Indranil Chakrabarti; Swapan Kumar Sinha; Nilanjana Ghosh; Bidyut Krishna Goswami
Volume 7, Issue 1 , January 2012, , Pages 19-26
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Beta-thalassemia continues to be a cause of significant burden to the society particularly in the poorer developing countries. Although sophisticated methods of screening have become available, a hunt for a cheap, rapid, objective screening method still remains elusive. Thus, ...
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Background and Objectives: Beta-thalassemia continues to be a cause of significant burden to the society particularly in the poorer developing countries. Although sophisticated methods of screening have become available, a hunt for a cheap, rapid, objective screening method still remains elusive. Thus, the objectives are to study the validity of Naked-Eye-Single-Tube-Osmotic-Fragility-Test (NESTROFT) in detection of beta-thalassemia carrier state, to assess the prevalence of beta-thalassemia trait among antenatal mothers in the region and also to find out the effect of concurrent iron deficiency on the hematological parameters in these cases.
Materials and Methods:A total of 500 antenatal mothers in a rural tertiary care hospital were selected for the study. Their blood samples were subjected to NESTROFT, complete hemogram, reticulocyte counts and hemoglobin variant studies by electrophoresis and by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). Serum ferritin estimation was done in cases diagnosed as beta-thalassemia trait. The results were analyzed statistically.
Results: A prevalence of 3.4% of beta-thalassemia trait and 0.6% of E-beta-thalassemia were observed among the study population. NESTROFT showed an overall sensitivity and specificity of 95% and 95.8% respectively in detection of heterozygous and double heterozygous states of beta-thalassemia. The various RBC indices were significantly (P <0.05) lower in carriers with concurrent iron deficiency. A co-existent iron deficiency did not preclude a diagnosis of beta-thalassemia carrier state.
Conclusions: NESTROFT appears to a valid test in rural setting with financial constraints. The hematological parameters in iron deficient beta-thalassemic carriers significantly differed from their iron replete counterparts but did not cause problem in diagnoses.
Mahmood Khaniki; Zeynab Nazary; Kazem Zendehdel; Fereshte Fakur
Volume 4, Issue 2 , April 2009, , Pages 59-64
Abstract
Background and Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the screening performance of a new modified liquid-based cytology method (Liquiprep™) with conventional PAP smear (CP) in a low risk population, using colposcopy followed by histology as “gold standard”. Patients ...
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Background and Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the screening performance of a new modified liquid-based cytology method (Liquiprep™) with conventional PAP smear (CP) in a low risk population, using colposcopy followed by histology as “gold standard”. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on random referred specimens to a general gynecological clinic in Tehran, during 20 months by a split-sample method. In both CP and Liquiprep™ group, all positive and 10% of negative results of smears were followed by colposcopy. A biopsy was taken whenever any atypical transformation zone seen. Sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values (PV), and overall accuracy of both methods were analyzed in relation to histology. Results: A total of 1265 patients were analyzed by two methods. In 158 (12.5%) of cases histological diagnosis was made. Liquiprep™ samples (94.7%) were more adequate than CP (92.1%). There was not any low or high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL). Atypical squamous cell of undetermined significance (ASC_US) was diagnosed more with CP than with Liquiprep™ (1.43% vs. 0.79%) while pathologically 60% of ASC_US in Liquiprep™ and 16.6% in CP had degrees of SIL. The Liquiprep™ had a significantly higher sensitivity (83% vs. 66%) and positive PV (83% vs. 33%) than the CP to detect SIL at histology but the difference in specificity was non significant (98% vs. 86%). Conclusions: This study confirms the superiority of the Liquiprep™ method to detect cervical lesions in a low risk population.
Mehdi Mahmoudzadeh; Forouzan Ganji; Shahla Taheri
Volume 2, Issue 2 , April 2007, , Pages 67-70
Abstract
Background and Objective: Patients with thalassemia major have an abnormality in hemoglobin synthesis and ineffective hematopoiesis and for this reason with respect to disease severity should receive one or more fresh blood unit every 15-30 days. Since transfusion of blood products has been known as ...
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Background and Objective: Patients with thalassemia major have an abnormality in hemoglobin synthesis and ineffective hematopoiesis and for this reason with respect to disease severity should receive one or more fresh blood unit every 15-30 days. Since transfusion of blood products has been known as one of the routes of HIV infection, therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of HIV infection in thalassemic patients under transfusion in Hajar hospital in 2006. Materials and Methods: Descriptive strategy of this study was conducted on 73 serum samples from patients with thalassemia major as referrals of Hajar hospital. In this respect, HIV-Ab of the samples was assessed using ELISA method. For each patient, information including age, gender, and date of 1st blood transfusion were collected. The presence or absence of HIV1 and/or HIV2 antibodies was determined with regard to absorption cut-off value. HIV-Positive samples with absorption greater than 0.8 were further studied using PCR. Results: Out of 73 studied patients, 36 and 37 cases were male and female respectively. The mean age of patients was 10.3 ± 4.9 years. All of the patients had blood transfusion from 1991.The prevalence of HIV-positive in these patients was 0%. Conclusion: This result can be attributed to probably low incidence of HIV in blood donors and precise screening of blood products by Blood Transfusion Organization.
