[Etiologies of mortality in the hepato-gastroenterology and internal medicine department at the Sino-Central African Friendship University Hospital]

OBJECTIVE

to contribute to improving the care of patients hospitalized in the department.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2020. We included patients of both sexes hospitalized and who died in the department whose cause of death was known.

RESULTS

During the study period, 1324 patients were hospitalized, of whom 279 died (21.07%). Of the 279 cases of death, 222 were included in the study. The clinical signs were: deterioration in general condition (95%), ascites (61.7%), hepatomegaly (57.6%), jaundice (44.9%). The most frequent diagnoses retained in our patients were: cirrhosis (39.6%), primary liver cancer (30.6%), HIV infection (11.4%), pancreatic cancer '6.8%). Causes of death were in order of frequency: hepatic encephalopathy (22.5%), primary end-stage liver cancer (20.3%), ascites fluid infection (16.2%) , hypovolemic shock (14.9%).

CONCLUSION

The deceased patients had chronic liver disease with a significant deterioration in general condition. Deaths are due to infectious and metabolic complications. An improvement of the technical platform is essential.

[Etiology and prognosis of acute mechanical intestinal obstructions at the National Hospital of Zinder: Cross-sectional study of 171 patients]

Acute mechanical intestinal obstruction (AIO) is one of the most frequent pathologies in emergency digestive surgery. The objective of this study was to describe the etiologic and prognostic features of acute mechanical intestinal obstruction at the National Hospital of Zinder (HNZ), Niger. We conducted a cross-sectional study including all the patients operated for AIO over a period of 24 months (January 2013 - December 2014) Mechanical intestinal obstructions represent 24.50% (n=171) of digestive surgical emergencies (n=622). The median age was 25 years (range: 1 day-95 years). The sex ratio was 3.5 in favour of men. Children accounted for 38.60% (n=66). The seat of the obstacle was at the level of the small bowel in 60.82% (n=104), colonic in 21.63% (n=37) and mixed in 17.54% (n=30). The mechanism of strangulation accounted for 88,89% (n=152), among these strangulated hernias were detected in 49,70% (n=85) of patients and acute intestinal invaginations in 19,88% (n=34) of patients. Anorectal malformations and tumors were the main cause of obstruction in 7.02% (n=12) and 3.51% (n=6) of cases respectively. Intestinal resection was performed in 52 cases (30.41%). Septic complications prevailed (n=39/53); among these parietal suppuration (n=23). The average length of stay in hospital was 7.82 days. The overall mortality rate was 11.70% (n=20). This was statistically correlated to intestinal necrosis (p=0.01) and to delayed hospital admission (p=0.04). There are many causes of AIO which are dominated by strangulated hernia. The high morbidity and mortality rate from AIO might be prevented by early treatment performed before intestinal necrosis occurs.

[Infectious Etiologies of the acute diarrheas of the child from 0 to 5 years at the Pediatric University hospital Charles de Gaulle (Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso)]

To identify the infectious agents responsible for acute diarrheas in children from 0 to 5 years, with the aim of improving care, we led a cross-sectional prospective study at the Pediatric University hospital Charles de Gaulle from January 1st - November 30th, 2009. A sample of 103 children's stools hospitalized for acute diarrhea was analyzed. The average age of the patients was of 9.5 months and the most affected age bracket was the one from 0 to 12 months. More than half of the cases of diarrheas (60.2%) had an infectious etiology of which 33% of viral origin, 21.4% bacterial, 9.7% parasitic and in 9.7% of the cases a co-infection. In the viral diarrheas, rotavirus was observed in 17.5% of the cases and serotypes adenoviruses 40, 41 in 15.5% of the cases. The isolated bacteria were essentially represented by enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (21 cases). This bacterium had a strong resistance to amoxicillin, cotrimoxazole (90%) as well as in the amoxicillin+Clavulanic acid (57%). The ascendancy of rotavirus in the etiology of the acute diarrheas of children from 0 to 5 years hints to a need for vaccination against this infectious agent. Aside from the ineffectiveness of group A penicillins and of the cotrimoxazole against most of the isolated bacteria calls to medical prescribers to reconsider antibiotic treatment in the diarrheas of the children.