Duration of birth depression and neurodevelopmental outcomes after whole-body hypothermia for hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - an exploratory analysis of the HELIX trial.

Background: Effect of duration of birth depression on neurodevelopmental outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is not known. We examined the association of birth depression with brain injury, neurodevelopmental outcomes, and hypothermia after hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) in south Asia. Methods: We compared cerebral magnetic resonance (MR) at 2 weeks, and adverse outcomes (death or moderate or severe disability) at 18 months in 408 babies with moderate or severe HIE who had long birth depression (positive pressure ventilation (PPV) >10 min or Apgar score<6 at 10 min or cord pH < 7.0) and short birth depression (PPV for 5-10 min or Apgar score<6 at 5 min, but ≥6 at 10 min). Findings: Long depression group (n = 201) had more severe HIE (32.8% versus 6.8%), mortality (47.5% versus 26.4%), death or disability at 18 months (62.2% versus 35.4%) (all p < 0.001), MR injury (Odds ratio; 95% CI) to basal ganglia (2.4 (1.3, 4.1); p = 0.003), posterior limb of internal capsule (2.3 (1.3, 4.3); p < 0.001) and white matter (1.7 (1.1, 2.7); p = 0.021), and lower thalamic N-acetylaspartate levels (7.69 ± 1.84 versus 8.29 ± 1.60); p = 0.031) than short depression group (n = 207). Three babies had no heartbeat at 5 min, of which 1 died and 2 survived with severe disability. No significant interaction between the duration of birth depression and whole-body hypothermia was seen for any of the MR biomarker or clinical outcomes. Interpretation: Long birth depression was associated with more brain injury and adverse outcomes than short depression. Effect of hypothermia was not modified by duration of birth depression. Funding: National Institute for Health Research.

Clinical Outcomes among Asymptomatic or Mildly Symptomatic COVID-19 Patients in an Isolation Facility in Chennai, India.

Globally, India has reported the third highest number of COVID-19 cases. Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state, witnessed a huge surge in COVID-19 cases, resulting in the establishment of isolation facilities named COVID Care Center (CCC). In our study, we describe the demographic, epidemiological, and clinical characteristics; clinical progression; and outcome of 1,263 asymptomatic/mildly symptomatic COVID-19 patients isolated in one such CCC between May 4, 2020 and June 4, 2020. Around 10.5% of the patients progressed to moderate/severe illness, requiring referral for tertiary care, and three died. Nearly half (49.5%) of the patients were symptomatic at the time of admission, 2.2% of the patients developed symptoms post-testing, and 48.5% patients remained asymptomatic during the entire course of illness. Most common presenting symptoms were fever (69.9%) and cough (29.6%), followed by generalized body pain, breathlessness, and loss of smell and taste. On multivariate analysis, we identified that symptomatic patients with comorbidities and higher neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were more likely to progress to severe illness warranting referral for tertiary care. COVID Care Center ensured case isolation and monitoring of asymptomatic/mildly symptomatic patients, thereby providing hospital beds for sick patients. COVID Care Center isolation facilities are safe alternatives for medical institutions to isolate and monitor COVID-19 patients. Older symptomatic patients with comorbidities and a high NLR admitted in an isolation facility must be frequently monitored for prompt identification of clinical progression and referral to higher center for advanced medical care.

3T proton MR Spectroscopy evaluation of spinal cord lesions.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate intramedullary spinal cord lesions using magnetic resonance spectroscopy and correlate the results with histo-pathological examination (HPE). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Approval for this study was obtained from our institute ethical committee. Overall, 50 patients were recruited (29 male and 21 female), with a maximum age of 53 years and minimum age of 7 years. The mean age group of the study was 33 years. Standard magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) spine was done on a Siemens Skyra 3Tesla MRI scanner. MR Spectroscopy (MRS) was performed for all patients with intramedullary spinal lesions after getting written consent. It was performed using single-voxel method. The change in the metabolite peak was observed in each case and the results were compared with HPE. These collected data were analyzed using SPSS 16.0 version. Descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, and percentage analysis were used for categorical variables; and for continuous variables, mean and standard deviation were analyzed. McNemar's test was used to find the significance between conventional MRI MRS. In the above statistical tool, the probability value 0.05 is considered as significant level. RESULTS: From our study, we observed that by applying routine MRI sequences alone, we could only detect around 58% of the cases correctly. However, when MRS was done along with the conventional MR imaging, the number of cases detected significantly increased to 84%. By applying McNemar's test and comparing the conventional MRI and MRS with HPE, it was found that statistically significant difference exists with P value of 0.007. CONCLUSION: MRS of the spinal cord is a promising tool for research and diagnosis because it can provide additional information complementary to other non-invasive imaging methods. It is an emerging tool and adds new biomarker information for characterization of spinal cord tumors, to differentiate benign from malignant lesions and to prevent unnecessary biopsies and surgeries.

Dynamic MRI and isotope renogram in the functional evaluation of pelviureteric junction obstruction: A comparative study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the diagnostic accuracy of dynamic contrast- enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) and isotope renogram in the functional evaluation of pelviureteric junction obstruction (PUJO). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty-two patients included in the study were investigated with isotope renogram and subsequently, subjected to dMRI. Time-activity curves were generated for both isotope renogram and dMRI. Out of the 42 cases, 9 cases were conservatively managed. Thirty-three cases were taken up for surgical intervention. RESULTS: Of 33 patients taken up for surgical intervention, 12 underwent laparoscopic nephrectomy and 21 of them pyeloplasty. The mean glomerular filtration rates (GFRs) as measured by isotope renogram and dMRI were 22.5+4.2 mL/min and 23.8+3.1 mL/min respectively. The calculation of GFR by isotope renogram, showed good correlation with that of dMRI with correlation coefficient of 0.93. The dMRI was able to reveal the functional status of the renal unit accurately. dMRI did not yield false positive results with 20 of 21 patients scheduled for pyeloplasty and 11 of 12 patients scheduled for nephrectomy. Isotope renogram had a false positive result in 3 cases compared with surgical diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Analysis of renal function using dMRI yielded results comparable to those of renal scintigraphy, with superior spatial and contrast resolution. It was also better in prompting management decisions with respect to the obstructed systems. dMRI can be used as a "one stop imaging examination" that can replace different imaging methods used for morphological, etiological and functional evaluation of PUJO.

Confounding features of ectopic craniopharyngioma: A differential for tumors showing diffusion restriction.

Craniopharyngiomas comprise approximately 1-3% of all intracranial tumors and arise from squamous epithelial rests along remnants of Rathke's cleft. They have bimodal age distribution. The ectopic sites reported are the nasopharynx, sphenoid bone, pineal region, cerebellopontine angle and third ventricle. We report a case of ectopic craniopharyngioma in the Foramen of Monro with restricted diffusion, which have is an unusual feature, not commonly reported and is a potential pitfall.

Touraine-Solente-Gole syndrome: The complete form needs to be recognized.

The primary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HOA) (pachydermoperiostosis) is a rare hereditary disease characterized by skin manifestations (pachydermia), digital clubbing and proliferation of periosteum (periostitis) with sub-periosteal new bone formation. We describe here a case who presented with seborrheic dermatitis and joint pain of both hands on work up matched satisfactorily with the complete form of primary HOA. The identification of secondary form being relatively common among clinicians and hence the importance of recognizing the primary form, which is a difficult to treat condition is discussed here.