ObjectiveTo describe the current situation of the prevalence of hepatic hydatidosis, analyze the clinical characteristics and treatment method of the disease, in order to provide scientific basis for personal treatment plans of hepatic hydatidosis. MethodThe clinical data of 121 patients with recurrent hepatic hydatidosis treated between July 2006 and December 2013 were analyzed retrospectively. The general information of hydatid disease of liver, mass of liver, clinical manifestations, laboratory test results, treatment method, effectiveness of the treatment during hospitalization, and follow-up results were collected and analyzed. ResultsMost of the patients were adults from Sichuan and Tibet, and the majority of them had no clear occupation or clear animal contact history and had not taken raw or fresh meat. Lesions in the right lobe occurred in 87 cases, accounting for 71.90%. Abdominal pain and distension were the main clinical manifestations. Twenty-five (20.66%) of these patients were associated with hepatic dysfunction, among whom 23 patients had mild hepatic dysfunction. Alpha-fetoprotein level was increased in one (0.83%) of these cases. A total of 119 of the 121 patients received surgical treatment (98.35%) and all the surgeries were successful. Follow-up results revealed that three of the patients had recurrence. ConclusionsHepatic hydatidosis is an epidemic mainly in the Tibetan district of the West of China. The disease mainly occurs in the right lobe of the liver, which mainly causes mile liver damage. Hepatocellular carcinoma has not been found in these cases. Surgery treatment is the main therapy for liver hydatidosis and may result in good effectiveness.
ObjectiveTo conduct meta-analysis with the reliability of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), so as to the reliability of OSCE used in the tests for evaluating clinical capacities of medical students. MethodsArticles about evaluating clinical capacities of medical students using OSCE and using comprehensive coefficient of Cronbach's α to measure the reliability of OSCE were electronically searched in PubMed, ScienceDirect, CNKI, WanFang data and VIP from Jan. 1998 to May. 2013. Two reviewers screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed the methodological quality of the included studies. Then meta-analysis was performed using SSPS 17.0 software. ResultsThirty-four studies involving 53 coefficients of Cronbach's α were included, of which, there were 18 articles written in English involving 28 coefficients of Cronbach's α and 16 articles written in Chinese involving 25 coefficients of Cronbach's α. The results of meta-analysis showed that:the total coefficient of Cronbach's α of OSCE was 0.700 (95%CI 0.660 to 0.737). The coefficient of Cronbach's α of internationally-published literature was 0.745 (95%CI 0.696 to 0.790) and that of nationally-published literature was 0.648 (95%CI 0.584 to 0.705), with a significant difference between two groups. ConclusionCurrently, the reliability of internationally/nationally-used OSCE is 0.7, which has relatively better reliability when used in the tests for evaluating clinical capacities of medical students at home and aboard. However, the reliability of OSCE at abroad is fairly better than that at home.
ObjectiveTo analyze the clinical characteristics and renal outcome of elderly patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA) associated vasculitis (AAV) with renal involvement. MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 147 patients with ANCA relate vasculitis treated between June 2006 and June 2012. Based on the age, the patients were divided into elderly group (65 years or older, n=50) and non-elderly group (younger than 65, n=97). The disease course, clinical characteristics, ANCA serological indexes, renal pathological change and prognosis of patients in the two groups were compared and studied. ResultsIn the elderly group, there were 3 cases of Wegener granulomatosis (WG), 45 of microscopic polyangiitis (MPA), and 2 of pauci-immune crescentic glomerulonephritis (PICGN). The non-elderly group had 8 cases of WG, 82 of MPA, 6 of PICGN, and 1 of allergic angitis granulomatosis. There were 5 cases of positive cANCA and 44 of positive pANCA in the elderly group. The elderly patients had significantly more pulmonary involvement than the younger patients (P=0.030). No significant difference was detected between the two groups in combined pulmonary infection (P=0.281) or combined infectious index C-reactive protein (P=0.326). Elderly patients were less likely to respond to sufficient treatment with pulse intravenous methylprednisolone therapy (P=0.035) and cyclophosphamide (P=0.043), and had worse renal outcome than younger patients (P=0.040). ConclusionElderly patients with AAV have more prevalent pulmonary involvement and have severe complication of pulmonary infection, which affects mortality and morbidity of ANCA-associated systemic vasculitis.