POSTOPERATIVE COMPLICATIONS WITH GLYCINE AND STERILE DISTILLED WATER AFTER TRANSURETHRAL RESECTION OF PROSTATE.

BACKGROUND: Transurethral resection of prostate (TURP) is considered the gold standard for the surgical treatment of BPH. Irrigant fluid absorption by the patient is a potentially serious complication of TURP and can lead to dilutional hyponatremia and TURP syndrome. Other common complications of TURP include urinary tract infection and secondary haemorrhage. The objective of this study was to compare the frequency of postoperative complications (Urinary Tract infection and dilutional hyponatremia) between 1.5% glycine and sterile distilled water used as irrigant in BPH patients after TURP. METHODS: This randomized controlled trial was conducted in department of Urology, PIMS Islamabad, from August 2013 to February 2014. A total of 170 adult male patients between 50-80 years of age undergoing TURP with prostate volume more than 30cc on ultrasound. 85 patients each were randomly allocated to two groups. In group-A, glycine was used as irrigan,t solution during TURP while in group-B distilled water was used. Serum sodium levels were measured at 6th postoperative hour to look for dilutional hyponatremia. On the 15th postoperative day they were inquired about any clinical features of urinary tract infection. Also urine routine examination was performed to look for the presence of WBCs in the urine. RESULTS: Post-operative dilutional hyponatremia was observed in 13 (15.3%) patients in Group A and in 10 (11.8%) patients in group-B. The difference between both the groups being nonsignificant (p-value=0.501).Frequency of postoperative urinary tract infection on 15th postoperative day in group-A was 23(27.1%) while in group-B it was 16 (18.8%), the difference among both the groups being insignificant (p-value=0.202). CONCLUSION: Although the frequency of postoperative complications like UTI and dilutional hyponatremia was less with sterile distilled water, yet, the difference was statistically not significant.

Outcome of intramedullary spinal cord tumours: experience with 18 patients operated at Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad.

BACKGROUND: Intramedullary spinal cord tumours (IMSCT) are among the uncommon lesions at spinal cord. They can present with a vast array of symptoms and cause severe neurological deficits. With advent and frequent use of MRI more and more patients with IMSCT are picked up. By using modern microsurgical techniques better surgical outcome is achieved. The Objective was to analyse the surgical outcome of the patients with intramedullary Spinal Tumour operated at Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH). Abbottabad. METHODS: Eighteen patients with IMSCT who presented at Neurosurgery Unit. ATH. Abbottabad during 2000-2010 were included in this study. Patients were diagnosed on the basis of MRI. They were operated using standard microsurgical techniques. Patients were followed up for a mean duration of 18 months after surgery and their preoperative and postoperative neurological status was analysed. RESULTS: Patients with age group ranging from 15-50 (37.72 +/- 8.94) years with IMSCT were operated. Sixty-one percent of the patients were male and 39% were female. The region most commonly affected was cervical (44%) followed by conus medullaris (33%), cervicothoracic and thoracic each had frequency of 11%. Gross total removal (> 95%) was possible in 72% of cases while in rest of 28% cases resection of 80-95% was possible. Histologically 38.9% of the lesions were ependymomas, 27.8% were astrocytomas and 22.2% were teratomas. Neurofibromas and Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumours (PNET) each accounted for 5.5% of the cases. Overall postoperative neurology improved in 10 (55%) of patients, remained unchanged in 5 (27%) of cases, and deteriorated in 3 (16%) patients. One patient was lost in follow-up. Surgery on tumours in cervical and thoracic region carried a relatively poor outcome as compared to the lesion of conus. There were no deaths due to surgery. CONCLUSION: Surgical removal of IMSCT is beneficial to patients with acceptable surgical risk. Better outcome is expected if the patients with good Frankel grade are diagnosed and operated early the course of disease.