to evaluate the cytology for diagnostic accuracy. RESULTS: There were 495 patients who underwent thyroidectomy. The mean age of the cohort was 42.51 +/- 13.2 years and 387 (78.2%) were females. The frequency of Bethesda categories I, II, III, IV, V, and VI were 9.1%, 55.6%, 16.4%, 6.5%, 9.3%, and 3.2% respectively. Malignancy rate in operated thyroid nodules were 37.8%, 8.4%, 33.3%, 50.0%, 89.1%, and 100% for Bethesda categories I to VI, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value and positive predictive value and their 95% CIs were calculated as 81.30 (73.28 - 87.76%), 77.06 (72.12 - 81.51%), 91.64 (88.3 - 94.1%) and 57.14 (51.79 - 62.33%). The overall diagnostic accuracy was 78.22 (74.12 - 81.95%). CONCLUSIONS: All the Bethesda categories showed greater malignancy risks than other reported studies. Knowledge of local rates of malignancy is important to accurately predict the risk of malignancy even when reported with internationally accepted nomenclature like the Bethesda System.

Plasmodium in the bone marrow: case series from a hospital in Pakistan, 2007-2015.

BACKGROUND: Malaria is a life-threatening, multisystem disease caused by the plasmodial parasite with a global incidence of approximately 229 million annually. The parasites are known to have unique and crucial interactions with various body tissues during its life cycle, notably the liver, spleen, and recent work has shown the bone marrow to be a reservoir of infection. METHODS: This study is a case series of patients in whom examination of bone marrow revealed malarial parasites. A retrospective record review of 35 parasite-positive bone marrow specimens examined at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Karachi, Pakistan, over the years 2007 to 2015 was conducted. Bone marrow aspirates were collected as per International Council for Standardization in Haematology (ICSH) guidelines. RESULTS: The median age of patients was 22 years (range 1-75), and 60 % (n = 21) were male. 22 patients had evidence of Plasmodium falciparum, 12 had evidence of Plasmodium vivax and 1 patient had a mixed infection. Gametocytes and trophozoites were the most common stages identified on both peripheral blood and bone marrow examinations. Indications for bone marrow examination included fever of unknown origin and the workup of cytopenias and malignancies. CONCLUSIONS: The incidental finding of Plasmodium in samples of bone marrow suggests the reticuloendothelial system may be regularly harbour these parasites, be the infection acute or chronic in character.

Geospatial mapping of patients presenting for Emergency Laparotomy to a Private Sector Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan.

Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2018, and comprised patients who underwent emergency laparotomy. Demographic characteristics of all patients were recorded. Google Maps was used to measure the distance from their home locality to the hospital. Results: Of the 259 patients, 184(71%) presented from within the city and 75(29%) were from outside. The overall mean age was 50±20.2 years. The most common diagnosis was bowel obstruction 121(46.7%) followed by bowel perforation 112(43.2%). Of the total, 25(9.7%) patients died The median distance travelled by patients from outside the city was significantly greater than for patients from within the city (p<0.001). Conclusion: Data on where patients are presenting from to an institution is critical for life-saving surgical procedures.