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Value the patient as a person: Answering the call for a person-centred model of care

There has been a change in patients’ attitudes towards healthcare professionals in recent decades, coupled with an increasingly evident shift in the care paradigm....

Shock index: Easy to use, but can it predict outcomes following major abdominal emergency surgery?

Major abdominal emergency surgery (MAES) is commonly performed for various potentially life-threatening intra-abdominal surgical conditions with high perioperative mortality of up to 45%.1 Certain...

Managing and preventing severe hand injuries among sugarcane juicer operators

Dear Editor, Of all hand injuries encountered at an emergency department, 54% are sustained in the workplace,1 in part contributed by occupational injuries among food...

Script concordance test to assess diagnostic and management reasoning in acute medicine

Dear Editor,  Clinical reasoning, an essential skill for patient care, can be difficult to assess. We created and validated a script concordance test (SCT) to...

Surgical margins assessment reduces re-excision rates in breast-conserving surgery

Dear Editor, Breast-conserving surgery (BCS) followed by radiation therapy for breast cancer offers improved cosmetic results and comparable long-term survival rates as mastectomy.1 However,...

TB or not TB? The axillary lump question

An 81-year-old woman of healthy weight presented with a 2-week history of a painless right axillary lump. Physical examination revealed a 2cm firm nodule...

Treating acutely ill patients at home: Data from Singapore

Inpatient hospitalisation is the conventional strategy to care for acutely ill patients. However, demand for hospital beds and clinical manpower is escalating as populations...

Cause of vaginal spotting in an older woman

A 77-year-old Chinese woman with a past medical history of Sjogren’s syndrome, nodular goitre and right-sided neck lymphadenopathy, presented to the gynaecological service for...

Congenital cytomegalovirus infection: Advocating for screening and education

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the leading non-genetic cause of congenital neurosensory hearing loss in children, accounting for 21% of cases of hearing loss at...

Optimum follow-up period of arthroscopic and mini-open rotator cuff repairs

Dear Editor, Rotator cuff disorders are the most common cause of disability related to the shoulder,1 and rotator cuff repairs—via mini-open or arthroscopic techniques—are...

An initial experience with laser haemorrhoidoplasty in addition to mucopexy for symptomatic haemorrhoids

Dear Editor, Symptomatic haemorrhoids is the most common anorectal disorder, where up to 75% of people experience symptoms sometime in their lives.1 The current gold standard...

Mesothelial Splenic Cyst—A Case Report

Non-parasitic cystic lesions of the spleen are unusual. They are classified essentially as primary (true, epithelial) and secondary (pseudo, non-epithelial) based on the presence...

Risk Factors for Predicting Mortality in a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit

Following the rapid advances in medical therapy and critical care technology over the past 30 years, coupled with the spiralling cost of medical care,...

Anthropometry of Anterior Cruciate Ligament in Singaporean Chinese

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction is a technically precise and demanding operation. Attention to factors such as the tunnel position, graft selection, fixation and...

Surgical Results of Open Reduction and Plating of Humeral Shaft Fractures

Management of humeral shaft fractures has been the subject of controversy (Böhler, Ekkernkamp and Muhr, Nast-Kolb and Schweiberer). The problem of non-union, wound infection...

Operative Treatment of Displaced Talar Neck Fractures

Talus is a weight bearing bone with peculiar anatomy and blood supply. It forms the ankle joint with the medial and lateral malleoli, subtalar...

Abdominal Surgery in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infected Patients—Early Local Experience

The prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is rising at an exponential rate in Singapore. The surgical experience with this disease remains limited. This...

Academic Medicine in Singapore

Academic medicine is currently grappling with the problem of whether the triple-threat academician is a species threatened with extinction in the 21st century, given...

Experience with a Nine-step Policy Dealing with Requests for Medically Inappropriate Interventions for Cancer

Although great strides have been made in treating cancers, a significant number of patients still reach the point at which no curative treatment is...

Invasive Cancer after Treatment of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia

The objective of a cervical screening programme is to prevent invasive cancer of the cervix by detecting and treating pre-invasive disease of the cervix....

The Polarprobe—Emerging Technology for Cervical Cancer Screening

Cervical cancer is a preventable disease that affects nearly half a million women worldwide. The Papanicolaou smear has been used for screening for over...

Occult Virilizing Ovarian Tumours in Postmenopausal Women: Problems in Evaluation with Reference to a Case

A remarkable variety of endocrinologic disorders may cause virilization syndromes. This can pose a diagnostic dilemma to even the most experienced clinicians. This article is...

Occult Virilizing Ovarian Tumours in Postmenopausal Women: Problems in Evaluation with Reference to a Case

A remarkable variety of endocrinologic disorders may cause virilization syndromes. This can pose a diagnostic dilemma to even the most experienced clinicians. This article is...

Pelvic Spleen Masquerading as an Ovarian Neoplasm

A 53-year-old Caucasian woman, a receptionist in a general practice, was referred to the gynaecology outpatient clinic with an 18-month history of heavy, irregular...

Repair of Complex Ureterovaginal and Vesicovaginal Fistulas with Ileal Cystoplasty and Ureteric Reimplantation into an Antireflux Ileal Nipple Valve—A Case Report

Urogenital fistulas are a known but uncommon complication of gynaecological surgery, especially those involving a malignant process. Its incidence does not exceed 2%. This article...

A Case Report—Delayed Vesicocutaneous Fistula After Radiation Therapy for Advanced Vulvar Cancer

To our knowledge this is the first reported case of an isolated vesicocutaneous fistula related to previous radiation therapy for recurrent vulvar cancer. This article...

Optimal Treatment in Gestational Trophoblastic Disease

Gestational trophoblastic diseases (GTD) encompass a spectrum of interrelated conditions: Hydatidiform mole (HM) Invasive mole (IM) Choriocarcinoma (CC) Placental site trophoblastic tumour (PSTT) This article is available only as...

Fallopian Tube Carcinoma—A Review

Fallopian tube cancer is the least common of gynaecological malignancies. It was first described by Renaud in 1847. This article is available only as a...

Current Management of Early Vulvar Cancer

Carcinoma of the vulva is an uncommon malignancy, but one that is amenable to early diagnosis if symptoms and signs are appropriately investigated. Although...

Topoisomerase-I Inhibitors in Gynaecologic Tumours

Topoisomerases are essential nuclear enzymes with a multiplicity of cellular functions involving DNA replication, RNA transcription, mitosis, and chromosome condensation. Two classes have been...

Screening for Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer is the most common gynaecological malignancy with over 5000 new cases diagnosed every year in the UK and 22 000 in the...

Biomarkers in Carcinoma of the Cervix: Emphasis on Tissue-related Factors and Their Potential Prognostic Factors

Accurate staging is of utmost importance in determining the prognosis of carcinoma of the cervix. Demographic features such as race and socio-economic status have...

The Management Dilemma of the Mildly Abnormal Smear: Fact or Fiction?

Carcinoma of the cervix is still a relatively common gynaecological malignancy. However, despite being potentially preventable it still claims the lives of many women...

Adenocarcinoma of the Cervix

It is clear from studies in Canada, Scandinavia, and more recently the United Kingdom, that routine Pap smear screening has not only reduced the...

Malignant Ovarian Germ Cell Tumours: Experience in the National University Hospital of Singapore

One of the most remarkable advances in the management of gynaecological cancers is in malignant ovarian germ cell tumours. Before the early 70s, some...

A Phase II Study of Combined CPT-11 and Mitomycin-C in Platinum Refractory Clear Cell and Mucinous Ovarian Carcinoma

Platinum resistance, either de novo or acquired, is a major obstacle in the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer. Platinum-resistance has been classified into the...

Single Agent Paclitaxel in Resistant and Relapsed Epithelial Ovarian Cancer After First-line Platinum-based Chemotherapy—Experience in an Asian Population

Ovarian carcinoma ranks fourth among causes of death in women and is the leading cause of death from gynaecological malignancies in Western countries. In...

Uterine Papillary Serous Carcinoma—The KK Hospital Experience

Endometrial carcinoma comprises a morphologically heterogeneous group of tumours. Several authors during the 1960s and 1970s described an unusual variant of endometrial cancer containing...

Radiotherapy as Local Adjuvant Treatment for Endometrial Carcinoma—A Review of 45 Patients

Radiotherapy as an adjunct to surgery has long been used in the management of endometrial carcinoma with the intent to improve local tumour control...

Outcome of Obstructive Uropathy After Pelvic Irradiation in Patients with Carcinoma of the Uterine Cervix

Radiotherapy is the mainstay treatment for locally advanced carcinoma of the cervix. It is also administered as an adjuvant therapy to patients deemed at...

The Surgical Management of Colorectal Complications from Irradiation for Carcinoma of the Cervix

Radiation bowel injury is a significant clinical problem because of the technical difficulties of surgery. Among the more common causes is radiation of carcinoma...

Adjuvant Chemotherapy in “High Risk” Patients after Wertheim Hysterectomy—10-year Survivals

Wertheim radical hysterectomy has today become an accepted method of management of stage IB and early stage IIA cervical carcinoma, particularly in young patients...

A Review of Patients with High-risk Carcinoma of the Cervix Treated with Combined Surgery and Postoperative Radiotherapy

It is generally accepted that early stage invasive carcinoma of the cervix, stage I to stage IIA disease, can be treated with equal effectiveness...

Outcome of Early Cervical Carcinoma Treated by Wertheim Hysterectomy with Selective Postoperative Radiotherapy

Cancer of the cervix is the fourth most common cancer in females in Singapore after breast, colorectal and lung cancers. It forms 7.8% of...

Gynaecologic Oncology—The Next Lap

Cancer of the pelvic reproductive organs and external genitalia accounts for one in six cancers in women. It can occur in women of all...

A Case Report of Atasoy Antenna Procedure

The hook nail deformity is a relatively common problem after fingertip amputations. It is usually ignored but can be quite disabling. This article is available...

Urinary Deoxypyridinoline is a Useful Biochemical Bone Marker for the Management of Postmenopausal Osteoporosis

Postmenopausal osteoporosis is the most common cause of osteoporosis. It is heralded by the cessation of oestrogen production by the ovaries resulting in at...

Ambulatory Anorectal Surgery—Is it Feasible Locally?

Economic and social pressures are compelling surgeons to modify their practice. An increasing number of procedures are being done in an outpatient setting. This article...

Infections in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia

Children undergoing chemotherapy for cancer are especially vulnerable to infection because of immunosuppression related to their underlying illness, the effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy....

Childhood Leukaemia: Towards an Integrated Psychosocial Intervention Programme in Singapore

In the last two decades there has been a surge of interest concerning the psychosocial correlates of life-threatening illnesses. Research in this area has...

Foregoing Life Support in Medically Futile Patients

The origins of withholding medical support are found in ancient times. More than two millennia ago, Hippocrates (460 to 361 BC) stated that the...

Nitric Oxide in Septic Shock: Directions for Future Therapy?

In 1980, Furchgott and Zawadzki demonstrated that the relaxation of isolated arteries to acetylcholine required the presence of endothelial cells. This response was mediated...

Critical Care Medicine in the Western Pacific Region

The Western Pacific region includes a very diverse group of countries varying in their culture, economic development and per capita income, disease prevalence and...

Critical Care—The Worldwide Perspective

Although special areas for postoperative patients existed 50 years ago, the modern specialty of Critical Care began during the polio epidemic of the 1950s....

Caudal Morphine in Paediatric Patients: A Comparison of Two Different Doses in Children after Major Urogenital Surgery

The use of caudal preservative-free morphine for postoperative analgesia in children has gained popularity since it was first described by Jensen. Several studies have...

A Retrospective Study of Infants with Severe Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension (PPHN) Managed without Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO)

Persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN) is an important cause of neonatal mortality amongst infants who are of term or post-term gestation. The most severely ill...

Five Paediatric Case Reports of the Use of Adenosine in Supraventricular Tachycardia

Adenosine has been shown to be effective in terminating supraventricular tachycardia in adults and children. However, the use of adenosine has not been previously...

Use of Central Venous Lines in Paediatrics—A Local Experience

Peripheral access by venous cut down, once popular in the 1950s and 1960s, has almost become obsolete with the introduction of the Seldinger technique...

Malaria Requiring Intensive Care

Malaria is an important and common infectious parasitic disease globally. It is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, especially in endemic areas. This article is...

A Retrospective Study of Near-drowning Victims Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit

Drowning victims suffocate from submersion. This may lead to immediate death or, if they survive, brain damage if significant cerebral hypoxia is present. This article...

Ergotism and Vascular Insufficiency: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Toxicity from ergot and its derivative is well known. Great epidemics occurred during the middle ages due to consumption of rye contaminated with the...

A Case of Accelerated Development of Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy in a Woman with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus after Pregnancy

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in persons between the age of 24 and 64 years both in the US and the...

Survey of Aerobic Bacterial Infections in Paediatric Surgical Intensive Care Unit Patients

Data on infections in paediatric surgical patients are few in the literature. Although there are many studies on infection in adult surgical and paediatric...

Phyllodes Tumour: An Update of 40 Cases

First described by Johannes Muller in 1838 as a large, benign tumour of the breast. Phyllodes tumour is a rare pathological entity, accounting for...

The Investigation and Management of Thyroid Nodules—A Retrospective Review of 183 Cases

Thyroid nodule is a common problem in surgical practice. In 1994, more than 350 thyroid operations were performed in our department, of which 183...

The Role for Preoperative Localisation Techniques in Surgery for Hyperparathyroidism

Hyperparathyroidism is well recognised as a clinical problem that has a myriad of presentation. The classical presenting symptoms of hypercalcaemia have been well documented...

Double Level Fractures of the Femur Treated with Closed Intramedullary Nailing

Closed locked intramedullary nailing of the femur has become the accepted means of treating fractures of the femur. The use of locking nails has...

Plasma Vitamins A, C and E in the General Population of Singapore, 1993 to 1995

The current disease pattern in Singapore (an island state of 3.3 million people composed of 76% Chinese, 14% Malays, 7% Asian Indians and 3%...

Medicine and Surgery—History, Change and Challenge

Mr Koh Yong Guan, guest-of-honour; Dr Tan Ser Kiat, Master, Academy of Medicine; Dr K C Tan, Chairman, Chapter of Surgeons; Dr Robert Jalleh...

Osteoid Osteoma after a Stress Fracture of the Tibia: A Case Report

A 24-year-old man complained of left leg pain following 3 months of infantry training 6 years ago. There was no previous complaint of pain...

Reconstruction of a Supinated Hypoplastic Thumb with Combined Huber Transfer and Derotation Osteotomy: A Case Report

A 6-year-old Chinese girl presented with a deformity of the left thumb since birth. Her father has a similar deformity. This article is available only...

Haemorrhage into Non-functioning Adrenal Cysts—Report of Two Cases and Review of the Literature

Doran, in 1903, reported the first case of adrenal cyst described by Greiselius in 1670. It was not until 1966 that Foster reported the...

Video-assisted Thoracoscopy: Role in the Management of Intrathoracic Pathology

Thoracoscopy was first introduced by Jacobaeus nearly a century ago. With the development of endoscopic equipment and the recent surge of interest in minimally...

Focused Abdominal Sonography for Trauma (FAST)

The multiply injured patient presents a challenge to even the most experienced surgeon. These patients often present in shock and require a rapid diagnostic...

Perinatal Drug Abuse in KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital

In recent years, perinatal drug abuse has been emerging as an area of major concern for the perinatologists. Chasnoff found the prevalence of substance...

Transscaphoid Perilunate Fracture/Dislocations—Results of Surgical Treatment

Transscaphoid perilunate fracture/dislocations are relatively uncommon injuries of the wrist, constituting about 3% of all carpal injuries. However, it accounts for more than half...

A Pilot Study of the Efficacy and Tolerability of Intralesional Recombinant Human Beta-Interferons in Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia

Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) is a neoplastic disorder in which infection with sub-types of the human papillomavirus appears to play an important aetiological ro1e....

Extraarticular Villonodular Synovitis of the Tendoachilles: A Case Report

Pigmented villonodular synovitis is a progressive synovial lesion of uncertain aetiology associated with synovial-lined tissues of the joints, tendon sheaths and bursae. The incidence...

Embolisation of a Leaking Pseudoaneurysm of the Main Artery Supplying a Replanted Arm: A Case Report

Pseudoaneurysms are conventionally treated by surgery. In recent years, non-surgical methods are being considered, including embolisation with wires, coils or gelfoam and anticoagulation. This article...

Life-threatening Perineal Gangrene from Rectal Perforation Following Colonic Hydrotherapy: A Case Report

Alternative medicine has become widely publicised throughout the world. Alternative medicine practitioners (AMPS), which include Oriental medicine doctors, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, naturopaths and...

Intravital Microscopy for the Study of the Microcirculation in Various Disease States

It is more than 150 years ago when the first detailed description of intravital microscopy was given by Waller, demonstrating in the frog tongue...

Rapid One-day Fluorescence In Situ Hybridisation in Prenatal Diagnosis Using Uncultured Amniocytes and Chorionic Villi

The most common chromosomal abnormalities in newborns are trisomy 21, trisomy 18, trisomy 13, and monosomy X, with incidences of 1/800, 1/8,000, 1/20,000, and...

Parainfluenza Type 3 Viral Outbreak in a Neonatal Nursery

Parainfluenza viruses are relatively large RNA paramyxoviruses. Four serologic types cause disease in humans. This article is available only as a PDF. Please click on...

T Wave Alternans and Acute Rheumatic Myocarditis: A Case Report

T wave alternans, an electrical cardiac alternans in which there is a beat-to-beat variation in the amplitude, shape or the polarity of the T...

Comparison of First Carpometacarpal Joint Arthrodesis with Contralateral Excision Arthroplasty in a Patient with Bilateral Saddle Joint Arthritis: A Case Report

The carpometacarpal joint (CMCJ) of the thumb is commonly afflicted with degenerative arthritis. Of the patients seeking surgical treatment, post-menopausal women outnumber men by...

Diagnosing and Managing Faecal Incontinence

Faecal incontinence is the inability to control the passage of gas, liquid or solid through the anus. Its severity varies from infrequent passage of...

A Preliminary Study of the Immunohistochemical Detection of a Novel Tumour Marker, 22-1-1 Antigen, in Gynaecological Cancer Specimens

Monoclonal antibodies expressed against specific tumour cells can play a useful role in the study and management of such cancers. Such antibodies have been...

9th Chapter of Surgeons’ Lecture: The Orthopaedic Surgeon: Historical Perspective, Ethical Considerations and the Future

The legacy of caring and humanitarianism has been the mission of the medical profession since the founding of Singapore by Sir Stamford Raffles in...

1998 Distinguished Academician Lecture: Hepatic Resection— A Western Perspective

Although debridement of portions of liver that prolapsed through war wounds was recorded from distant times, attempts at resection of a solid liver tumour...

The Future of Medicine from the Standpoint of the Practising Paediatrician

From the time of recorded history of medicine, the doctor whether he be the ancient healer or the modern medical practitioner, the doctor had...

Hepatopulmonary Syndrome: A Rare Complication of Chronic Liver Disease in Children

Children with chronic liver disorders may present with dysfunction of other organ systems. Encephalopathy, gastrointestinal bleeding, failure to thrive and impaired renal function are...

Prognostic Factors in Endometrial Carcinoma

In the United States of America, endometrial carcinoma is the most common cancer of the female genital tract and has an annual incidence of...

Factors Affecting Success in an Embryo Cryopreservation Programme

The first pregnancy resulting from the thaw and transfer of cryopreserved pre-embryos was reported in 1983 by Trounson and his team, in Melbourne, Australia....

Bidirectional Cavopulmonary Anastomosis

Children with complex congenital heart disease and a functional single ventricle may not be ideal candidates for a Fontan procedure. A staged approach to...

A Study of Joint Mobility in a Normal Population

Joint mobility varies between individuals and factors such as age, sex, race and heredity influence the range of motion of a joint. Excessive mobility...

Delayed Amputation in Lower Limb Trauma: An Analysis of Factors Leading to Delayed Amputation

The decision whether to amputate or to attempt a limb salvage procedure in a mangled extremity is a difficult one. Numerous protocols have been...

Hyperlipidaemia during Normal Pregnancy, Parturition and Lactation

Increase in the plasma lipid fractions in normal pregnancy have been described but irregularity of sampling, difference in materials studied (whole blood, serum, and...

Retinopathy of Prematurity in Very Low Birth Weight Infants

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), which could lead to visual impairment and blindness, is a recognised serious morbidity amongst surviving premature infants. The inverse relationship...

A Practical Technique of Colour Image Analysis: Applications in Experimental Research

Colour image analysers have been extensively used in medical research since 1970 for histomorphometric studies. Image analysis gives more information and a better understanding...

Immunological Consequences of Trauma and Shock

Despite intensive research and intervention, trauma continues to be the leading cause of death during the first three decades of life in the USA,...

Establishment of Animal Models Using Experimental Rats for Allogeneic Tissue Transplantation and Quantitative Flow Cytometric Detection of Immunochimera

Allogeneic tissue and organ transplantation has long been an important medical issue, as it provides an effective treatment alternative for a broad spectrum of...

The Effect of Storage at -70°C and -150°C on the Torsion Properties of the Canine Femur

Allograft transplantation of bone has been established as a viable and useful reconstructive procedure when limb salvage is the option of choice. For bone...

The Viability of Liver Graft for Transplantation After Prolonged Warm Ischaemia

Liver transplantation (LTx) is the treatment of choice for many patients with end stage liver disease. However liver allograft availability prevents its widespread application. This...

Use of Titanium Prosthesis to Bridge a Vertebral Gap in the Spine—A Preliminary Experimental Study

Bridging a vertebral gap in the spine is one of the commonest problems facing the spine surgeon after dealing with a tumour, infection or...

The Results of Autogenous Tibial Periosteal Transplants for Full Thickness Cartilage Defects in the Knee Joints of Pigs

Articular cartilage injuries to the knee are commonly seen by team doctors, sports physicians and orthopaedic surgeons. Despite many clinical as well as experimental...

Echocardiographic Features and Management of Neonatal Ductal Aneurysm

Previously thought to be a rare condition, aneurysms of the ductus arteriosus have been increasingly reported in the medical literature over the past few...

An Unusual Tumour Metastasis to the Cervix

A 55-year-old Chinese lady had a left mastectomy in April 1995 for an invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast. Axillary lymph node metastases were...

Extended Resection of Locally Advanced (T4) Stomach Cancer

Cancer is the most common cause of death in Singapore. Although there is a gradual decline in incidence of stomach cancer over the years,...

Transaminitis in Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy

Raised aminotransferase levels, especially that of alanine transaminase (ALT), have been traditionally attributed to liver pathology rather than to muscle disorders. However, raised alanine...

Twenty-four hour, Non-invasive, Neonatal Chromosome Analysis—Application in a Case of Mixed Gonadal Dysgenesis

Chromosome analysis in neonates requires venisection and this is sometimes both difficult and distressing. In addition, results can at best take 3 days but...

Laparoscopic Totally Extraperitoneal Inguinal Hernioplasty: An Audit of the Early Postoperative Results of 100 Consecutive Repairs

Inguinal hernia is one of the commonest surgical pathologies in the world. Laparoscopic totally extraperitoneal repair has been gaining popularity in recent years. This article...

Sandhoff Disease—A Case Report of 3 Siblings and a Review of Potential Therapies

Sandhoff disease is a rare inborn error of metabolism characterised by the absence of both β-hexosaminidase A and B, resulting in an accumulation of...

A Case Report on the Perinatal Management of a 30-week Preterm Baby with Congenital Complete Heart Block

The association between congenital complete heart block (CHB) and maternal autoimmune disorders has been described for many years. Maternal systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is...

Perioperative Deaths: A Further Comparative Review of Coroner’s Autopsies with Particular Reference to the Occurrence of Fatal Iatrogenic Injury

Beginning in 1991, the Department of Forensic Medicine (DFM), which undertakes all Coroner’s casework locally, embarked on an on-going review of Coroner’s perioperative autopsies...

Use of Low Molecular Weight Heparin for Prevention of Deep Vein Thrombosis in Total Knee Arthroplasty—A Study of its Efficacy in an Asian Population

The role of thromboprophylaxis in total knee replacement (TKR) remains controversial. In several reports, the incidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) has been significant. This...

Deep Vein Thrombosis after Total Knee Replacement

Western literature reports a very high incidence of deep vein thrombosis in its population especially after orthopaedic surgery. In total knee replacement without prophylaxis,...

Genetics of Male Infertility: Role of Androgen Receptor Mutations and Y-Microdeletions

Three to four per cent of men have severe defects in sperm production that result in infertility. Most of these men are healthy and...

Minimal Change Nephrotic Syndrome—A Complex Genetic Disorder

Minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS) is the most common cause of childhood nephrotic syndrome. It is characterised by the presence of gross proteinuria, hypoalbuminaemia,...

Management of Growth Arrest with Tissue-engineered Cells

Before I go on to the scientific aspects of my talk, I would like to pay tribute to Dr Yahya Cohen. Dr Cohen was...

Association or Agreement

Association and agreement between two factors are very different concepts, although the methods used to describe them appear similar. For example, the association between...

Candida Arthritis in a Premature Infant Treated Successfully with Oral Fluconazole for Six Months

Candida arthritis in premature infants is regarded as a rare condition. The largest published series of 8 cases from one institution was from Bombay,...

DNA Testing for Fragile X Syndrome in 255 Males from Special Schools in Singapore

Fragile X syndrome is the most common inherited cause of mental retardation, affecting approximately 1 in 1250 males and 1 in 2500 females. It...

Microdochectomy for Single-duct Nipple Discharge

Nipple discharge is a common disturbing symptom for many women and often leads to a surgical referral. It accounts for 3% to 5% of...

Initial Experience of Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation of Supraventricular Tachycardia in Paediatric Patients

Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is well-recognised as one of the commonest rhythm disorders in children. There may be few symptoms, but many experience palpitations,...

Surgical Results of Intercondylar Fractures of the Adult Femur

Fractures of the intercondylar region of the femur often resulted from high velocity accidents. This would lead to increased comminution and involvement of the...

Perioperative and Rehabilitative Outcomes after Amputation for Ischaemic Leg Gangrene

In the last century, Sir William Ferguson said: “amputation—one of the meanest and yet one of the greatest operations in surgery: mean, where resorted...

Adverse Operative Risk Factors for Perforated Peptic Ulcer

Although there has been a significant decline in elective surgery for peptic ulcer disease with the introduction of H-2 blocker, the incidence of peptic...

10th Chapter of Surgeons’ Lecture: The Challenges in Surgery—Past, Present and Future, and in Search of the 4Cs

Firstly may I thank the Academy of Medicine and the Chapter of Surgeons for giving me this great privilege and honour to deliver the...

A Case Report of Total Finger Joint Replacement Arthroplasty After Traumatic Amputation

A 41-year-old Chinese man had his dominant thumb, index and middle fingers caught by a wood-cutting machine while at work. He sustained a near-amputation...

Results of Surgical Resection of Oesophageal Carcinoma in Singapore

Although the incidence of oesophageal carcinoma is declining, it still remains a common cancer in Singapore. From 1988 to 1992, it was the ninth...

Re: Rikhraj I S, Tan C T, Tan S K, Teoh S H, Hastings G W. Use of Titanium Prosthesis to Bridge a Vertebral Gap in the Spine–A Preliminary Experimental Study. Ann Acad Med Singapore 1999; 28:20-4

In a recent issue of the Annals, Academy of Medicine, Singapore the above-mentioned paper was published. Figures 6 and 7 of the paper plot...

Case Report: Follicular Adenoma in a Thyroglossal Duct Remnant Arising Entirely within the Hyoid Bone

Thyroglossal duct remnant is one of the most common lesions of the anterior midline neck. It occurs in 7% of adults1 and carcinoma is...

Biomechanical Study of C2 (Axis) Fracture: Effect of Restraint

In human, the occipito-atlanto-axial (C0-C1-C2) joint complex is an important region of the spine and often susceptible to impact injury in trauma. Traffic accidents...

Digital Hand-held Sonography Utilised for the Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma: A Pilot Study

On a global basis, the use of ultrasonography to assist clinicians in obtaining timely diagnoses in abdominal trauma is not particularly new. The first...

Results of Distal Radial Fractures Treated by Intra-focal Pin Fixation

Unstable fractures of the distal radius remain a challenge to orthopaedic surgeons. Unsatisfactory results are often associated with significant malunion. This article is available only...

The Alvarado Score and Acute Appendicitis

Acute appendicitis is a common surgical emergency. However, it is often difficult to make an accurate preoperative diagnosis, especially during the early stage of...

Diagnosing and Prognosticating Acute Meningitis in Young Infants within 24 Hours of Admission

Meningitis is an important cause of fever in young infants (infants 90 days old or younger). Most cases of meningitis are acute meningitis which...

Prevention of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Transmission from Mother to Child—A Cohort Study in Singapore

Since the onset of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic in the mid-1980s, the number of HIV-infected cases has risen sharply throughout the world....

Book Review

The above is a textbook of medicine written by Singapore doctors and published in Singapore. It is difficult not to be over-enthusiastic about it...

Intra-abdominal Hypertension—Implications for the Intensive Care Physician

Although the detrimental effects of raised intra-abdominal pressure have been known for over 100 years, it is only in the last two decades that...

Obstetric Admissions to the Intensive Therapy Unit of a Tertiary Care Institution

Pregnancy is associated with physiological changes in various organ systems and complications arising from the interaction between these changes and disease processes may be...

Perioperative Treatment with Bactericidal/Permeability-Increasing Protein (rBPI21) in Major Liver Surgery: A Concise Summary

Primary and secondary hepatic malignancies constitute a major health problem. Hepatocellular carcinoma accounts for 90% of all primary hepatic malignancies in the world. While...

Mucinous Cystadenoma of the Appendix—An Unusual Cause of Intestinal Obstruction

Mucinous cystadenoma of the vermiform appendix is an uncommon entity. It is a benign lesion but may disseminate and lead to the development of...

An Introduction to Biodegradable Materials for Tissue Engineering Applications

The concept of tissue engineering arises from the need to develop an alternative method of treating patients suffering from tissue loss or organ failure....

Enteral Nutrition of the Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW) Infant

Optimal nutrition is critical in the management of the preterm infant. The fetus in utero receives continuous intravenous nutrition that is interrupted when prematurely...

A Case Series of Six Children with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is an uncommon but serious and debilitating disorder seen in children and adults. By definition, it is an elevation of...

2nd Chapter of Paediatricians Lecture: The Future of Paediatrics in Singapore

When I was first invited to give this 2nd Chapter of Paediatricians Lecture by the Chapter, my obvious answer was no. I could think...

Galeazzi-Equivalent Fracture in Children Associated with Tendon Entrapment—Report of Two Cases

A 12-year-old boy fell whilst running. On examination, there was swelling and deformity of the wrist and there was local tenderness of the distal...

Liver Transplantation in a Child With Severe Hypercholesterolaemia in Alagille Syndrome

Alagille syndrome (AS) or arteriohepatic dysplasia is a genetic disorder transmitted in an autosomal dominant inheritance. The chromosomal abnormality has been identified to the...

The Use of Vigabatrin in Infantile Spasms in Asian Children

Infantile spasms are a form of age-dependent myoclonic epilepsy that is difficult to control. Agents such as adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and prednisolone have been...

A Prospective Evaluation of Surgeon Performed Sonography as a Screening Test in Blunt Abdominal Trauma

Over the past decade, sonography as a screening tool in the evaluation of abdominal trauma has been thoroughly investigated. This modality was first used...

Stapled Haemorrhoidectomy—The Evidence For and the Facts Against

Surgeons as well as patients have recently shown much interest in stapled haemorrhoidectomy. This is a new technique, which is claimed to result in...

12th Chapter of Surgeons Lecture: Shifting Paradigms in the Management of Breast Cancer—A Surgical Perspective

The recorded history of breast cancer management spans four millennia. This story about breast cancer management is also one about change, about resistance to...

Gemella Empyema Cured without Antibiotics: A Case Report

Gemella are gram-positive anaerobic bacteria that rarely produce serious human infections. We describe a case of thoracic empyema that occurred in an elderly Chinese...

Double Omental Hernia—Case Report on a Very Rare Cause of Intestinal Obstruction

Internal hernia is defined as the protrusion of a viscus through a normal or abnormal opening within the confines of the abdominal cavity. This...

The Clinician Meets the Computer—Uneasy Bedfellows

Information technology has become a cornerstone of civilization as we know it. In its broadest definition, information technology encompasses all forms of technology required...

Leveraging on Information Technology to Enhance Patient Care: A Doctor’s Perspective of Implementation in a Singapore Academic Hospital

Information technology (IT) has become truly pervasive in everyday life; however, in the field of medicine, we have yet to fully harness its full...

Internal Medicine

It has taken a long time to plan for this November issue in Internal Medicine. The topic is so wide and often neglected as...

The Posterior Cruciate Ligament: An Anthropometric Study in Asians and Evaluation of Safe Limits for Bony Tunnel Creation During Reconstruction

The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) provides the main restraint to posterior translation of the tibia on the femur and is stronger than its anterior...

Advances in Surgical Treatment of Osteoporotic Fractures of the Spine

Osteoporosis is an important cause of fractures in the elderly. In the USA alone, at least 1.3 million fractures are attributed to osteoporosis a...

The Bone and Joint Decade 2000-2010

With the ageing population, degeneration of joints and osteoporosis and the resultant disability pose big public health problems in many countries of the world....

Magnetic Resonance Arthrography of the Labral-Ligamentous Complex of the Shoulder: An Update

Shoulder instability is a frequently encountered clinical problem in young active people following injury, particularly in athletes. The labral-ligamentous complex is increasingly recognised as...

A Deceptive Cervical Lymph Node: A Solitary Spinal Osteochondroma

Osteochondromas are cartilage-capped bony exostoses that arise mainly from the metaphyses of long bones from a lateral displacement of the epiphyseal growth cartilage, but...

Limited Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and the Occult Hip Fracture

Worldwide, in the past decade, the application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has increased tremendously in the management of musculoskeletal trauma. Not least is...

Extremity Osteosarcoma—A Southeast Asian Experience

Osteosarcoma is a highly malignant bone cancer occurring primarily in young patients. Although rare, it is still the commonest primary bone cancer seen in...

Towards a Splint-free Repair for Flexor Tendon Injuries

The most problematic area in flexor tendon injuries is zone two. This zone is prone to injury as it is in the grasping part...

Biomechanics of the Shoulder

The shoulder is a complex of 5 articulating surfaces that together form the shoulder girdle. The glenohumeral joint together with the scapulothoracic articulation form...

Instrumentation in Spinal Surgery

Spinal instrumentation is defined as the use of mechanical devices that enhance or restore the segmental stability of the spine. Internal fixation of the...

The Growth and Development of Orthopaedic Sports Medicine in Singapore

Orthopaedic sports medicine in Singapore took form as a subspecialty of orthopaedic surgery over a number of years. Several individuals contributed to it being...

Paediatric Orthopaedics in Singapore

The name “Orthopaedic Surgery” is derived from the words “orthos” (meaning straight or to straighten) and “paido” (meaning child). Thus, it is not unexpected...

Addresses at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National University of Singapore on 5 April 2002

Over 200 guests were gathered at the Fullerton Hotel Ballroom on the 5th of April 2002 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Department...

History of the Singapore Orthopaedic Association

The University of Malaya in Singapore was established in 1949. With this, the King Edward VII College of Medicine became the Faculty of Medicine,...

History of the Orthopaedic Specialty in Singapore

When the practice of orthopaedic surgery first began in Singapore, it was not a specialty in itself. There are no records as to when...

50th Anniversary Celebrations—Golden ……. but all is not gold

On an occasion such as this—the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of orthopaedic surgery as a specialty service in Singapore—acclaim, commendations, praise and endorsement...

General Medicine—Revisited, Rejuvenated, Revitalised and Reemphasised

“The irresistible swing towards medical specialisation has brought advantages for patients but arguably this has gone too far.” It is time to review the...

A Countrywide Approach to the Control of Non-communicable Diseases—The Singapore Experience

In the area of health, the last two decades has seen a decline or eradication of deadly diseases, such as smallpox and polio, the...

Causes for the Evolution of Case Management and the Development of a Working Model in an Acute Care Hospital in Singapore

In 1999, significant changes to the healthcare funding structure were introduced to public sector hospitals in Singapore. This was the advent of casemix-based funding...

Evidence-based Medicine: The Key to Guidelines, Disease and Care Management Programmes

Health care in America and the rest of the industrialised world continues to reinvent itself at an ever-accelerating rate. The societal pressures for high...

National Disease Management Plans for Key Chronic Non-communicable Diseases in Singapore

Like most other newly industrialised economies, Singapore has undergone a rapid epidemiological transition over the last 50 years. Chronic, non-communicable diseases have replaced infectious...

Chronic Disease Management: Challenges for Clinicians and the Way Forward

The healthcare, financial and social burden of chronic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, asthma, chronic obstructive airway disease, hypertension, chronic depression,...

Measuring Health-related Quality of Life in Singapore: Normal Values for the English and Chinese SF-36 Health Survey

Advances in diagnosis and therapy in the second half of the 20th century have lead to impressive improvements in survival for patients with many...

Management of Premalignant Lesions of the Cervix

Cervical cancer is one of the most common female cancers worldwide. It is ranked second only to breast cancer and in many underdeveloped countries,...

Four Pregnancies in Two Patients with Essential Thrombocythaemia—A Case Report

Essential thrombocythaemia (ET) is a rare myeloproliferative disease which manifests with an elevated platelet count. It presents predominantly in the middle-aged population, occurring slightly...

The Course of Pregnancy in a Patient with Nail-Patella Syndrome

The nail-patella syndrome (NPS) is a rare autosomal dominant disorder defined by the association of nail dysplasia, bone abnormalities and, frequently, renal disease. We...

Rheumatic Heart Diseases in Pregnancy

Rheumatic heart disease comprises acute rheumatic fever following group A beta-haemolytic streptococcal infection of the tonsillopharynx, and its long-term sequelae of heart valve fibrosis...

Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia in Pregnancy

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is an autoimmune disorder in which platelets are sensitised with an antiplatelet autoantibody and then destroyed by the reticuloendothelial system.1...

Thrombophilia in Pregnancy

A clear understanding of thrombophilia is becoming increasingly important in the practice of high-risk obstetrics. In addition to their role in thromboembolic disease, there...

Current Understanding of Pre-eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia is a major cause of adverse obstetric outcome. It remains one of the leading causes of maternal mortality1 and continues to contribute significantly...

Management of Thromboembolic Disease in Pregnancy

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) refers specifically to 2 related entities: deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism. The management of arterial thrombo-embolism, in particular that...

Management of Haematologic Malignancies in Pregnancy

Malignancy complicates the course of about 1 in 1000 pregnancies and is the second leading cause of death in women of reproductive age. The...

Thyroid Diseases in Pregnancy

Abnormalities of thyroid function associated with pregnancy encompass both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism. These may have been present before the onset of pregnancy, or occurred...

Outcome of Pregnancy in Asian Women with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Experience of a Single Perinatal Centre in Singapore

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic systemic connective tissue disease with a reported prevalence of 5 to 100/100,000. Women are affected much more...

Pregnancy after Renal Transplantation: Experience in Singapore General Hospital

Successful renal transplantation significantly improves the sexual and reproductive functions of women with end-stage renal disease and offers the best hope for those who...

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Call for Systematic Tracing

The prevalence of diabetes is increasing worldwide. In Singapore, the prevalence of diabetes has increased dramatically from 4.7% in 1984 to 8.6% in 1998....

Pregnancy in Women with Idiopathic Thrombocytopaenic Purpura

Idiopathic thrombocytopaenic purpura (ITP) is the most common autoimmune haematological disorder in pregnancy. The pathophysiology of the disease is peripheral destruction of platelets mediated...

Are Maternal Deaths on the Ascent in Singapore? A Review of Maternal Mortality as Reflected by Coronial Casework from 1990 to 1999

It is said that, worldwide, over half a million maternal deaths occur annually. This might well be a conservative estimate, given the difficulties inherent...

Medical Disorders in Pregnancy—The Challenges Ahead

Nowhere is the fate of two individuals more closely intertwined than that of the mother and her fetus. Pregnancy is a unique state where...

Paediatric Extracranial Germ Cell Tumours: A Retrospective Review

Germ cell tumours (GCTs) in children account for 2% to 3% of childhood malignancies. They arise from primordial germ cells and constitute a heterogeneous...

Two-year Outcome of Normal-birth-weight Infants Admitted to a Singapore Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

With the rapid advances in the field of neonatal intensive care, the focus of interest has been on the very-low-birthweight (VLBW) infant in recent...

Emergency Laparoscopic Surgery—The Changi General Hospital Experience

Today, laparoscopic surgery has achieved widespread acceptance among surgeons as well as the general public. Emergency laparoscopic procedures (ELPs) have been performed since the...

Surgical Management and Outcome of Carotid Body Tumours

The carotid body was first described by von Haller in 1743. It is often a small ovoid or irregular mass composed of compact pinkish...

Should Ethical Issues in Biotechnology Research be Decided by Physicians-Scientists or by Lawyers?

As with clinical practice, the practice of biomedical research is a moral activity. We have to think about what we should do, not just...

Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia and Chronic Lung Disease of Infancy: Strategies for Prevention and Management

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and chronic lung disease of infancy (CLD) are two chronic pulmonary conditions which are the result of incomplete resolution or abnormal...

A Case Report of Neurologically Unstable Fracture of the Lumbosacral Spine in a Patient with Ankylosing Spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis is associated with progressive ossification of the spinal ligaments and ankylosing of the facet joints leading to a totally stiff spine. It...

Hepatolithiasis —A Case Series

Intrahepatic biliary stone or hepatolithiasis is an uncommon entity worldwide, with a higher incidence in East Asia in comparison to the West. As yet,...

Intussusception: A Three-Year Review

Intussusception is the most common cause of intestinal obstruction in infants and young children. It occurs when one segment of the intestines telescopes into...

Osteoporosis in Relation to Menopause

Singapore has a rapidly ageing population. In 1990, only 6% of the population was above the age of 65 years but this percentage of...

Osteoporotic Hip Fractures in Singapore—Costs and Patient’s Outcome

Singapore is facing a rapidly ageing population. Osteoporosis, which is an age-related illness, will become an increasing problem. Osteoporotic hip fracture, because of the...

Acute Embolic Occlusion of the Superior Mesenteric Artery: A Case Report and Discussion of Management

Acute ischaemia of the bowel is a devastating condition. Recently published figures on mortality range from 30% to 60%. This article is available only as...

Outcomes of Acute Arthroscopic Repair and Conservative Treatment Following First Traumatic Dislocation of the Shoulder Joint in Young Patients

Traumatic dislocation of the shoulder is a serious problem especially in active and young patients. Shoulder instability and recurrent dislocation hinder patient activities. This article...

Burch Colposuspension: Review of Perioperative Complications at a Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Singapore

Genuine stress incontinence (GSI) is the most common cause of female urinary incontinence. When conservative treatment fails, surgery is indicated. Open Burch colposuspension is...

From Genesis to Genes

I would like to thank the Singapore Orthopaedic Association (SOA) for inviting me to deliver this year’s SOA lecture. When your President, Dr AK...

Endometrioid Adenocarcinoma of the Uterus: Surgico-Pathological Correlations and Role of Pelvic Lymphadenectomy

Endometrial cancer is the most common female genital malignancy in industralised countries today. Despite the overall favourable prognosis in this neoplasia, survival is associated...

FIGO Stage 1B2 Cervical Carcinoma – The KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital Experience

Important prognostic factors in stage 1B cervical carcinoma include primary tumour diameter, nodal metastases, depth of stromal invasion, lymph-vascular invasion, microscopic parametrial extension and...

Bowel Surgery for Epithelial Ovarian Cancer – An Early Case Series

Epithelial ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death in patients with gynaecological malignancies in Singapore and developed countries, the main reason being the...

Pregnancy Following Embolisation of Uterine Arteriovenous Malformation – A Case Report

Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) of the uterus are rare but potentially life-threatening lesions. The common presentation is vaginal bleeding and, if not diagnosed correctly, can...

Severe Newborn Encephalopathy Unrelated to Intrapartum Hypoxic Events: 3 Case Reports

Since Little’s article of 1862, it was popularly believed that brain damage in the majority of cases of cerebral palsy occurs during labour and...

A Case Series of Gastrointestinal Abnormalities in Fetuses with Echogenic Bowel Detected During the Antenatal Period

Although the presence of fetal echogenic bowel (EB) has been largely regarded as benign, it has been viewed as a soft marker for various...

A Case Series of Pre-Viable Severe Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome

Monozygotic twinning has an incidence of approximately 3.5 per 1000 pregnancies. Only 25% of monozygotic twins have a dichorionic placenta. This article is available only...

Idiopathic Chronic Fetomaternal Haemorrhage Resulting in Hydrops – A Case Report

Small amounts (<0.1 mL) of fetal blood are commonly found in maternal circulation. Massive fetomaternal haemorrhage (FMH) involves fetal blood loss into the maternal...

Audit of ‘Crash’ Emergency Caesarean Sections Due to Cord Prolapse in Terms of Response Time and Perinatal Outcome

Umbilical cord prolapse is an uncommon intrapartum event with a reported incidence of 1 in 160 to 714 deliveries. Predisposing factors include fetal malpresentation,...

Quality Control Assurance in National Screening Programmes for Cervical Cancer

The National Health Service (NHS) was established in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1948, against a post-war background of poverty and ill health. The...

The Combined Oral Contraceptive Pill in Women Over Age Forty

In the 1970s, several studies appeared to suggest that users of oral contraceptives (OCs) were at increased risk of cardiovascular events. More recently following...

Contemporary Management of Fibroids

Fibroids are the most common, solid benign pelvic tumours occurring in about 30% of women beyond the age of 30. They are asymptomatic in...

Investigating the Infertile Couple

Infertility is defined as the inability to conceive after 1 to 2 years of unprotected intercourse. In general, an estimated 84% of all women...

Use of Hormone Replacement Therapy in the Asymptomatic Postmenopausal Woman: What is the Current Evidence?

The understanding of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for postmenopausal women has undergone dramatic change since the publication of the results of the Women’s Health...

Fetal Cells in Maternal Blood: State of the Art for Non-Invasive Prenatal Diagnosis

Without prenatal diagnosis, 1 in 50 babies are born with serious physical or mental handicap, and as many as 1 in 30 with some...

Human Papillomavirus Triage of Patients with Atypical Squamous Cells of Undetermined Significance on Cervical Papanicolaou Smear

Cervical cancer affects >400,000 women a year worldwide, and represents a significant health issue for women. In the United States (US) however, screening programmes...

Screening for Chromosomal Anomalies: First or Second Trimester, Biochemical or Ultrasound?

A chromosome abnormality contributes significantly to fetal loss during pregnancy, and perinatal morbidity and mortality. The contribution of chromosomal abnormalities to fetal loss decreases...

Should Doctors Perform an Elective Caesarean Section on Request?

Caesarean sections performed without medical indication, better known as maternal request caesarean sections, have generated intense debate in recent times. While uncommon in the...

Recent Advances in Obstetrics and Gynaecology

The science and art of providing quality health care to women has made tremendous strides in recent years. In the subspecialties of Obstetrics and...

Imaging of Paediatric Mediastinal Masses

A review of mediastinal masses in children, emphasising imaging features, is important for several reasons. Firstly, the mediastinum is the most common location for...

MR Imaging of the Fetal Brain and Spine: A Maturing Technology

The introduction of a new diagnostic test into a clinical arena goes through a number of stages. The first stage is technical development. This article...

The Relationship Between Scoring Systems and Cytokine Levels in Neonatal Sepsis

In newborn infants, the early diagnosis of sepsis is an important problem because the early signs and symptoms of septicaemia in term or preterm...

Clinical Characteristics of an Outbreak of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease in Singapore

The enterovirus family causes a wide array of illnesses, some easily recognised clinically and others diagnosed as non-specific viral illnesses. This large family of...

Perinatal Care at the Threshold of Viability—From Principles to Practice

One of the major challenges in neonatal-perinatal medicine in the new century is the optimal management of the mother and infant when delivery is...

Eight-year Outcome of Very-low-birth-weight Infants Born in KK Hospital

The outcome of very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) premature babies with birth weights of <1500 g has remained an area of great concern for both parents and...

Long-term Follow-up and Outcome of Extremely-low-birth-weight (ELBW) Infants

With the progressive improvement in the survival of premature neonates, including those born at the extreme edge of viability, there has been a great...

Exogenous Surfactant Therapy in Newborn Infants

Exogenous surfactant therapy is widely used in the management of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and may have a role in the management of...

The Use and Abuse of Steroids in Perinatal Medicine

Preterm birth, delivery prior to 37 weeks of gestational age, accounts for a major and disproportionate amount of infant and neonatal morbidity and mortality....

Mass Newborn Screening in Singapore—Position and Projections

Mass newborn screening is an essential preventative public health programme which aims to diagnose, in the presymptomatic phase, diseases that have a better outcome...

Neonatology In Singapore: The Way We Were, The Way Forward

Over a span of 35 years of my working life, I have witnessed the growth of, and also grown together with, neonatology in Singapore....

Chorioamnionitis and Outcome in Extremely Preterm Infants

Preterm delivery is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality, especially among the 1% to 2% infants delivered at less than 32 weeks. Chorioamnionitis is...

Changing Trends in Indications for Caesarean Sections in a Tertiary Hospital

Increasing rates of caesarean deliveries have received widespread attention in recent years and has increased widespread discussion in the public domain. The ideal caesarean...

Obstetric Cholestasis: Current Opinions and Management

Obstetric cholestasis (OC) is a pregnancy-specific liver disorder. It is also known by other names, such as pruritus gravidarum, recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy...

Advances in Imaging in Prenatal Diagnosis and Fetal Therapy

Technology in sonography has advanced tremendously in recent years, contributing to improvements in clinical applications for prenatal diagnosis and fetal therapy. These include transvaginal...

Factors Influencing Fetal Growth

Birth weight remains one of the most important measures we have of the health status of a population, being a strong predictor of both...

Challenges in Perinatal Medicine

One of the significant milestones in the perinatal care in Singapore is the birth of the Perinatal Society of Singapore in March 1989. This...

Book Review

A lot of young orthopaedic surgeons embark on research projects with little guidance. This book is especially directed towards young investigators in the Southeast...

Predicting Significant Hyperbilirubinaemia and Early Discharge for Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficient Newborns

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency occurs in 2.5% of Singapore’s population, and affected newborns are at risk for severe neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia and kernicterus. In the...

Significance of the Lateral Epiphysis of the Acetabulum to Hip Joint Stability

Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) remains one of the most difficult disorders to understand and treat in Paediatric Orthopaedics. The aetiology have not...

Autoimmune Liver Disease in Children

Autoimmune liver disorders are inflammatory liver diseases characterised histologically by a dense mononuclear cell infiltrate, including plasma cells, in the portal tract (Fig. 1)...

HIV/AIDS in Children

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic in Asia has grown from a handful of cases to a major...

Hepatic Resection for Colorectal Metastases to the Liver: The National Cancer Centre/Singapore General Hospital Experience

Colorectal carcinoma is the fourth most common malignancy and the second leading cause of death worldwide. Although surgical resection in combination with adjuvant chemotherapy...

Practical Issues in Adjuvant Therapy for Rectal Cancer

This article is available only as a PDF. Please click on “Download PDF” on top to view the full article.

Total Mesorectal Excision (TME) – Twenty Years On

In 1982, Heald et al1 at the Basingstoke District General Hospital introduced the concept of total mesorectal excision (TME) as a means of performing...

Flat and Depressed Lesions of the Colon and Rectum: Pathogenesis and Clinical Management

It was previously thought that the vast majority of colorectal cancers were derived from polypoid adenomas. However, several investigators have noted that most colorectal...

Improving the Uptake of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Antenatal Screening in a Primary Healthcare Setting

Since the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first diagnosed in Singapore in 1985, its incidence rose from 15 cases in 1988 to 226 in...

Adolescent Health Education Programmes: Theoretical Principles in Design and Delivery

Over the past three decades, the patterns of health need in youth have changed. Psychosocial problems such as depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, sexually...

Art and “the Language of Well-Being” in Adolescent Health Care

Creative processes involve imagining, making unexpected connections, maintaining discipline while letting go of controlling the outcome, opening oneself to pleasure, and moving beyond frustration....

From Recreation to Creative Expression: The Essential Features of an Adolescent Inpatient Psychosocial Support Programme

In 1984, the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne, Australia opened a new ward specifically for adolescent inpatients. This initiative was the result of...

Adolescent Admissions to a Tertiary Paediatric Hospital: A Dynamic Pattern

The nature of paediatric practice is changing worldwide. In developing countries, infant mortality from infectious diseases continues to fall with improved immunisation, medical care...

Clinical Assessment, Management and Outcomes of a Group of Adolescents Presenting with Complex Medico-psychosocial Conditions

Increased sensitivity to biological change can make adolescents particularly vulnerable to non-organic symptomatic disorders. A variety of pains, headaches, dizziness and fatigue may remain...

Adolescent Chronic Illness: A Qualitative Study of Psychosocial Adjustment

Chronic illness during adolescence can have significant psychological and social consequences within many life domains. Growing up with a chronic medical condition presents many...

Strategies to Promote Better Outcomes in Young People with Chronic Illnesses

The epidemiology of child health in the developed world is changing. Mortality from infectious diseases has fallen sharply over the past century due to...

Adolescent Alcohol and Other Substance Use: Sharing the Australian Experience

The most common causes of morbidity in adolescence often have behavioural or social determinants, and can have enormous social and economic consequences for adolescent...

Sexually Transmitted Infections in Singapore Teenagers

Adolescence can be a difficult period for many individuals who have to navigate their way through complicated emotional, psychological, physical and social demands and...

Eating Disorders in Singapore: A Review

Anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge-eating disorder are the three best described ‘eating disorders’. All three are predominantly disorders of women with the core symptoms...

Youth Suicide and Parasuicide in Singapore

The World Health Organization defines suicide as an act with a fatal outcome that is deliberately initiated and performed by the person himself or...

Five-Year Review of Adolescent Mental Health Usage in Singapore

The past 20 years have seen much growth in the knowledge of child and adolescent psychiatric practice. Research has provided an improved understanding in...

The Perils of Puberty

Adolescence is a biopsychosocial maturational process, with the biological changes including completion of linear growth and sexual maturation (puberty), maturation of enzyme systems such...

Adolescent Health—A New Perspective in Singapore

In the past five decades, there have been significant advances in the fields of Paediatrics and Adult Medicine in Singapore. However, the bridging field...

Patterns and predictors of sound levels in hospital rooms

Dear Editor,      Excessive sound levels in the hospital can impair the work performance of healthcare professionals and affect patient well-being.1 Previous studies have also...

Labour epidural practice in a tertiary training centre

Dear Editor, Labour analgesia provided through the central neuraxial approach is offered for parturients who are in their active stage of labour, usually after 2–4cm...

MELAS: A Case Report

A 6-year-old Chinese boy presented at the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery clinic with gingival bleeding due to poor oral hygiene, odontogenic pain due to...

Inflammatory Fibroid Polyp of the Caecum in a Patient with Neurofibromatosis

Inflammatory fibroid polyp is an uncommon nonneoplastic lesion found in the gastrointestinal tract. It is a benign, non-encapsulated submucosal lesion, composed mainly of loose...

Evaluation of a Bedside Test for Phosphorylated Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein-1 in Preterm Labour

The diagnosis of preterm labour poses a problem. Preterm labour accounts for about 50% of preterm births; however, most data reveal that only about...

Oropharyngeal Carriage and Penicillin Resistance of Neisseria meningitidis in Primary School Children in Manisa, Turkey

Infections by Neisseria meningitidis are significant causes of mortality and morbidity in young children and adolescents. The epidemiology of serious meningococcal disease is an...

Inaugural College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists Lecture: Recent Developments in Obstetric Care and Maternal Fetal Medicine in Singapore

Has it done any good to pregnancy outcome as promised? This article is available only as a PDF. Please click on “Download PDF” on top...

1st College of Physicians Lecture: The Role of Internal Medicine as a Specialty in the Era of Subspecialisation

It humbles me to accept the invitation to give this lecture, the First College of Physicians Lecture, titled “The Role of Internal Medicine as...

15th Chapter of Surgeons Lecture: Surgeon of the New Millennium – Surgeon, Scientist and Scholar

Next year, we celebrate a hundred years of medical education in Singapore. We have come a long way since 1821 – from a small,...

Standards and Revalidation or Recertification

In my Gordon Arthur Ransome Oration and other papers, I have described the nature and development of patient-centred professionalism, the key features of which...

Continuing Professional Development – a Surrogate for Recertification?

The Hong Kong Academy of Medicine is a statutory body set up in 1993 with the objectives of fostering the development of postgraduate medical...

Teaching and Learning of Professionalism in Medical Schools

There is now worldwide consensus that the elements of medical professionalism need to be enhanced and explicitly taught in medical schools. Medical schools in...

The Challenge of Teaching Professionalism

For the past 25 years, professionalisation, industrialisation, large-scale infusions of technology into the healthcare system and consumerism, to name a few factors, have definitely...

2004 Runme Shaw Memorial Lecture: Professionalism – A Concept in Need of Nurturing

It is a great honour to be invited to deliver the Runme Shaw Memorial Lecture. I am grateful to the Runme Shaw Foundation for...

17th Gordon Arthur Ransome Oration: Patient-centred Professionalism

When sickness strikes we all need doctors. People everywhere know that the quality of medical care can affect the outcome and possible consequences of...

The Importance of High Resolution Chromosome Analysis in the Diagnosis of Birth Defects: Case Reports of Holoproscencephaly and Cystic Hygroma

Optimal chromosome preparation is a function of many factors. These include cell density culture initiation, optimal time for harvest, concentration and exposure duration to...

Littoral Cell Angioma of the Spleen

The littoral cells line the vascular channels of the red pulp of the spleen and have characteristics of endothelial and histiocytic cells. In 1991,...

Condensing Osteitis of the Medial Clavicle – An Intermediate-term Follow-up

Condensing osteitis of the clavicle is an idiopathic condition affecting the medial end of the clavicle, and is characterised by sclerosis and expansion of...

Tailoring the Field and Indication of Adjuvant Pelvic Radiation for Patients with FIGO Stage Ib Lymph Nodes-Negative Cervical Carcinoma Following Radical Surgery Based on the GOG Score – A Pilot Study

Although no significant survival difference exists between primary surgery and radiotherapy (RT) for the treatment of FIGO stage Ib cervical cancer, radical surgery is...

Refining Clinical Practice: Transforming Science Research into the Art of Medicine

I am humbled by the invitation given to me by Changi General Hospital to deliver this lecture at your 5th Annual Scientific Meeting with...

A Case of Cystic Leiomyoma Mimicking an Ovarian Malignancy

Uterine leiomyomas are the most common gynaecological tumour. Typical appearances of leiomyomas are easily recognised on imaging. This article is available only as a PDF....

Plantar Dislocation of Lateral Tarsometatarsal Joint: A Case of Subtle Lisfranc Injury

Lisfranc fracture dislocations are uncommon injuries and the diagnosis may be easily missed. There are several variations and we present one such variant. This article...

Thoracic Myelopathy Secondary to Ligamentum Flavum Ossification

Acquired thoracic spinal canal stenosis is an uncommon condition compared to myelopathy and radiculopathy frequently seen in the cervical and lumbar spine, respectively. Because...

Marijuana in Pregnancy

Marijuana has been used for thousands of years for both medical and recreational purposes. Because the pharmacological actions of marijuana are complex and include...

Extended-spectrum Beta-lactamases in Clinical Isolates of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. in a Singapore Hospital: Clinical Spectrum

Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) in gram-negative bacillary pathogens are a growing and important problem in hospital practice and it is tied to extensive use of...

Rising Trend of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries in Females in a Regional Hospital

Female athletes are at a greater risk for injuries involving the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) than their male counterparts in high schools and colleges...

Routine Microbiological Screening in Septic Patients in a Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care Unit

Compared to in-hospital patients, patients treated in an intensive care unit (ICU) have the highest risk of contracting an infection. The risk correlates well...

Profunda Femoris Artery Pseudoaneurysm Presenting with Triad of Thigh Swelling, Bleeding and Anaemia

Pseudoaneurysms of the profunda femoris artery have been reported following blunt and penetrating trauma to the thigh, and orthopaedic procedures of the proximal femur....

Medical Education in Asia: Is it a Time for Optimism?

Asia, the largest continent, is also an immensely diverse region with countries that vary in their socio-economic status, degree of urbanisation and health and...

Issues and Priorities of Medical Education Research in Asia

Medical schools traditionally rest on the “three-legged stool” of research, education and service. Hence, medical teachers are sometimes referred to as “triple-threat academicians”. This article...

Cancellous Screw Fixation for Femoral Neck Fractures: One Hundred and Sixteen Patients

The incidence of hip fractures rises with increasing age, doubling for each decade beyond 50 years of age. With the increase in life expectancy...

Deep Vein Thrombosis Following Hip Fracture and Prevalence of Hyperhomocysteinaemia in the Elderly

Western literature reports a high incidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after hip surgery in the absence of prophylaxis. It is reported to be...

Septic Arthritis after Arthroscopic Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Arthroscopic-guided reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is now recognised as the preferred reconstructive option in restoring anterior knee joint stability. According to...

Morbidity Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Using Hamstring Autograft

Rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) impairs the stability of the knee, resulting in difficulty with athletic performance, increased risk of subsequent meniscal...

Abnormal Liver Function Tests in the Symptomatic Pregnant Patient: The Local Experience in Singapore

The diagnostic work-up of abnormal liver function tests (LFT) in pregnancy is challenging, as the conditions peculiar to pregnancy have to be considered in...

Genital Herpes in a Sexually-transmitted Infection Clinic in Singapore: A 1-year Retrospective Study

Genital herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection is a commonly notified sexually transmitted infection (STI). Genital herpes can be caused by both herpes simplex virus...

Twin Births in Singapore: A Population-Based Study Using the National Birth Registry

Twin studies are regarded as one of the better ways to study the effects and significance of gene, environment and interactions of both. The...

A Fatal Turkish Case of Campomelic Dysplasia

Paediatric Medicine (CD) is a rare form of congenital short-limbed dwarfism, classically characterised by campomelia (bowing of the long bones of the lower extremities)...

Familial Risk of Allergic Rhinitis and Atopic Dermatitis among Chinese Families in Singapore

Family history has been shown to be a risk factor for the development of allergic rhinitis (AR) and atopic dermatitis (AD). However, the increase...

Clinical Report: A Case of Williams Syndrome and Klinefelter Syndrome

Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare but well recognised neurodevelopmental disease affecting the connective tissue and the central nervous system. The syndrome was first...

Skin Manifestation of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia Infection – A Case Report and Review Article

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an aerobic gram-negative bacillus that is found in aquatic environments. It is a frequent coloniser of fluids used in the hospital...

Gender Disparity in Paediatric Hospital Admissions

Gender difference in the incidence of childhood diseases has long been recognised. but the magnitude of this effect and consistency across many disease categories...

The Effectiveness of Transvaginal Anterior Colporrhaphy Reinforced with Polypropylene Mesh in the Treatment of Severe Cystoceles

Using the Baden-Walker halfway system, Grade 4 cystoceles are defined as extrusions of the bladder base beyond the vaginal introitus with patient straining maximally...

Professionalism: Looking For Your Blind Spots

In 1996 a major breakthrough was reported in the medical literature. A 5-week ectopic pregnancy was re-implanted into the uterus via the cervix, and...

Study of Inherited Metabolic Disorders in Singapore – 13 Years Experience

Inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs) described in the early 1900s by Garrod were due to a block in a metabolic pathway, arising from an...

Does Visual Turbidity Correlate With Serum Triglyceride Levels in Babies on Total Parenteral Nutrition?

Intravenous lipid infusion is commonly used as part of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) in newborn babies. Upon infusion, it forms an emulsion that resembles...

Methodological Aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has a long history but its efficacy is not as well-documented as one would hope. Proof of efficacy has to...

A Practical Way of Research in Chinese Medicine

Chinese medicine individualises its treatment plan and practice and refutes any general law. Therefore, Chinese medicine practitioners do not have the tradition of research. This...

Corticosteroids are not Present in a Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulation for Atopic Dermatitis in Children

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common, chronic inflammatory skin disease. It has been estimated that 15% of schoolchildren aged 13 to 14 years have...

Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Paediatric Oncology Patients in Singapore

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been gaining acceptance throughout the world. The efficacy of CAM is unproven, yet it remains popular with the...

Complementary and Alternative Medicine, and Traditional Chinese Medicine: Time for Critical Engagement

Practice outside of mainstream or conventional medicine has always been an important part of public healthcare in some countries, particularly in the developing world....

Book Review

This handbook is written by 3 obstetricians and gynaecologists based at the KK Women’s & Children’s Hospital, Singapore. It is an excellent book that...

Recurrent Non-immune Fetal Hydrops: A Case Report

The incidence of non-immune hydrops (NIH) has been reported to be 1/10001 and is associated with high perinatal morbidity and mortality at all gestational...

The Epidemiology of Paediatric Intussusception in Singapore: 1997 to 2004

Intussusception (IS) is the most common cause of intestinal obstruction in infants and young children. The peak age of presentation is 4 to 8...

Student Academic Committees: An Approach to Obtain Students’ Feedback

The shift of medical curricula from a traditional subject based to an integrated module-based system can be seen in many medical schools worldwide. The...

Curricular Trends in Malaysian Medical Schools: Innovations Within

Medical educators continue to evaluate and introduce innovations into their curriculum with the objective of achieving appropriate outcomes for their graduates so that they...

A Problem-Based Learning Pathway for Medical Students: Improving the Process Through Action Research

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centred, self-directed, integrated and contextual mode of learning. It has been widely perceived by many to confer advantages in...

A Simple Instrument for the Assessment of Student Performance in Problem-based Learning Tutorials

Assessment can be done in a variety of ways, for many purposes, and for different populations. It can occur at the classroom level, programme...

An Online Evaluation of Problem-based Learning (PBL) in Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan – A Pilot Study

The goal of problem-based learning (PBL) is to motivate students to develop self-learning skills in a small group. PBL embraces principles of good learning...

Evidence-based Medicine in Clinical Curriculum

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is “the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of the best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients.” Considering...

Leadership and Professionalism Curriculum in the Gross Anatomy Course

Healthcare delivery systems worldwide are currently undergoing significant changes to create resilient learning organisations that are able to adapt with ever-increasing speed to shifting...

Constructing Multiple Choice Questions as a Method for Learning

Students in general and medical students in particular are often described as “strategic learners”, but in reality many become superficial learners out of necessity...

Computer-based Versus Pen-and-paper Testing: Students’ Perception

Computer-based testing (CBT) has gained popularity as a testing modality, with large-scale professional examinations such as the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) adopting...

Curriculum TIPS For All of Us

Medical education is a lifelong learning process. Just as we remind our students and ourselves that the practice of medicine is a lifelong process...

Cutaneous and Subcutaneous Metastases of Adenocarcinoma of the Colon and Rectum

Cutaneous metastasis from colorectal adenocarcinoma is an interesting condition not only because of its rarity, it occurs in less than 4% of patients with...

A Report of Two Families with Sarcosinaemia in Hong Kong and Revisiting the Pathogenetic Potential of Hypersarcosinaemia

Sarcosinaemia (OMIN 268900) is an autosomal recessive condition due to the deficiency of sarcosine dehydrogenase (E.C. 1.5.99.1). It is a rare condition with an...

Infected Pancreatic Necrosis – An Evaluation of the Timing and Technique of Necrosectomy in a Southeast Asian Population

The management of necrotising pancreatitis has improved significantly over the last 2 decades, with a corresponding improvement in mortality rates. This improvement is largely...

Complications Relating to Intravenous Buprenorphine Abuse: A Single Institution Case Series

Buprenorphine, more commonly known as Subutex (Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals), has been released in Singapore since 2002. Initially marketed as an opiate substitute to help...

Community-associated Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: Overview and Local Situation

The emergence and spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates from the community that are distinct from their archetypal healthcare-associated counterparts (HA-MRSA) marked a...

Translational Research – A Multidisciplinary Approach

Translational research aims to convert laboratory discoveries into therapeutic gains for patients – in oncology, drug development is a prime example. This multifaceted process...

A Complex, Contagious, Evolutionary Habit

Yawning is often noted in medical seminars and conferences – be they surgical, orthopaedic, gastroenterological, endocrinological or neurological. Yet, this condition receives little coverage...

Amendment of the Human Organ Transplant Act

Kidney transplants have been carried out in Singapore for more than 35 years, with the first cadaveric kidney transplant operation performed on 8 July...

Neonatal Priapism Associated With Spontaneous Bilateral Pyocavernositis

Priapism is a pathological state of prolonged, generally painful erection, unassociated with sexual desire and not ending in ejaculation. Rare before the 1980s, this...

Paediatrics to Geriatrics: The Continuum

In many parts of Asia today, paediatricians are still grappling with the childhood problems of infectious diseases, diarrhoeal diseases and malnutrition. In Singapore, it...

Radiographic Features of SARS in Paediatric Patients: A Review of Cases in Singapore

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a newly emerged atypical pneumonia caused by the SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). It is easily transmitted via droplet infection...

Necrotising Fasciitis and Traditional Medical Therapy – A Dangerous Liaison

The first case was a 54-year-old lady, with a history of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidaemia, who presented with bilateral hand pain and stiffness...

Interesting In- and Outpatient Attendances at Hogwarts Infirmary and St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies

With the return of “You Know Who” (YKW) and the rise of Death Eaters, injuries amongst both muggle and wizarding folk (MF and WF)...

The Doctor’s Multi-instrument Tool of the Future?

It is just another day in 2020, except that the eyes of the medical world are eagerly awaiting the latest invention to be revealed:...

Relationship Between Item Difficulty and Discrimination Indices in True/False-Type Multiple Choice Questions of a Para-clinical Multidisciplinary Paper

Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are used more and more in departmental examinations or as comprehensive examinations at the end of an academic session. They may...

A Rotavirus Vaccine for Infants: The Asian Experience

Of all the enteric pathogens that infect young children, rotavirus is recognised as the leading cause of severe gastroenteritis worldwide. Rotavirus accounts for 20%...

Therapeutic Hypothermia for Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischaemic Encephalopathy

Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) is an important cause of death and later neurological disability in full-term neonates worldwide. Perinatal asphyxia causes about 19% of the...

Outcome of Organic Acidurias in China

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Organising Services for IMD in Thailand: Twenty Years Experience

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Newborn Screening in Pakistan – Lessons from a Hospital-based Congenital Hypothyroidism Screening Programme

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Newborn Screening in Bangladesh

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Newborn Screening in China: Phenylketonuria, Congenital Hypothyroidism and Expanded Screening

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Minimising Harm from Newborn Screening Programmes

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Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip: Universal or Selective Ultrasound Screening?

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Financing Newborn Screening Systems: US Experience

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Inborn Errors of Metabolism Presenting as Neonatal Encephalopathy: Practical Tips for Clinicians

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Legal Issues in Neonatal Screening

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Neuroblastoma Screening in Japan: Population-based Cohort Study and Future Aspects of Screening

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External Quality Assurance Programme for Newborn Screening of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency

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Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency: Correlation between the Genotype, Biochemistry and Phenotype

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Disorders of Vitamin B12 Metabolism Presenting Through Newborn Screening

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Diagnosis of Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) Responsive Mild Phenylketonuria in Japan over the Past 10 Years

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Fatty Acid Oxidation Defects

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Disorders of the Carnitine Cycle and Detection by Newborn Screening

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Spectrum of Inherited Metabolic Disorders in Malaysia

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Establishing a Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Programme

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Current Understanding of Auditory Neuropathy

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A Multidisciplinary Approach to Paediatric Hearing Loss: Programme at the Centre for Hearing Intervention and Language Development, National University Hospital, Singapore

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Early Intervention For Hearing Impairment: Appropriate, Accessible and Affordable

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Impact of the National Hearing Screening Programme in China

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Outcome of Early Cochlear Implantation

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Eliminating Iodine Deficiency: Obstacles and Their Removal

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Neuro-developmental Deficits in Early-treated Congenital Hypothyroidism

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Issues on Universal Screening for Galactosemia

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Newborn Screening for all Identifiable Disorders with Tandem Mass Spectrometry is Cost Effective: The Negative Case

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Newborn Screening for all Identifiable Disorders with Tandem Mass Spectrometry is Cost Effective: Supporting Arguments

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My Early Experiences in Establishing Neonatal Screening and the Reason for Regional Meetings of the International Society for Neonatal Screening

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Diagnosis and Management Support for an Expanded Newborn Screening Programme

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Considerations in Choosing Screening Conditions: One (US) Approach

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Clinical Applications of Molecular Genetics: The Model of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

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Newborn Screening in Japan: Restructuring for the New Era

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Improved Health and Development of Children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing Following Early Intervention

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Towards Universal Newborn Screening in Developing Countries: Obstacles and the Way Forward

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Improving Child Health – Newborn Screening for All?

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Neonatal Screening – A Global Perspective

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Towards a Global Educational Matrix for Tomorrow’s Health Systems

Society supports medical schools expecting them to produce physicians who can improve both the health of the population as well as the health system...

Harnessing the IT Factor in Medical Education

In this digital age, we are constantly inundated with breathtaking images worthy of an Ansel Adams photograph or a Zhang Yimou film. Is it...

A Systems Approach to Teach Core Topics across Graduate Medical Education Programmes

Core curricula including Ethics, Medico-legal issues, Socioeconomics, and Quality Improvement (QI) are relevant and significant for graduate medical education programmes, regardless of specialty. A...

World Federation for Medical Education Policy on International Recognition of Medical Schools’ Programme

There is an increasing need for international quality assurance of medical education. However, there are no present mechanisms for international recognition of medical educational...

Quality Management of Medical Education at the Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine, University of Technology Dresden, Germany

In Germany, medical education is an undergraduate programme for which the students applying at the “Zentralstelle für die Vergabe von Studienplätzen” (ZVS); the final...

Supporting Learners who are Studying or Training Using a Second Language: Preventing Problems and Maximising Potential

Travel and immigration are vibrant aspects of the international medical and educational field. Patients are increasingly mobile and finding healthcare professionals in a foreign...

Development of a Tool to Evaluate Health Science Students’ Experiences of an Interprofessional Education (IPE) Programme

A shortage of healthcare professionals and resources in rural areas is well documented. These workforce shortages necessitate new models of healthcare in rural areas...

Step-2 Thai Medical Licensing Examination Result: A Follow-up Study

The Center for Evaluating and Accrediting Medical Competency of the Thai Medical Council has established the regulation that Thai medical graduates matriculated as of...

Does Team Learning Motivate Students’ Engagement in an Evidence-based Medicine Course?

Team-based learning (TBL) is a well-defined instructional strategy that has generated considerable interest within the medical education community because of its potential to promote...

A Survey of Medical Students’ Perceptions of the Quality of their Medical Education upon Graduation

Founded in 1934, Tehran University of Medical Sciences School of Medicine (TUMS-SoM) is the oldest modern medical school in Iran. It has the most...

Implementation and Evaluation by Formal Assessments and Term End Student Feedback of a New Methodology of Clinical Teaching in Surgery in Small Group Sessions

In clinically-oriented subjects such as surgery, specific guidelines for conducting small group teachings are lacking. Different methods are being practiced and researched in different...

The Learning of 7th Year Medical Students at Internal Medical – Evaluation by Logbooks

In 1945, Taihoku (Taipei) Imperial University was renamed the National Taiwan University and the Japanese teaching system was replaced with a system implemented by...

Use of Knowledge-sharing Web-based Portal in Gross and Microscopic Anatomy

The extensive use of and the rate at which medical technology is becoming an integral force in medicine has impacted on the way in...

Assessment of Psychometric Properties of a Modified PHEEM Questionnaire

In Sri Lanka, after a 5-year medical undergraduate curriculum, graduates from the medical faculties undergo a one year mandatory internship or housemanship, 6 months...

Medical Education in a Flat World

In 2005 Thomas Friedman published the international best-seller The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. He asserted that as the...

Successful Management of an Iatrogenically-ingested Sharp Foreign Body

A 37-year-old man with no significant medical history underwent dental treatment. An injection dental needle used in the course of root canal treatment came...

Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation Should Not Only Be a Test of Clinical Skill

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) was originally a test (or summative assessment) specifically of clinical skills, using standardised patients (SP), anatomical models and...

5th College of Physicians Lecture – A Physician’s Odyssey: Recollections and Reflections

Allow me to thank you Mr President and your Council for asking me to deliver the 5th College of Physicians Lecture. Your President has...

Standard Setting in Student Assessment: Is a Defensible Method Yet to Come?

To validate any “adjective”, be it for living or non-living, a criteria or standard is needed. Globalisation, mobility of doctors and the rising number...

Innovative “Case-Based Integrated Teaching” in an Undergraduate Medical Curriculum: Development and Teachers’ and Students’ Responses

In Asia, the challenges facing medical education are similar across different countries. The learning process is still problematic with large classes, and most of...

Prevalence of Refractive Error in Malay Primary School Children in Suburban Area of Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia

Refractive error remains one of the primary causes of visual impairment in children worldwide. Prevalence of visual impairment in children, is defined as uncorrected...

A Review of Clinical Pathway Data of 1663 Total Knee Arthroplasties in a Tertiary Institution in Singapore

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has been established as an effective treatment modality for patients with symptomatic knee arthritis. It provides predictable decrement in pain,...

Right Atrial Isomerism – Preponderance in Asian Fetuses. Using the Stomach-distance ratio as a Possible Diagnostic Tool for Prediction of Right Atrial Isomerism

Atrial isomerism is a disorder of lateralisation characterised by symmetric development of normally asymmetric cardiac atria and organ systems. The synonyms for these defects...

When Words Really Matter

I think a lot these days about doctors giving advice. Nobody taught me, back in medical school, how to give advice. This article is available...

Evidence-based Medicine (EBM) for Undergraduate Medical Students

The practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM), which integrates individual clinical expertise with the best available evidence from systematic research, demands a set of skills....

Transudates in Malignancy: Still a Role for Pleural Fluid

According to Light’s criteria, an exudate is defined by at least one of the following: a total protein pleural fluid to serum ratio greater...

Behavioural Sleep Disorders in Children and Adolescents

Overall, children spend one-third to one-half of their life sleeping. Although sleep comprises such a significant portion of a child’s day, sleep disturbances are...

Cardiovascular Changes in Children with Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnoea

Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is a spectrum of diseases ranging from primary snoring to obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). A recent review suggested that the...

Obesity and Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Hypopnoea Syndrome in Singapore Children

Obesity is becoming a problem of epidemic proportions and is perhaps, the most pervasive medical problem faced by medical providers today. It is a...

Sleep Disorders in Children: The Singapore Perspective

Sleep problems are common in children. For example, snoring occurs in more than 25% of Singapore children1 and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) occurs in...

Diagnosis and Evaluation of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea in Children

Children with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) may present with nocturnal and/or diurnal symptoms. The history is best obtained from parents, or siblings who share...

The Scope of Paediatric Sleep Medicine

Despite apparent similarities to adult sleep medicine, the disorders of paediatric sleep medicine have a distinct epidemiology and pathophysiology. During childhood, the physiology of...

Sleep Disturbances in Singaporean Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood psychiatric disorder with various studies reporting prevalence rates of between 1.7% and 16%. The most...

Inflammatory Cytokines and Childhood Obstructive Sleep Apnoea

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is characterised by repeated episodes of upper airway occlusion during sleep that are associated with daytime behavioural changes and abnormalities...

Nasal Obstruction in Children with Sleep-disordered Breathing

Nasal breathing is critical in infants and children; for example, neonatal choanal atresia often leads to respiratory distress and may require urgent intervention in...

“Bone Block” and Congenital Spine Deformity

A 14-year-old female who presented with a limited range of neck motion with various congenital vertebral anomalies that included improper segmentation or extensive “fusion”...

Chylous Ascites in Recurrent Gynaecological Malignancies

Chylous ascites is an unusual phenomenon where there is accumulation of chyle in the peritoneal cavity. It is especially rare following treatment of gynaecological...

Placental Calcification in Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is an inherited multisystem disorder of the elastic tissue leading to skin disease as well as ocular and cardiovascular complications. Although...

Holoprosencephaly: An Antenally-diagnosed Case Series and Subject Review

Holoproscencephaly (HPE) is an uncommon congenital developmental defect of the forebrain structures to divide into separate hemispheres and ventricles during embryogenesis. The prevalence rate...

Self-directed Learning in Health Professions Education

More than 600,000 new citations were published in MEDLINE in 2005; this raised the total number of indexed citations to more than 14 million...

Autologous Bone Marrow Plasma Injection after Arthroscopic Debridement for Elbow Tendinosis

Elbow tendinosis is a term used to describe a syndrome of pain involving the extensor or flexor tendon origin of the forearm musculature. It...

Immunogenicity, Reactogenicity and Safety of a Diphtheria-Tetanus-Acellular Pertussis-Inactivated Polio and Haemophilus Influenzae Type b Combination Vaccine in a Placebo-controlled Rotavirus Vaccine Study

Singapore’s national immunisation programme for the 6 traditional Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) vaccines (i.e. BCG, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and measles) and hepatitis...

Transfusion-dependent Microcytic Anaemia in a 10-year-old Girl

A 10-year-girl from Bangladesh presented with a moderately severe anaemia (lowest recorded haemoglobin level of 5.6 g/dL) and a mild jaundice (latest serum bilirubin,...

Caudal Regression Syndrome

A white female with an uncomplicated history of birth delivery and a familial history of diabetes mellitus presented to the orthopaedic clinic at the...

Laparoscopic Heller’s Cardiomyotomy for Achalasia of the Cardia in a Pregnant Patient

Laparoscopy was first used for the evaluation of acute abdominal pain in pregnancy by gynaecologists in 1980. The most commonly reported laparoscopic procedure during...

Primary Hydatid Disease of the Humerus

Hydatid disease is a parasitic tapeworm infection caused by Echinococcus species. E.granulosus and E.alveolaris are the most common causes of hydatid disease in humans. This...

Spontaneous Vaginal Expulsion of a Filshie Clip

Laparoscopic sterilisation is a common method of permanent contraception. The Filshie clip system is a safe and effective method of female sterilisation. This article is...

3rd College of Paediatrics and Child Health Lecture – The Past, the Present and the Shape of Things to Come…

In the post-war days of the 1950s, Singapore children were faced with problems of malnutrition and infectious diseases. There was poverty, overcrowded housing and...

Sir Gordon Arthur Ransome (1910-1978) – His Teaching Style and His Legacy

Sir Gordon Arthur Ransome was born in Salop, England, in 1910.1 He came to Singapore in 1938, where he taught and practised medicine for...

Translating the Family Medicine Vision into Educational Programmes in Singapore

The core of the Family Medicine (FM) vision is patient-centred care, requiring specific education and vocational training. Modern day FM began its existence as...

Auricular Anthropometry of Newborns at the Singapore General Hospital

Abnormalities of the external ear are described in many syndromes and genetic conditions. Melnick et al reported an incidence of 1 in 90 births...

Recurrent Patellar Dislocation: Reappraising our Approach to Surgery

Traumatic patellar dislocations affect mainly adolescents and young adults. Up to 44% of patients will develop recurrent dislocation. This article is available only as a...

Triple Endobuttton Technique in Acromioclavicular Joint Reduction and Reconstruction

Acromioclavicular joint (ACJ) dislocation is a common injury often affecting young athletes. Cyclist, ice hockey players, weight lifters, rugby players and martial exponents are...

Return to Sports After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction – A Review of Patients with Minimum 5-year Follow-up

Complete anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture results in a mechanically unstable knee. ACL reconstruction is recommended in athletes to help restore knee stability for...

Clinical Evaluation of Arthroscopic-assisted Allograft Meniscal Transplantation

The menisci of the knee are fibro-cartilaginous structures essential for the normal biomechanic of the knee joint. They play a critical role in shock...

Erysipelothrix rhuseopathiae Septicaemia with Prolonged Hypotension: A Case Report

Erysipelothrix sp. is a gram-positive, non-spore forming bacterium that was first isolated by Robert Koch. It has the unusual ability to infect a large...

Advanced Burkitt’s Lymphoma Presenting With Jejunal Perforation

Burkitt’s lymphoma (BL) is a high grade B-cell neoplasm under the umbrella of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. It is predominantly seen in children but may also...

Renal Cell Carcinoma Bony Metastasis Treatment

Patellar metastases are extremely rare, ironically, primary tumours of the patella are more common than metastatic disease. A Medline search from 1960 to the...

Treatment of Cardiogenic Pulmonary Oedema by Helmet-delivered Non-invasive Pressure Support Ventilation in Children With Scorpion Sting Envenomation

Scorpion stings represent an important and serious public health problem worldwide due to their high incidence and potentially severe and often fatal clinical manifestations,...

Angioplasty in Critical Limb Ischaemia: One-year Limb Salvage Results

Critical limb ischaemia (CLI) is the most severe form of peripheral vascular disease where there is inadequate blood flow to a limb to maintain...

Care of Women in Menopause: Sexual Function, Dysfunction and Therapeutic Modalities

Menopause is a life change described by biological alterations occurring in the context of important social changes. There is an increasing appreciation for the...

Screening Tools for Bacteraemia in a Selected Population of Febrile Children

Bacteraemia refers to the presence of bacteria in the bloodstream. The presence or absence of toxicity differentiates occult bacteraemia, which is relatively asymptomatic, from...

Review of the Management Outcome of Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis and the Role of Prophylactic Contra-lateral Pinning Re-examined

Slipped capital femoral epiphysis is the commonest hip problem in the adolescent age group. The goals of treatment are aimed at avoiding the complications...

The Hospitalist Movement – A Complex Adaptive Response to The Hospitalist Movement – A Complex Adaptive Response to Fragmentation of Care in Hospitals

Healthcare systems are complex adaptive systems. They are capable of self organisation through interacting agents that adapt to changes to the internal and external...

Medication Use in the Transition from Hospital to Home

Hospital discharge can be a complex and challenging time for physicians and patients alike. Patients are being discharged sooner, often in the process of...

Family Medicine Education in Singapore: A Long-standing Collaboration between Specialists and Family Physicians

In the US, Canada and Australia, the postgraduate training of family physicians (FPs) involves the attachment of family medicine (FM) trainees to specialist departments,...

Bridging the Gap between Primary and Specialist Care: Formidable Challenges Ahead

The strong guiding hand and deep pockets of the state have brought about the growth of hospitals and national specialist centres while leaving the...

An Unexpected Presentation of Endometriosis – A “Parasitic” Cyst of the Bowel in a Menopausal Woman on Hormone Therapy

Endometriosis commonly affects women during their reproductive years and may involve any organ. Although rare, endometriosis has been reported in postmenopausal women and is...

Osteochondral Lesions of the Talus

Osteochondral lesions of the talus are a known cause of chronic ankle pain. They are frequently found in the active population after ankle sprains. This...

Menopause, Hormone Therapy and Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease

Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of morbidity among postmenopausal women. Up to the age of 50 years, the prevalence of coronary artery disease...

Clinical Skills in Final-year Medical Students: The Relationship between Self-reported Confidence and Direct Observation by Faculty or Residents

In clinical medical education, instructors train students in their medical knowledge and clinical skills. Medical educators also aspire to develop students’ self-confidence in medical...

Paediatric perineal skin pit: More than skin deep?

A 2.5-year-old boy was referred to our clinic for abnormal genitalia and a febrile urinary tract infection (Escherichia coli >105 colony-forming units/mL). At birth,...

Multimodal prehabilitation before major abdominal surgery: A retrospective study

Ageing is one of the biggest public health concerns of the 21st century, presenting a challenge to the practice of medicine globally. As the...

Recurrent Group B Streptococcal Septicemia in a Very Low Birth Weight Infant with Infective Endocarditis and Submandibular Cellulitis

Maternal Group B streptococcal colonisation can lead to neonatal pneumonia, meningitis or sepsis. Neonatal Group B Streptococcal (GBS) sepsis is common, but infective endocarditis...

Morbidity of Parainfluenza 3 Outbreak in Preterm Infants in a Neonatal Unit

Parainfluenza type 3 virus (PIV-3) is an important nosocomial pathogen. It closely mimics respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in its clinical presentations, and in infants....

The Natural History and Prognosticative Factors of Adult Extremity Soft Tissue Sarcomas: An Asian Perspective

Soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) are extremely rare tumours, making up about 1% of all malignancies. In Singapore, they accounted for 0.7% of all cancers...

An Unexpected Outcome following Radial Head Excision for Jeffrey Type II Fracture-Dislocation of the Proximal Radius in a Child

We present a case of a 10-year-old child who sustained a traumatic fracture-dislocation of his proximal radius and subsequently underwent surgical removal of the...

Temporary Tattoo Associated Type IV Delayed Hypersensitivity Dermatitis in a Child – A Case Report and Call for Parental Caution in Singapore

A 5-year-old, previously healthy French Caucasian boy was seen at a Paediatric Emergency Department for a skin rash over his left forearm. This article is...

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Peritoneal Metastases: Report of Three Cases and Collective Review of the Literature

Peritoneal dissemination of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a rare presentation, with an incidence of 2% to 6% detected during autopsy or laparoscopy. Although uncommon,...

Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases – Understanding the Differences in the Management of Synchronous and Metachronous Disease

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the commonest cancers worldwide with age standardised incidence rates of 22.8 to 64.2 and 19.0 to 46.7 per...

The Influence of Maternal Ethnic Group and Diet on Breast Milk Fatty Acid Composition

Human milk is the ideal food which provides the complete nutritional requirements for infants during the first 6 months of life. The lipids accumulated...

A Case of Congenital Haemolytic Anaemia and Thrombocytopenia

A 20-month-old boy came from Bangladesh to Singapore for medical consultation. He presented with progressive pallor, easy bruising, intermittent dark-coloured urine, and failure to...

An Exanthem with An Annular Pattern in a 2-year-old Girl

A 2-year-old Chinese girl was seen in clinic with an erythematous annular itchy rash which began on the thighs and had spread to the...

Clinical Features Differentiating Biliary Atresia from Other Causes of Neonatal Cholestasis

Causes of neonatal cholestasis (NC) are long and diverse but the responses of newborn liver, either physiological or anatomical, are limited. This is because...

Surgical Metastasectomy in AJCC Stage IV M1c Melanoma Patients with Gastrointestinal and Liver Metastases

The prognosis of patients with stage IV melanoma or recurrent melanoma is poor with an estimated median survival period of 6 months. The recent...

Comparison of Clinical Outcomes and Cost Between Surgical and Transcatheter Device Closure of Atrial Septal Defects in Singapore Children

Congenital heart defects (CHD), with an incidence of approximately 1 in 100 live births, are the most important and frequent congenital malformations. It can...

A Clinicopathologic Study of Uterine Smooth Muscle Tumours of Uncertain Malignant Potential (STUMP)

Smooth Muscle Tumours of Undetermined Malignant Potential or STUMPs are interesting tumours from both the standpoint of histological diagnosis and classification as well as...

Effect of Autologous Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Biological Healing of Allografts in Critical-sized Tibial Defects Simulated in Adult Rabbits

Bridging of large bone defects is a challenging problem in orthopedic and reconstructive surgery. Options include vascularised bone autografts, non-vascularised bone autografts, allografts, bioceramics...

Bannayan Riley Ruvalcaba Syndrome

Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba syndrome (BRRS) classically presents with macrocephaly, subcutaneous and visceral lipomata, haemangiomata, hamartomatous intestinal polyps and pigmented macules involving the genitalia. This autosomal dominant...

Dyke-Davidoff-Masson Syndrome

An 8-year-old boy presented with uncontrolled seizures. He was born as the second child to non-consanguineous parents. He had significant perinatal asphyxia in the...

Emergency Surgery for a Ruptured Intra-abdominal Desmoid Tumour

Desmoid tumours are fibrous benign tumours that are often indolent until local symptoms evolve. We highlight a rare case of a ruptured intra-abdominal desmoid...

The Need for a System of Prognostication in Skeletal Metastasis to Decide Best End-of-life Care – A Call to Arms

Decisions regarding potential surgery for metastatic disease are influenced by estimates of patient survival. For example, patients with long life expectancy may be appropriately...

Evaluation of Intensive Care Unit-acquired Urinary Tract Infections in Singapore

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common types of nosocomial infections encountered in the inpatient settings including intensive care unit (ICU)....

Childhood Food Allergy: A Singaporean Perspective

Food allergy is defined as reaction to a food which has an immunologic mechanism. If immunoglobulin E (IgE) is involved in the reaction, the...

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) is Expressed During Articular Cartilage Growth and Re-expressed in Osteoarthritis

Growth factors are polypeptides that direct cells to proliferate, differentiate, migrate or produce matrix. They exert their effects by interacting with specific receptors on...

Transcatheter Closure of Atrial Septal Defects – Is Balloon Sizing Still Necessary?

Device closure of atrial septal defects through the transcatheter approach has now been well accepted as an option to surgical treatment. A range of...

Effectiveness of Vacuum-assisted Closure (VAC) Therapy in the Healing of Chronic Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Diabetes mellitus is a common problem in Singapore, with an incidence of 8.2% in the local population aged between 18 and 69 in 2004....

Medical Professionalism in the Internet Age

Medical professionalism encompasses the conduct and practices of physicians, both as individuals and as a collective organisation. Professionalism enhances the trust and confidence of...

Survey of Healthcare Workers’ Attitudes, Beliefs and Willingness to Receive the 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) Vaccine and the Impact of Educational Campaigns

Since the first positive 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) case was reported in Singapore on 26 May 2009, the country saw an exponential rise...

Obstetric Outcomes of Influenza A H1N1 (2009) Infection in Pregnancy – Experience of a Singapore Tertiary Hospital

Influenza A H1N1 (2009) is a new viral strain containing gene segments from human, swine and avian lineages. Soon after reports of human cases...

Reply from Author: Is It Time to Revise the Definition of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?

We would like to thank the author for suggesting that the definition of ADHD should be revised. This is an important consideration in the...

Is It Time to Revise the Definition of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?

I read with interest the article published in the Annals entitled “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Coping or Curing?”, which concluded that coping rather than...

Developing the “NUS Tummy Dummy”, A Low-Cost Simulator to Teach Medical Students to Perform the Abdominal Examination

Simulators may be used to provide adequate exposure to learning experiences that allow clinical skills to develop, that is, allow medical students and trainees...

Inadvertent Use of Bevacizumab to Treat Choroidal Neovascularisation During Pregnancy: A Case Report

The recognition that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (NVAMD) has led to...

Dedicated Cytogenetics Factor is Critical for Improving Karyotyping Results for Childhood Leukaemias – Experience in the National University Hospital, Singapore 1989-2006

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) make up the bulk of childhood leukaemia cases. With risk stratified therapy being one of...

Epidemiological Surveillance and Control of Rubella in Singapore, 1991-2007

Rubella is a mild febrile viral exanthematous disease transmitted through droplets or direct contact with the nasopharyngeal secretion of an infected person. It is...

Emerging Trends in Breastfeeding Practices in Singaporean Chinese Women: Findings from a Population-based Study

The health benefits of breast milk have been well documented, with positive implications for infants’ metabolic, immunologic, respiratory and digestive health. The World Health...

A Missed Bilateral Choanal Atresia

What do you see in the image? a) Deviated posterior nasal septum b) Nasopharyngeal tumour c) Rhinolith with mucous plug d) Bilateral choanal atresia e) Nasal pyriform aperture stenosis This...

Dilemmas in Management of Brain Tumours in Pregnancy

Brain tumours in pregnancy are rare with an incidence of 15 per 100,000 and previous reports have shown variable outcomes. We present a case...