Pediatric abdominal trauma in a National Referral Hospital.

Background: Trauma is a major contributor to pediatric morbidity and mortality. Injury and violence are a major killer of children throughout the world. Unintentional injuries account for almost 90% of these cases. They are the leading cause of death for children aged 10-19 years. More than 95% of all injury deaths in children occur in low income and middle-income countries. Abdominal trauma is present in approximately 25% of pediatric patients with major trauma and is the most common cause of unrecognized fatal injury in children. Objectives: To describe the patterns, the management and outcomes of pediatric abdominal trauma.This was a descriptive retrospective study. Data was extracted from the Pediatric surgery Unit database from January 2012 to July 2019 on all abdominal trauma admissions to the unit. Results: Falls were the commonest (51.3%) mechanism for trauma on the unit. Most (84%) of the admissions had blunt abdominal trauma, with the majority (77%) managed non operatively. Only 16% had penetrating trauma, with the majority (84%) of these managed operatively. The average length of hospital stay for most (71.9%) of the patients was less than 7 days, with 96.1% of all admitted patients being discharged upon recovery. Conclusion: Blunt abdominal trauma is the most common pattern of pediatric abdominal trauma, with majority of these patients being managed non-operatively with good outcomes. Selective non-operative management for penetrating pediatric abdominal trauma has good patient outcomes as well.

Hirschsprung's disease in low- and middle-income countries.

Hirschsprung's disease (HD) is one of the most common causes of pediatric bowel obstruction in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This paper describes the unique aspects of presentation, diagnosis, management and post-operative care and outcomes of HD in LMICs. In LMICs, patients with HD are much more likely to present in a delayed fashion with subsequent increased morbidity and mortality including higher rates of chronic obstruction, malnutrition with failure to thrive, complete obstruction and perforation. There are multifactorial causes for delay, with opportunities to improve initial timely diagnosis and referral, support families to address socioeconomic and cultural barriers, and improve workforce and infrastructure resources to provide definitive care. In LMICs, the diagnosis is often made based on clinical presentation and radiographic findings as pathological services may be limited. Initial diversion with multi-stage procedure, instead of a single-stage pull-through, predominates. This is also a result of multifactorial causes, including initial presentation to general surgeons at first-level hospitals instead of pediatric surgeons, delayed presentation with sick, malnourished children with significantly distended bowel, and a lack of fresh-frozen pathological services to guide the extent of resection. Post-operatively, HD patients in LMICs experience higher complication and mortality rates - likely stemming from sicker baseline presentations and more limited resources. Significant recent advances in care have occurred for patients with HD in LMICs, while opportunities to continue to improve care remain.

Follicular thyroid carcinoma with an iliac wing metastasis - Rare case report at Bugando Medical Centre in Tanzania.

Thyroid carcinoma is uncommon in our geographical setting. When it occurs the leading histological type is papillary thyroid carcinoma followed by follicular thyroid carcinoma which are differentiated thyroid carcinomas. Differentiated thyroid carcinomas usually have a good prognosis as compared to undifferentiated thyroid carcinomas. Follicular Thyroid Carcinoma usually presents with a solitary thyroid nodule with or without cervical lymphadenopathy. We present a 57 year old female with history of anterior neck swelling for 5 years and inability to walk using the left lower limb for 2 years. Total thyroidectomy and modified neck dissection was done. Histopathology results revealed follicular thyroid carcinoma. Patient was received radiochemotherapy treatment post-surgery. Follicular thyroid carcinoma may present with a symptomatic distant metastatic bony lesion as presented. It is important for clinicians to be aware this and carry out confirmatory relative investigations.

Indications for and complications of intestinal stomas in the children and adults at a tertiary care hospital in a resource-limited setting: a Tanzanian experience.

BACKGROUND: An intestinal stoma, though a life-saving procedure on the care of many gastrointestinal conditions, carries significant number of complications. This study describes the common indications, complications, and management of stomas and identifies the factors that are associated with these complications in a tertiary care hospital in Tanzania. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of patients with intestinal stomas was conducted at Bugando Medical Centre (BMC) between July 2016 and June 2017. Ethical approval to conduct the study was obtained from relevant authority before the commencement of the study. RESULTS: A total of 167 patients (M: F = 1.2:1) were enrolled in the study. The mean age at diagnosis was 0.6 ± 1.4 years for children and mean age for adults was 36.7 ± 15.8 years. Anorectal malformation (110, 89.4%) was the most common indication for intestinal stoma formation in children, while bowel perforation (14, 31.8%) was the main indications in adults. The sigmoid colon (137, 82.0%) was the most common anatomical site for stoma formation followed by the ileum (18, 10.8%). Stoma prolapse (18, 41.9%) was the most frequent complication of a stoma, whereas, surgical site infection (9, 34.6%) was the most frequent complication after stoma closure. Thirty five (26.7.%) of the children developed stomal complications, while only 8 (22.2%) of the adults developed complications. The level of training of operating surgeon and timing of surgery were the main predictors of stoma-related complications (p < 0.034 and 0.013), whereas the level of training of the operating surgeon and the type of stoma closure were significantly associated with the complications related to stoma closure (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The intestinal stomas performed at BMC are associated with various complications, which in turn, become a burden to the patients. The insights observed in the current study may apply to other tertiary hospitals in Tanzania and Africa at large. We suggest that the keystones for improvement and control in the formation and complications of intestinal stomas are the following; colostomy formation should rarely be done in transverse colon, the procedure should be carried out by senior doctors (specialist) or junior doctors under close and direct supervision of the specialists, using proper meticulous techniques, and the need to determine and/or improve techniques for early detection of complications.

Infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis at a tertiary care hospital in Tanzania: a surgical experience with 102 patients over a 5-year period.

BACKGROUND: Infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS) is the most common cause of gastric outlet obstruction in infants. There is paucity of published data regarding this condition in our setting. This study describes the clinical presentation, mode of treatment and outcome of treatment of this disease and identifies factors responsible for poor outcome of these patients. METHODS: This was a descriptive retrospective study of infants with HPS admitted to Bugando Medical Centre and subsequently underwent surgery between February 2009 and January 2014. RESULTS: A total of 102 patients (M:F = 4.7:1) were studied. The median age at presentation was 5 weeks. The median duration of illness was 4 weeks. Fifty-four (52.9 %) patients occur in first-born children. Associated anomalies were reported in 7 (6.9 %) patients. Non-bilious vomiting was the most frequent symptom and it was described in all (100 %) patients. A palpable mass was found in 23.5 % of infants. The diagnosis of IHPS was made clinically in 86 (84.3 %) and by ultrasound in 16 (15.7 %) patients. The treatment was Ramstedt's pyloromyotomy in all cases. There were 6 (5.9 %) intra-operative mucosal perforations which were repaired successively. Postoperative complication was 11.8 %. The median length of hospital stay was 12 days and it was significantly associated with prolonged pre-operative hospitalization (p = 0.001). The mortality rate was 4.9 %. Age below 2 weeks, late presentation (≥14 days), severe dehydration on admission, hypokalaemia on admission and surgical site infection were the main predictors of mortality (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study has shown that IHPS is a common condition in our setting. Age <2 weeks, delayed presentation, prolonged preoperative hospital stay, surgical site infection and high proportion of dehydration and electrolyte disturbance were the main predictors of poor outcome. A high index of suspicion is needed in infants with non-bilious vomiting to avoid delay in diagnosis.