Radiologic and sonographic evaluation of intra-abdominal abscesses in a Nigerian population

A prospective study to evaluate the radiologic and sonographic features of intraabdominal abscesses in a mixed Nigerian population was undertaken. 30 patients with suspected abscesses were studied and a total of 70 abdominal abscess sites were confirmed at surgery or during autopsy in 22 patients. The more common abscess sites were the paracolic and pelvic areas. Typhoid enteritis, perforated duodenal ulcer and septicaemia were the aetiological factors in 54%, 13.6% and 13.6% respectively. The more common radiological feature was that of extraluminal gas vesicles and relatively echo free collections were identified during ultrasound. Poor prognosis was associated with typhoid enteritis, multiple abscess sites and acute renal failure.

The problem of follow-up of renal transplant patients in the tropics

A 40-year-old male Nigerian with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) received a renal allograft from a live related donor, in the United Kingdom in 1986. Subsequently, in Nigeria, he developed recurrent episodes suggestive of chronic allograft rejection or allograft nephritis which necessitated hospitalisation in our establishment. He subsequently died during one such episode. The peculiar management problems and challenges posed by the patient during his recent admission in our clinical setting are discussed.

Correlation among radiologic, echocardiographic indices and self paced-exercise capacity in heart failure

We investigated the relationships between the cardiothoracic ratio, M-mode echocardiographic indices and symptom-limited, self-paced exercise tolerance in 8 Nigerian patients with chronic stable congestive heart failure. Left ventricular diastolic dimension was inversely related to exercise duration; thus: log exercise time (sec) = 6.142-0.057x (r2 = 0.83, P less than 0.05), but was directly correlated to an index of myocardial oxygen demand, the ratio of the pressure rate product (PRP) to the exercise time; thus: log PRP/exercise time = 0.073x-3.04 (r2 = 0.87, P less than 0.05). These preliminary findings need extensive confirmatory evidence.