East Afr Med J

Pattern of intussusception at Gondar, Ethiopia.

Year 1998
Kedir M. Tesfamichael T.
Gondar College of Medical Sciences, Ethiopia.
Thirty three intussusception cases operated at the Gondar College of Medical Sciences hospital are presented. Thirteen of them were infants and the rest older children and adults. Clinical presentation, preoperative management, type of intussusception, cause, surgical procedures, and outcome are analysed.

Prevalence of intestinal parasites in Kenyans with dyspepsia.

Year 1998
Ogutu EO. Kanja C. Kang'ethe SK. Nyong'o A.
Department of Medicine, University of Nairobi, Kenya.
Dyspepsia and intestinal worm infestation are both common clinical conditions in a developing country like Kenya and thus this study was designed to look at the correlation between the two in a referral gastroenterology clinic at Kenyatta National Hospital. One hundred and twenty five patients with dyspepsia had their stool, duodenal aspirate and duodenal biopsy analysed for evidence of intestinal parasites. Seven (5.6%) were found to have various types of intestinal parasites with giardia lamblia comprising 42.8% of worms isolated. 71.4% of patients with dyspepsia and worm infestation had their symptoms improved after deworming, but the low prevalence of intestinal parasite in dyspeptic patients makes routine deworming not cost effective. Stool examination had the best yield for intestinal parasites.

Primary malignant melanoma of the anorectum: case report.

Year 1998
Ameh EA. Shehu SM. Nmadu PT.
Department of Surgery, Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria.
A thirty year old Nigerian female presented with a large and advanced anorectal malignant melanoma. She had been treated for over eighteen months at a rural hospital for a mistaken diagnosis of haemorrhoids. The patient died before any form of treatment could be carried out. The rarity of this disease in the black Africa is highlighted and the characteristics of the disease briefly reviewed. The importance of digital and protoscopic rectal examination in patients bleeding per rectum is emphasised.

Amoebic liver abscess in pregnancy: report of two cases.

Year 1998
Mabina MH. Moodley J. Pitsoe SB. Monokoane S.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Natal, South Africa.
Amoebic liver abscess is a rare complication of pregnancy. It however, carries significant morbidity and because the diagnosis is often delayed, physicians in developing countries need to be reminded of its possibility when patients present with right lower chest and abdominal pain. This study presents the clinical reports of two cases in which the diagnosis was delayed and review the literature on amoebic liver abscess in pregnancy.