Referral For Investigation Research Articles

Diagnosis of asthma in children under five

Cough and wheeze are common symptoms in childhood, but mostly do not signify a serious illness. On the basis of history and examination, such children should be allocated into one of five diagnostic categories. Very few need additional tests, although there are specific pointers in the initial evaluation which should actively be sought, and result in referral for investigation. In a community setting, isolated cough with no wheeze or breathlessness is most unlikely to be due to asthma. In pre-school children who cannot perform lung function tests, a therapeutic trial of asthma treatment may be indicated, but a three step protocol is mandatory, stopping therapy if there appears to be a response, and only restarting if symptoms recur. In older children, documentation of variable airflow obstruction before giving a diagnosis of asthma is important, to avoid overdiagnosis. Prophylactic therapy on a long term basis with inhaled steroids in pre-school children does not reduce the likelihood of progression to asthma in mid-childhood, and the results of treatment in terms of symptoms are disappointing.

Adherence of Irish general practitioners to European guidelines for acute low back pain: A prospective pilot study

There are no national low back pain (LBP) clinical guidelines in Ireland, and neither the level of adherence of General Practitioners (GPs) to the European guidelines, nor the cost of LBP to the patient and the state, have been investigated. A prospective pilot study was conducted on 54 consenting patients (18M, 36F: mean age (SD): 40.5 (14.3) years) with a new episode of acute LBP (<3 months) attending one of nine participating GPs. Baseline demographic, LBP classification [i.e. simple back ache (SBA), nerve root pain (NRP), serious spinal pathology (SSP)] and primary care management data were recorded over a three month period. Adherence and costs were estimated based on: medication prescription, referral for investigations, treatment or consultations, and wage replacement costs (time signed off work). For both SBA and NRP, medication prescriptions were consistent with European guideline recommendations, but not for referral for further treatment (39% of SBA patients were referred on first visit), secondary care (54% of NRP patients were referred on first visit), or discontinuation of work (50% NRP patients on first GP visit). The average total cost (direct and wage replacement) for a single episode of LBP over 12 weeks was €20,531 (20,300–20,762). Direct costs accounted for 43% [€8874.36, (€8643.37–€9105.37)] and wage replacement costs 57% (€11,657). In conclusion, management of acute LBP in a cohort of GPs in Ireland was not consistent with European clinical guideline recommendations, and warrants higher levels of postgraduate education among GPs, as well as restructuring of primary care services, which should improve patient outcome and reduce costs.

Clinics may miss those in greatest need

EDITOR,—We agree with the main thrust of Yvonne Stedman and Max Elstein's editorial advocating more cohesive provision of sexual health services.1 But have the authors taken too narrow a view of where and when patients present? There is no mention of the work of accident and emergency departments in this field. Males who present to accident and emergency departments with problems of a sexual nature can usually be managed with either reassurance or referral for investigation in the relevant clinic, …

The Clinical Presentation of Intracranial Abscesses

A retrospective case note survey of 67 surgically proven cases of intracranial abscess formation has been carried out. Males predominated, especially in the third decade. Only 15 per cent had a predisposing condition such as cyanotic heart disease though the majority had some evidence of a systemic infection or fever. A peripheral leucocytosis and elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were also more frequently encountered than in a comparable group of cases of cerebral tumour. Despite these pointers to an infective process the correct diagnosis was commonly not considered on admission. Headache, vomiting, drowsiness and focal symptoms sometimes accompanied by focal or generalized seizures remain the classical features in the history, with papilloedema and focal signs commonly found in a drowsy ill-looking patient. Many individuals failed to show all these features however. The progressive nature of the clinical picture should itself be enough to prompt urgent referral for investigation, electro-encephalography, nuclear scanning and CT scanning all being reliable.