Breast cancer (BC) is the second leading cause of death as a result of neoplasia in Mexico. This study aimed to identify the direct and indirect costs of treating female outpatients diagnosed with BC at a Mexican public hospital. A cross-sectional, observational, analytical study was conducted. A total of 506 medical records were analyzed and 102 were included in the cost analysis. The micro-co...

BACKGROUND Implementation of new guidelines into clinical practice is often incomplete. Direct mail is a simple way of providing information to physicians and may improve implementation of new guidelines on basic life support (BLS). The aim of this study was to describe knowledge of the most recent European Resuscitation Council (ERC) Guidelines for BLS among general practitioners (GPs) and inv...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES One third of our nation's health care costs are incurred in the hospital. This study compares the inpatient outcomes between a family practice teaching service (FPTS) and a hospitalist group in the same suburban community hospital. METHODS All patients discharged by the hospitalist group or the FPTS between April 1998 and June 1999 were included for study if they had...

The presence of antibodies was determined in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid in six patients with neurobrucellosis using the Rose Bengal test, the microdilution agglutination test, and the Coombs' test. Four of the patients were followed up for more than three months. The Rose Bengal test and the microagglutination test were positive in cerebrospinal fluid in five of the six cases at some sta...

Robotic technology is being utilized in multiple hepatobiliary procedures, including hepatic resections. The benefits of minimally invasive surgical approaches have been well documented; however, there is some concern that robotic liver surgery may be prohibitively costly and therefore should be limited on this basis. A single-institution, retrospective cohort study was performed of robotic and...

BACKGROUND Stroke is the second leading cause of mortality and leading cause of disability in South Africa yet published data on the economic costs of stroke is lacking particularly in rural settings. METHODS We estimate the total direct costs of stroke in 2012 from a health system perspective using a prevalence-based, bottom-up costing approach. Direct costs include diagnosis, inpatient and ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Current immunohematology practice dictates that serologic diagnosis of immune hemolytic transfusion reactions (IHTR) is based on the finding of a positive post-transfusion direct antiglobulin test (DAT). However, since DAT may fail to detect antibody-coated cells when they constitute a minor population amid a large number of non-sensitized ones, we investigated whether ...

OBJECTIVES Brucellosis is a systemic disease with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of brucellosis in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients in Hamadan Province in the west of Iran. METHODS A total of 157 HIV-infected patients were screened through standard serological tests, including Wright's test, Coombs' Wright test,...

BACKGROUND Hemolytic anemia is a rare but reported side effect of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy. The risk of significant hemolysis appears greater in those patients who receive high dose IVIG. The etiology is multifactorial but may relate to the quantity of blood group antibodies administered via the IVIG product. FINDINGS We describe 4 patients with significant hemolytic anemia f...

Introduction. Red blood cell (RBC) alloimmunization and autoimmunization remain a major problem in transfusion dependent thalassemic patients. There is a paucity of data on the incidence of RBC alloimmunization and autoimmunization in thalassemic patients from eastern part of India, as pretransfusion antibody screening is not routinely performed. Aims. To assess the incidence of RBC alloimmuniz...