A prospective audit of the diagnostic yield and management benefit of laparoscopy was undertaken in 220 consecutive patients. The procedure was performed electively in 180 patients and as an emergency in 40. The indications for laparoscopy in the elective group were suspected hepatic disease, staging of intra-abdominal malignancy, diagnostic problems, and chronic abdominal pain. Emergency lapar...

To know the diagnostic role of pleural biopsy in determining underlying etiological causes of exudative pleural effusion. A total of 47 patients, aged 16-104 years with mean age of 47.36 years, of either sex, with exudative pleural effusion underwent closed pleural biopsy with Abram's needle in standard way. Average 4-6 biopsy specimens were obtained from each patient, which were sent for histo...

BACKGROUND One of the most common indications for pleuroscopy is undiagnosed pleural effusion, which comprises about 25% of all cases of pleural effusions, which remain undiagnosed despite primary tests. Pleuroscopy was performed for the first time in Iran in Masih Daneshvari hospital located in Tehran. The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic yield of pleuroscopy performed in this ce...

OBJECTIVE Central nervous system involvement in AIDS patients can present at any stage of the disease. Brain lesions detected in imaging studies are usually treated empirically. A brain biopsy is indicated in the absence of clinical and radiologic improvement. In the present study, 16 AIDS patients underwent brain biopsy. We evaluated the diagnostic yield of the brain biopsy and the changes in ...

BACKGROUND Interpretation of pediatric electromyography interpretation in myopathic disorders is technically challenging. We assessed our electromyographic experience with respect to sensitivity and specificity in pediatric myopathy. METHODS We did a retrospective chart review of patients ≤18 years between 2009 and 2013. Two hundred twenty-four electromyographic studies were reviewed with the...

Due to the small amount of alveolar tissue in transbronchial biopsy (TBB) by forceps, the diagnosis of diffuse, parenchymal lung diseases (DPLD) is inherently problematic, with an overall low yield. The use of cryotechnique in bronchoscopy, including TBB by cryoprobe, has revealed new opportunities in the endoscopical diagnosis of malignant and non-malignant lung diseases. To evaluate TBB by cr...

Investigators from the University of California, San Francisco studied the yield of continuous video EEG (vEEG) in diagnosing electrographic seizures in their neonatal intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVE Epilepsy is a common neurologic disorder of childhood. To determine the genetic diagnostic yield in epileptic encephalopathy, we performed a retrospective cohort study in a single epilepsy genetics clinic. METHODS We included all patients with intractable epilepsy, global developmental delay, and cognitive dysfunction seen between January 2012 and June 2014 in the Epilepsy Genetics ...

BACKGROUND The diagnostic yield in open access endoscopy has been evaluated which generally support the effectiveness and efficiency of open access endoscopy. With a few exceptions, diagnostic yield studies have not been performed in open access endoscopy for more specific conditions. Therefore, we conducted a study to determine the efficiency of open access endoscopy in the detection of micros...

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity rises in various body fluids in patients with tuberculosis. A prospective study was conducted to determine the diagnostic value of ADA activity in bronchoalveolar lavage. Between March 2001 and February 2003, 148 patients were enrolled in our study, mean age 55.6 years (SD 14.6), and a male to female ratio of 2.4:1. The mean duration of symptoms was 66.2 days....