ABSTRACT
Background: Complementary medicine (CM) is gaining popularity worldwide. According to the 2019 World Health Organization global report on traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM), 80% of member states acknowledged practicing T&CM. In the United Arab Emirates, T&CM practice prevalence in 2012 was 20-39%. These trends highlight physicians' need for knowledge on CM, such as cupping therapy. Objective: This study aims to assess knowledge, practice, and attitude toward cupping therapy (CT) among physicians in Sheikh Khalifa medical city (SKMC). Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted from September 2020 to March 2021 among the physicians of SKMC. The survey was carried out using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire included four sections: socio-demographics, knowledge of physicians toward cupping therapy, physicians' attitude toward cupping therapy, and physicians' practice toward cupping therapy. SPSS version 28 was used for data analysis. Data were reported in frequencies and percentages. A P value of <0.05 is the level of statistical significance. Results: The response rate was 83%. Among the 154 participants, 67.5% had adequate knowledge of CT, 66.9% showed a positive attitude, and 31.2% reported good practice toward CT. Individuals below 40 years reported significantly lesser knowledge than individuals over 40 years (p = 0.035, OR 0.49 [0.246-0.998]). Over 80% of physicians concur that cupping therapy can be used to treat and manage low back pain, joint discomfort, headache, migraine, and anxiety. The majority of physicians believe that education regarding cupping therapy is required. Conclusions: Most physicians had adequate knowledge and a positive attitude toward cupping therapy.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Thyroid nodules are a common clinical finding and most are benign, however, 5-15% can be malignant. There is limited regional data describing the accuracy of ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytological examination compared to ultrasound examination of thyroid in patients who have undergone thyroid surgery. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of ultrasonographic (US) reports, FNA cytology reports and histopathology reports of 161 thyroid nodules presented at the endocrine center at Tawam hospital in Al Ain city, the United Arab Emirates during the period 2011-2019 was performed. US reports and images with FNA cytopathology reports and slides were reviewed by an independent radiologist and pathologist. RESULTS: In total, 40 nodules were reported as benign by US examination, while very low suspicious, low suspicious, intermediate suspicious and highly suspicious categories were reported in 21, 41, 14 and 45 nodules respectively. In addition, 68 nodules were reported as benign (Bethesda category II), while atypical follicular cells of unknown significance (Bethesda category III), follicular neoplasm (Bethesda category IV), suspicious for malignancy (Bethesda category V), and malignant (Bethesda category VI) categories were reported in 33, 9, 24 and 27 nodules respectively. The risk of malignancy for US benign nodules was 5%, while the risks of malignancy in very low suspicious, low suspicious, intermediate suspicious and highly suspicious nodules were 52%, 36%, 100% and 87%, respectively. The risk of malignancy for Bethesda category II was 3%, while the risks of malignancy in category III, IV, V and VI were 58%, 67%, 96% and 100%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Thyroid FNA cytological examination and ultrasonography are key tools in predicting malignancy in thyroid nodules. Thyroid nodules with the diagnosis of Bethesda category III & IV run a high risk of malignancy thus more vigilance is required.
