Search

Posterior spinal instrumented fusion remains the mainstay treatment for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) with acceptable post-operative patient satisfaction. However, in Saudi Arabia, patient satisfaction after surgical management for AIS has not been thoroughly studied. The purpose of this study was to determine patient satisfaction and quality of life using the Scoliosis Research Society-22r (SRS-22r, the most recent version) questionnaire after surgical correction of AIS in Saudi Arabia.A retrospective study was conducted that included patients who underwent posterior spinal instrumented fusion for AIS from January 1995 through December 2015. We included 115 patients (both males and females) in our study. We used the Arabic version of the SRS-22r questionnaire that was completed through telephonic interviews. Data collected were then analyzed using SPSS Statistics, version 23.The mean age of our patients at the time of surgery was 15.0 ± 2.6 years and the average time from surgery to interview was 9.4 ± 4.7 years. A positive response was recorded in all domains including pain, function, mental health, and self-image. Furthermore, 76.5% of the patients were satisfied with their management outcome and 81.7% of the patients reported no complications.Surgical correction of AIS improved the quality of life of our patients that was assessed using the Arabic version of the SRS-22r questionnaire. Apart from overall patient satisfaction, positive responses were recorded in all four domains of the SRS-22r questionnaire.

Background and objective Patients’ rights are an essential aspect of human rights. Thus, in Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs (MNGHA) established a Patients’ Bill of Rights (PBR) and introduced it to the public about 30 years ago. This study aims to assess levels of awareness of PBR and to identify their information sources among visitors to primary healthcare centers (PHCCs). Methods This cross-sectional study included 358 visitors, aged 17 to 78, to three PHCCs at the National Guard Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The study was conducted between April and December 2017 using a self-administered questionnaire. The initial sample (convenience sampling) was refined to match the proportion of participants with the relative size of populations served by the centers. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the relationships between participants’ demographic data and levels of awareness of patients' rights. Results Most participants (72.2%) were moderately aware of their rights, but the majority (65.3%) were unaware of the existence of the PBR. Healthcare providers were the main information source for patients’ rights, although participants with the highest awareness scores obtained information from social media. Level of awareness was significantly associated with education, income, and regular hospital follow-ups. Conclusions The study results should motivate healthcare providers, stakeholders, and health organizations in Saudi Arabia to raise and maintain public awareness of patients’ rights and to implement them.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a multi-organ disease with a wide range of manifestations. Coagulopathy is one of the well-recognized complications of COVID-19. We report the case of a 42-year-old man who presented with progressively worsening low back pain of two days in duration. The pain was burning in character, non-radiating, and was not related to movement. The patient had a recent history of severe COVID-19 pneumonia requiring mechanical ventilation and has stayed in the intensive care unit for eight days. He was discharged three days before the acute onset of his back pain. Examination of the lumbar spine was unremarkable. However, lower limb examination revealed coldness and absent pulses bilaterally. The patient underwent computed tomography angiography which revealed complete occlusion of the lower abdominal aorta at its bifurcation. Emergency endovascular treatment was performed to aspirate the clot. The symptoms resolved following the procedure and the patient was discharged on the third post-intervention day. Saddle aortic embolism is a rare life-threatening condition that may present solely with low back pain. The case demonstrated a possible complication of COVID-19 that occurred after the recovery from the acute phase of the disease.

Background Globally, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common neurobehavioral disorder that affects children. In 2011, there was an ADHD diagnosis prevalence of around 8% among children (4-17 years) in the US. ADHD-affected children are more prone to physical injuries such as physical trauma, accidental poisoning, burns, etc. This study was aimed to evaluate the association of ADHD with severe injuries, the influence of age and gender on this association, and the impact of ADHD medications on the frequency of such injuries. Methodology This study was conducted in three governmental and three private settings in Aseer region. The files of children who were diagnosed with ADHD in the study settings were reviewed for a 12-month time period. Data were extracted from the medical files using a pre-structured data extraction sheet to avoid errors and inter-rater bias. The extracted data included child gender, age, duration of disease, and injury-related data. A brief questionnaire had been applied to mothers regarding mothers' attitudes towards injuries among their children, adherence to medications, as well as the reasons for non-adherence to medications and clinical visits in a non-adherent group during the clinic visit. Results One hundred and sixty-three children with a diagnosis of ADHD completed the study. The affected children were aged between two and 15 years (mean: 7.8 ± 2.9 years). An exact of 116 (71.2%) children were males. An exact of 70 (42.9%) affected children had trauma. The most-reported traumas were superficial injuries (84.3%), burns (48.6%), fractures (37.1%), deep injuries (31.4%), and broken or lost teeth (28.6%). About 52% of the children were adherent to medications and their clinical visits. Among the non-adherent group, the most reported reasons were parents' care and attention (20.5%), followed by the COVID-19 pandemic and delay in visits times (16.7%). Regarding mothers' attitudes towards injuries among children with ADHD, 49.1% of the mothers agreed that there is an association between a child with ADHD and being traumatized while 22.7% said there was no relation. Conclusions In our cohort, the majority of the children with ADHD were boys at primary school age. Association of the history of the disease with trauma was not uncommon, and most injuries were not severe, but burns and deep injuries were reported among considered portions.

Cerebrovascular diseases are a significant cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, in particular those with large vessels occlusion (LVO). Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a global crisis rapidly since its initial outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December, 2019. Stroke due to LVO needs rapid assessment and timely endovascular intervention which can be very challenging during the time of pandemic where you need to deliver proper, safe, and timely care to acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients with LVO, yet, protecting healthcare workers and existing patients at the medical facility. In this article, we share our local experience in the stroke unit at Aseer Central Hospital which is the main hub of stroke patients in the southwestern part of Saudi Arabia and the primary regional COVID center to provide guidance to perform smooth, safe, and swift mechanical thrombectomy during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as well as possible similar future situations.

Endovascular mechanical thrombectomy for stroke patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO) in the anterior circulation has become the standard of care based on several major randomized clinical trials. The successful result reported by these trials constitutes what may be the largest achievement in the history of neurological sciences. However, most of these mechanical thrombectomy trials (except for the multicenter randomized clinical trial of endovascular treatment for acute ischemic stroke in the Netherlands, i.e., MR CLEAN and Extending the Time for Thrombolysis in Emergency Neurological Deficits-Intra-Arterial, i.e., EXTEND-IA) excluded stroke patients with minor to mild stroke symptoms with National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores of six to eight or lower. The median NIHSS score for patients who underwent acute endovascular thrombectomy was approximately 15 to 17 in all trials. To date, the evidence is lacking to support the mechanical thrombectomy in patients with acute stroke and LVO with minor to mild severity on NIHSS score. The purpose of this review was to assess the current data, safety and clinical outcomes in stroke patients with minor to mild symptoms who were treated with endovascular thrombectomy.

Fenestrated vertebrobasilar junction aneurysms are rare vascular lesions. Microsurgical intervention is extremely difficult due to the complex anatomy in the vicinity of these aneurysms. Endovascular neurosurgery appears to be safe and should be considered as the first modality of treatment. This case study details the treatment of an unruptured fusiform fenestrated vertebrobasilar junction aneurysm with endovascular occlusion with stent-assisted coiling. The optimal angiographic exposure and selective microcatheterization of the aneurysm were challenging due to the patient’s body habitus, and the aneurysm was large with one dominant fenestrated limb.