Objective
To determine the neurodevelopmental outcomes, functional limitations and medical
conditions associated with very low birth weight and extremely low birth weight infants.
Subjects and Methods
The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission and outpatient clinic follow up
records of all newborns, treated at Shifa International Hospital from January 1, 2000 to
December 31, 2004 were analyzed. Infants weighing less than 1500 grams were included
in the study. Neonates with weight
Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of systemic methotrexate for treatment of unruptured ectopic pregnancy. Introduction:Ectopic Pregnancy is pregnancy that occurs in any location other than the uterus. 95% to 98% are tubal ectopics, but the number of ovarian,abdominal and cervical implantations is rising as does the number of heterotopic pregnancies. Study Design: Prospective experimental study.Setting: DHQ Hospital affiliated with Punjab Medical College Faisalabad. Period: Jan-2009 to Dec-2009. Patient & Method: A total of 45women were admitted with diagnosis of extrauterine pregnancy. But only 10 women fulfilled the criteria for medical management. Out of these80% patients required no surgical intervention. However 20% needed surgery. 60% patients suffered from lower abdominal or pelvic pain. 20%required 2nd dose of methotrexate. Average ß-hCG resolution time was 35 days. Conclusions: With early diagnosis and proper selectioncriteria adoption, medical treatment of ectopic pregnancy with systemic methotrexate is an effective and safe alternative to surgicalinterventions.
The use of perioperative, prophylactic, intravenous antibiotics is standard practice to reduce the risk of surgical site infection after oncologic resection and complex endoprosthetic reconstruction for lower extremity bone tumors. However, evidence guiding the duration of prophylactic treatment remains limited.
Objective
To assess the effect of a 5-day regimen of postoperative, prophylactic, intravenous antibiotics compared with a 1-day regimen on the rate of surgical site infections within 1 year after surgery.
Design, Setting, and Participants
This randomized clinical superiority trial was performed at 48 clinical sites in 12 countries from January 1, 2013, to October 29, 2019. The trial included patients with a primary bone tumor or a soft tissue sarcoma that had invaded the femur or tibia or oligometastatic bone disease of the femur or tibia with expected survival of at least 1 year who required surgical management by excision and endoprosthetic reconstruction. A total of 611 patients were enrolled, and 7 were excluded for ineligibility.
Interventions
A 1- or 5-day regimen of postoperative prophylactic intravenous cephalosporin (cefazolin or cefuroxime) that began within 8 hours after skin closure and was administered every 8 hours thereafter. Those randomized to the 1-day regimen received identical saline doses every 8 hours for the remaining 4 days; patients, care providers, and outcomes assessors were blinded to treatment regimen.
Main Outcomes and Measures
The primary outcome in this superiority trial was a surgical site infection (superficial incisional, deep incisional, or organ space) classified according to the criteria established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within 1 year after surgery. Secondary outcomes included antibiotic-related complications, unplanned additional operations, oncologic and functional outcomes, and mortality.
Results
Of the 604 patients included in the final analysis (mean [SD] age, 41.2 [21.9] years; 361 [59.8%] male; 114 [18.9%] Asian, 43 [7.1%] Black, 34 [5.6%] Hispanic, 15 [2.5%] Indigenous, 384 [63.8%] White, and 12 [2.0%] other), 293 were randomized to a 5-day regimen and 311 to a 1-day regimen. A surgical site infection occurred in 44 patients (15.0%) allocated to the 5-day regimen and in 52 patients (16.7%) allocated to the 1-day regimen (hazard ratio, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.62-1.40;P = .73). Antibiotic-related complications occurred in 15 patients (5.1%) in the 5-day regimen and in 5 patients (1.6%) allocated to the 1-day regimen (hazard ratio, 3.24; 95% CI, 1.17-8.98;P = .02). Other secondary outcomes did not differ significantly between treatment groups.
Conclusions and Relevance
This randomized clinical trial did not confirm the superiority of a 5-day regimen of postoperative intravenous antibiotics over a 1-day regimen in preventing surgical site infections after surgery for lower extremity bone tumors that required an endoprosthesis. The 5-day regimen group had significantly more antibiotic-related complications.
