Qatar Medical Journal - Volume 2006, Issue 1

Abu Abdullah Mohammad Ibn Musa A1 Khawarizmi, known as Father of Algebra, was born at Khawarizmi (Kheva), South of Aral Sea. Very little is known about his early life.

Papers considered for publication in Qatar Medical Journal are those reporting original work, review articles and case reports that are particularly relevant to medicine in the broad sense. Editorials and Review articles are by invitation

Patients with HCV-related cirrhosis are frequently seen in clinical practice when the diagnosis is established either clini-cally when signs of chronic liver disease are evident, or histo-logically when liver biopsy is performed as part of the assess-ment of patients with HCV infection. It continues to be debat-able whether cirrhotic patients should receive antiviral therapy. Those who propose treatment state that eradication of HCV is the main goal Read More

The three factors responsible for the lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) are the prostate itself, the bladder and the central nervous sys-tem. The prostate is responsible for obstruction through its physi-cal mass (static component) and its smooth muscle contraction (dynamic component). The bladder and spinal cord are mainly responsible for irritative (storage) symptoms.

Arthroscopy is widely used nowadays for the diagnosis and treatment of increasing numbers of disorders of the knee, shoul-der, elbow, ankle, wrist and hip. Arthroscopy of wrist joint has also been developed as a useful diagnostic device as well as a successful surgical tool in managing disorders of the wrist joint. Wrist arthroscopy has a high diagnostic score which bough some wrist surgeons to contemplate the need for wrist arthroscopy in t Read More

Acute pancreatitis has a variety of presentations from self-limiting abdominal pain to development of local and systemic complications resulting in sepsis, multi-organ dysfunction, extended intensive care stay and death. Very good quality of life in survivors justifies an optimal therapy in an intensive care setup. The records of 91 patients with acute pancreatitis were reviewed retrospectively. There was a significant difference (p < 0.001) b Read More

Objective: To identify the risk factors for Colorectal Cancer (CRC) at King AbdulAziz University Hospital (KAUH) in the western region of Saudi Arabia. Methods: Clinical, pathological and risk factors data of all patients with CRC managed at KAUH, over a 10 years period (1993-2002) were collected and analyzed retrospec-tively. Risk factors, were then correlated with sex and race (Saudis vs Non- Saudis). Results: Out of 90 patients evaluated, Read More

In order to determine the national incidence of adverse events following laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) the records were reviewed retrospectively of4861 patients who underwent LC over a period often years (1993-2003). The most serious non-biliary complication was trocar injury of major vessels in three cases. Other non-biliary complications included duodenal perforation during dis-section of the Calot's triangle, small bowel injury whil Read More

A prospective observational study at the newly estab-lished Fetal Medicine Unit, Hamad Hospital, Qatar; evalu-ated the impact of the service on the detection rate of criti-cal congenital heart defects, patterns of referral and sub-sequent yield for structural congenital heart disease in a population with a significant proportion of high risk fac-tors. Of 391 pregnant females examined between January 2003 and December 2004, 58 (14.8%) had Read More

Once daily tobramycin is convenient to use and achieves higher tissue levels that should kill Pseudomonas aeruginosa more rapidly. Small trials of OD compared with TDS aminoglycosides in CF patients have shown no dif-ference in efficacy or toxicity. No one has looked in detail at the impact on sputum microbiology. In a prospective, randomized study at Papworth Hospital, UK, we compared OD with TDS tobramycin, each plus a second anti-p Read More

Upper respiratory tract infections (URI) are very com-mon in general practice. Although viruses cause the ma-jority of URI, many patients expect antibiotic treatment. At one Primary Health Care Center in Qatar; during October - November 2004, eleven hundred and eleven adult patients completed a short questionnaire on demographics, knowl-edge, attitudes, practices towards URI, and patient satis-faction. Four hundred and Read More

Introduction: In the absence of objective evidence, doc-tors frequently overestimate the level of their patient's ad-herence to medication and there is no published work look-ing at what factors influence the doctor's perceptions of medication adherence by hypertensive patients. Therefore, the aim of this study to determine the doctor's perceptions of adherence to antihypertensive medication and to com-pare this with their perceptions of the c Read More

In order to assess the prevalence ofvitamin-D deficiency in patients attending the rheumatology outpatient clinic at Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar; 360 consecutive pa-tients (97% female) were tested for fasting levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, parathyroid hormone, calciumphos-phorus, albumin and alkaline phosphatase. Two hundred and three patients (56%) showed vitamin D levels below 20 ng/ml. From the results obtained it is conclude Read More

A community based rehabilitation (CBR) project was initiated in Qatar on September 2001 and the CBR service was introduced at the beginning of2003. Until December 2004,189 patients with primary physical disabilities were included 49% Qatari and 51% non-Qatari nationals; 81% male, 19% female; 6% children; 94% adults, aged 37 ± 18 years. The main interventions were training for involve-ment in life situations, job site training and providi Read More

Background: Obesity should be recognized as a primary medical condition that is progressive, chronic and relaps-ing. Simply, obesity refers to an excess of body fat or adi-posity. The aim of this study is to explore some variables of social aspect of Iraqi obese. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in four medical centers in Baghdad city from 15th October 2002 through February 2003. A sample of (400) adult obese aged (20-6 Read More

Various hematological abnormalities commonly occur in active tuberculosis (TB) but thrombocytopenia is exceed-ingly rare and immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is reported in only a few cases. A 28-year-old male pre-sented with thrombocytopenia-induced epistaxis and gen-eralized purpura that did not respond to intravenous im-munoglobulin but did resolve after antituberculous treat-ment The characteristics of Read More

A young male was treated for right-sided pneumonia with cloxacillin and piperacillin/tazobactam. As he was recovering from the pneumonia he developed left-sided pleuritic pain and pleural effusion. At thoracocentesis an exudative pleural effusion contained 16% eosinophils with a simultaneous 28% peripheral eosinophilia. An allergic reaction to penicllins was thought to be the cause. After withdrawal of those medications and instituti Read More