James Alexander Logan, a second-year medical student at the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, died in February 2001 after a distressing illness of three months duration. His family, friends and inter...James Alexander Logan, a second-year medical student at the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, died in February 2001 after a distressing illness of three months duration. His family, friends and interested professionals subsequently set up the James Logan Trust to encourage doctors and others to have the confidence to recognise and treat cancer pain. The James Logan Trust has provided funds for an annual prize for the best essay on "The challenges of cancer pain assessment and management" to be submitted by a Queen's University of Belfast undergraduate medical student after the completion of their fourth-year palliative medicine teaching.
Solitary caecal diverticulae are rare in children and presentation with massive gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is seldom reported. We present the case of a 13-year-old boy with a two-year history of abdominal pain and mu...Solitary caecal diverticulae are rare in children and presentation with massive gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is seldom reported. We present the case of a 13-year-old boy with a two-year history of abdominal pain and multiple inconclusive investigations presenting with a life threating lower GI bleed. We also review the literature surrounding solitary caecal diverticulae and caecal duplication cysts (CDCs).
Ghani R, O'Connor A, Sajid I
… +2 more, Johnson G, Ullah S
Ulster Med J
· 2022 Jan · PMID 35169335
AIM: This project aimed to evaluate the role of ultrasound scan (USS) in children presenting with acute onset right iliac fossa (RIF) pain and suspected appendicitis. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 100 consecutive c...AIM: This project aimed to evaluate the role of ultrasound scan (USS) in children presenting with acute onset right iliac fossa (RIF) pain and suspected appendicitis. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 100 consecutive children undergoing USS for RIF pain. Children with low to moderate clinical probability of appendicitis were seen by the surgical team and subsequently underwent USS by a radiologist or a sonographer with a special interest in paediatric USS. The clinical findings, blood tests, and radiological diagnosis led to a decision to operate, observe or discharge. USS findings were subsequently verified with the final histology. The six-month follow-up data of these patients were also analysed. RESULTS: 35 males, median age of 11 years (range 4-17), and 65 females, median age of 14 years (range 6-18) were included. A total of 23 appendicectomies were performed. On histology appendicitis was confirmed in 20, including 16 pre-operatively diagnosed on USS. 6 of these appendicectomies were performed on clinical suspicion with normal USS. 1 patient was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumour of the appendix. Only 2 negative appendicectomies were performed. 62 patients were discharged without intervention. USS sensitivity was 74%, and specificity was 92% for appendicitis. An additional 16 patients were identified with alternate pathology including 5 ovarian cysts. CONCLUSION: Appendicitis was more common in male patients; however, there was no difference in overall disease prevalence in male or female paediatric patients. Thus, USS is a valuable tool to exclude appendicitis in children with low to moderate probability.
Stuart M, Mooney C, Hrabovsky M
… +2 more, Silvestri G, Stewart S
Ulster Med J
· 2022 Jan · PMID 35169334
BACKGROUND: The delivery of cataract surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic is challenging because of the risk of nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 infection when patients attend hospital for elective care. In order to ascertain the r...BACKGROUND: The delivery of cataract surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic is challenging because of the risk of nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 infection when patients attend hospital for elective care. In order to ascertain the risk to patients awaiting cataract surgery, this study aimed to identify the presence of systemic comorbidities that are associated with a high risk of severe disease or death due to COVID-19. METHODS: A prospective study of 315 patients (630 eyes) was conducted from 3 June to 31 July 2020. An electronic health record was used to identify any systemic comorbidities that would render a patient 'clinically extremely vulnerable' to COVID-19, as outlined by the Department of Health for Northern Ireland. Patient demographics, best-corrected visual acuity (VA) and risk of postoperative anisometropia were also recorded. RESULTS: The median age of patients awaiting cataract surgery was 76 years (range 22-97). Of the 315 patients, 72% were aged over 70 and 16% were aged over 85. A systemic comorbidity that would confer high risk status was identified in 21% of patients. This high risk status was attributable to severe respiratory disease, cancer, and immunosuppression therapies in the majority of cases. The high risk group were younger than those deemed non-high risk, but there were no significant differences with respect to gender, anticipated degree of surgical difficulty, VA, or whether the patient was undergoing first or second eye surgery. Of those patients awaiting first eye cataract surgery, the mean VA in the listed eye was 0.84 logMAR and 39% (70/179) had a VA <0.3 logMAR (6/12 Snellen acuity) in their fellow eye. 57% of patients were awaiting first eye surgery, and 32% of those patients would be at risk of symptomatic anisometropia postoperatively. CONCLUSION: One-fifth of patients awaiting cataract surgery were found to be at high risk of severe disease or death from COVID-19 and these patients may experience delays in their surgical care. Additional planning is required in order to minimise the morbidity associated with delayed cataract surgery.
BACKGROUND: Several meningococcal vaccines have been recently introduced into the infant and adolescent vaccination schedules in Northern Ireland to promote immunity to protecting against meningococcal septicaemia and m...BACKGROUND: Several meningococcal vaccines have been recently introduced into the infant and adolescent vaccination schedules in Northern Ireland to promote immunity to protecting against meningococcal septicaemia and meningococcal meningitis. Maintained vaccination uptake is vital in securing individual protection as well as herd immunity. Several social factors have been described in influencing vaccine uptake and therefore it was the aim of this study to examine possible correlations between meningococcal vaccine uptake rates and indicators of social deprivation in Northern Ireland. METHODS: Vaccination data was retrieved from the Cover of Vaccination Evaluated Rapidly (COVER) database, for meningococcal vaccines (MenACWY, HiB/MenC & 4CMenB, as well as for MMR vaccine as a non-meningococcal control). Vaccine coverage data assessed included (i). Two doses of MenB by 12 months, (ii). All 3 doses of MenB by 24 months, (iii). HiB/MenC coverage, (iv). MenACWY (Year 12s, for NI) (v). First dose of MMR. Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measures 2017 (NIMDM2017) were examined against 38 indicators in 7 domains. NI HSCT vaccine uptake dataset for each vaccine was correlated with each indicator in the HSCT NIMDM2017 dataset. Regression analysis was performed to determine the relationship between vaccine uptake and deprivation indicators and coefficient of variation (R) was calculated for each of the indicators. R values >0.7 were considered significant. RESULTS: For 4CMenB (all 3 doses by 24 Months), HiB/MenC, MenACWY and for MMR, correlation of variation (R) values > 0.7, were obtained for 17, 16, 0 and 17 social deprivation indicators, respectively. Significant deprivation indicators were (i) the proportion of 18-21 year olds, who have not enrolled in higher education courses at higher or further education establishments, (ii) the proportion of domestic dwellings that are unfit, (iii) the proportion of domestic dwellings with Local Area Problem Scores, (iv) rate of burglary, (v) rate of vehicle crime, (vi) rate of antisocial behaviour incidents (per 1,000 population), (vii) absenteeism at primary schools and (viii) the proportion of the population aged 65 and over living in households whose equivalised income is below 60% of the NI median. CONCLUSIONS: Within the last two decades, incidence of meningococcal disease has been on the decline. The introduction of meningococcal vaccines has contributed to this decrease and uptake of such vaccines should remain a public health priority to maintain the decline in meningococcal disease. Identifying contributing factors to low vaccine uptake, such as, the association between local deprivation and uptake of meningococcal vaccines, should be of public health importance and acknowledged by local governments and policy makers in their efforts to enhance vaccine uptake, both infant and teenage vaccination. There is a clear correlation with educational deprivation measures such as absenteeism and poor educational attainment and reduced vaccine uptake, perhaps through lack of understanding and willingness to vaccinate. This is where the importance of a clear and coherent public health message surrounding meningococcal vaccination should be prioritised, particularly to establish innovative modalities in a multidisciplinary team approach, to reach out to and increase vaccine uptake rates in socially deprived communities in Northern Ireland.
AIM: TAPP repair is an established minimally invasive approach for groin hernia repair. The objective of this study was to report post-operative outcomes after TAPP repair in a single surgeon series and benchmark these a...AIM: TAPP repair is an established minimally invasive approach for groin hernia repair. The objective of this study was to report post-operative outcomes after TAPP repair in a single surgeon series and benchmark these against reported outcomes in the literature. METHODS: All patients who had an elective or emergency TAPP repair of a groin hernia from September 2016 to March 2020 in a district general hospital were retrospectively analysed from the electronic care record (ECR) for post-operative morbidity, re-admission, recurrence and length of hospital stay. The primary outcome of interest, chronic post-operative pain, was assessed via telephone interviews using the European Registry for Abdominal Wall Hernias Quality of Life (EuraHS-QoL) questionnaire. RESULTS: 164 patients, incorporating 190 hernia repairs were included. 155 (94.5%) were men and 9 (5.5%) were women. The median age was 51 (range: 20-81). 160 (97.6%) patients had an elective repair and 4 (2.4%) had an emergency repair. 157 (95.7%) patients underwent a primary inguinal hernia repair, of which 26 (15.8%) had a bilateral inguinal hernia repair. 7 (4.3%) patients had a femoral hernia repair. All procedures were performed by a single consultant surgeon. One emergency patient required conversion to open to allow for resection of ischaemic small bowel, however, the hernia itself was repaired laparoscopically. 94 (57.3%) patients were successfully contacted to provide EuraHS-QoL scores. 13/94 patients (13.8%) complained of chronic pain at rest on an average follow-up of 32.7 months (range: 16-43m). 2/94 (2.1%) patients had mild pain, 9/94 (9.6%) had moderate pain and 2/94 (2.1%) patients had severe pain at rest. 131 (79.9%) TAPP repairs were performed as day case procedures. Median length of stay in those patients who were not day cases was 1 day (range=1-11 days). Post-op morbidity rate was 7.9% (n=13), however, these were minor complications (Clavien-Dindo I/II). Incidence of seroma and haematoma was 1.8% (n=3) each. Re-admission rate was 3% (n=5). Mean follow-up of patients was 21 months (SD 12.6m, range=1-43m). Two patients (1.2%) had a recurrent groin hernia during this time period and one patient (0.6%) had a port site hernia. CONCLUSION: The outcomes of chronic post-operative pain and rate of recurrence were comparable to those reported in the literature. Re-admission rate was low and there were no major complications. The majority of patients were performed as a day case.