[Alternatives to population screening for breast cancer. Is the chance detection useful?]. / Alternatives al cribado poblacional de cáncer de mama. Es útil la detección oportunística?

OBJECTIVES: 1. To evaluate the characteristics of the demand, coverage and acceptability of random detection of breast cancer at a health centre (HC) between January 1995 and December 1996. 2. To describe the cases of breast cancer diagnosed since the setting up in 1988 of random demands for screening mammographies. DESIGN: Crossover study. SETTING: La Mina Primary Care Centre, Barcelona. PATIENTS: A sample of 340 women of a population of 2796 women between 45 and 75 with a clinical history at the HC were studied. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The profile of women with neoplasms was: aged 59 +/- 8.5; 279 women attended, 273 medicine, 132 medicine and gynaecology, and 6 gynaecology. Mammographies requested were: 143 (118 through gynaecology, 12 medicine and 13 outside the centre), which was 51% of women who attended and 42% of the sample. The reason for mammography was screening (129) and symptoms (14). Screening mammographies actually done (acceptance) were 116 out of 129 (90%). Sample coverage was 34% (116/340); and 42% of the women who attended (116/279). Most studied age-group was 50-64 (coverage 45%, n = 176). 11 cases of breast cancer were diagnosed: age 54.3 +/- 9.1; 1 in situ, 3 < 10 mm, 2 between 10 and 20 mm, 4 > 20 mm, 1 without data. Diagnosis to treatment delay: 33.7 +/- 0 days. At time of writing 8 women were free of illness. CONCLUSIONS: Through random detection 34% coverage was achieved with good acceptance. Most neoplasms are diagnosed in their early stages. The general practitioner should be more attentive to periodic requests for mammographies.

[Ongoing improvement in the quality of chronic prescriptions at a primary care center: a 5-year follow-up]. / Mejora continua de la calidad de la prescripción crónica en un centro de atención primaria: seguimiento de 5 años.

OBJECTIVE: To find how the indicators for prescriptions for the chronically ill during the 1988-1992 period evolved, based on the analysis of the repeat prescription archive; and to assess the persistence of the effect of the 1989 corrective intervention. DESIGN: A retrospective and longitudinal evaluation study. SETTING: Primary Care Centre. PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Four representative samples of patients with an ongoing prescription card for 1988 (n = 549), 1989 (n = 211), 1990 (n = 193) and 1992 (n = 126). MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Indicators used were: percentage of patients in treatment with some medication of low intrinsic value (LIV), benzodiazepines, peripheric vasodilators (PV), oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAID), external NSAID and the percentage of each one of these out of the prescription total. A progressive decrease in the percentage of LIV medication in the 1988-1992 period was detected. There were significant differences, both for oral anti-diabetes drugs of high intrinsic value (HIV) (24.4 and 12.7%), and of LIV (26.6 and 16.9%) (p < 0.001 in both cases). Benzodiazepines went down from 5.4 to 1.2% (p = 0.0006), PVs from 4.4 to 1.2% (p = 0.003) and oral NSAID from 4.7 to 2.4% (p = 0.049). The percentage of patients treated with LIV medication went down from 46.1 to 29.4% (p < 0.001) and from 52.4 to 38.1% (p = 0.004), for HIV and LIV oral anti-diabetes drugs, respectively. Patients treated with benzodiazepines went down from 14.7 to 4.0% (p = 0.0017), with PV from 12.0 to 3.2% (p = 0.005) and with oral NSAID from 12.7 to 7.9% (ns). CONCLUSION: A continuous improvement in the quality of prescription for the chronically ill has been observed over the last 5 years and can be attributed to the primary care team.

[The demand for care and systems of access in primary health care]. / Demanda asistencial y sistemas de acceso en la Atención Primaria de Salud.

The aim of the investigation was to assess variations in the demand for medical care in the primary care centre of Ciudad Badia (Barcelona, Spain). The records of attendance were analysed over a period of seven years. During this period, some changes were made which affected the way the centre was used by patients, such as the creation of systems which required notice of medical and nursing appointments, the reduction of spontaneous attendance, and the introduction of a card for medication for the chronically sick. These changes were accompanied initially by a decrease, then a stabilisation, and afterwards a slight increase in total number of visits. All visits (with notice) rose from 5.3% in 1983 to 45.2% in 1989. Similarly, nursing visits (with notice) increased from 4% to 9.5 of total activity. Emergency visits in the same period rose from 3.4% to 8%. It is concluded that changes that were introduced raised the level of commitment of the staff to medical work-both preventive and therapeutic, as well as the improvement of the organisation of attendance at the centre and a higher satisfaction of users of the centre and the medical staff.

[Cerebral toxoplasmosis in a patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Discussion of the criteria of computerized axial tomography]. / Toxoplasmosis cerebral en un paciente con síndrome de inmunodeficiencia adquirida. Discusión de los criterios de la tomografía axial computadorizada.

Computed tomography (CT) is a sensitive noninvasive study used for the diagnosis of cerebral lesions in patients with AIDS. Toxoplasmosis is, by far, the most common opportunistic central nervous system disease (CNS) in this population; accordingly, most groups start empirical antitoxoplasma therapy if the radiological features of the lesion suggest the diagnosis. It is common, however, when CT images do not suggest toxoplasmosis, not to start empirical therapy until the investigation of the lesion with other studies has not been completed. We report a case of cerebral toxoplasmosis in a patient with AIDS which, in our opinion, illustrates that empirical antitoxoplasma therapy should be started in all CNS lesions in patients with HIV infection while etiological investigation is undertaken, independently from the appearance of the lesion in the CT.