Medicine
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This repository contains the published and unpublished research of the Faculty of Medicine by the staff members of the faculty
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Item Deaths on rail roads: a study from Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka.(Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine at University of Peradeniya, 2018) Paranitharan, P.; Perera, W.N.S.ABSTRACT: In Sri Lanka railway related deaths are reported throughout the year. Most accidental deaths occur due to negligent behaviour of pedestrians and drivers. Fatal train impacts cause extensive visceral and musculoskeletal injuries due to the nature of the object as well as the amount of force transmitted during impact. A study of this nature would help ascertain demographic details of victims, characteristics of the incident of fatal train crashes and recognize the injury profile. An autopsy based retrospective study was done using postmortem reports of 10 years. Seventy autopsy reports from Colombo North Teaching Hospital between July 2006 and July 2016 were analyzed. Data regarding demographic details of victim and incident, external and internal injury distribution, cause and manner of death as determined at autopsy were extracted. Majority of victims were males between 20-39 years (43.7%, n=32) of age and were married (64.3%, n=45). Most victims of accidents were trespassers 68.8% (n=33). 68.6% (n= 48) and 31.4% (n=22) respectively were due to accidents and suicide. The highest number of fatalities 64.3% (n=45) were observed between 2 pm to 10 pm. The number of external injuries were more in accidents than suicides. The most common cause of death was multiple injuries. Majority of the deaths were accidental. Transections of neck, chest and traumatic amputations of extremities were common in suicides than accidents.Item Association between road accidents and low-grade hepatic encephalopathy among Sri Lankan drivers with cirrhosis: a prospective case control study(Biomed Central, 2016) Subasinghe, S.K.C.E.; Nandimuni, Y.; Ranasinghe, S.; Niriella, M.A.; Miththinda, J.K.N.D.; Dassanayake, A.S.; de Silva, A.P.; de Silva, H.J.BACKGROUND: Low-grade hepatic encephalopathy (LGHE) comprises minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) and grade 1 hepatic encephalopathy. LGHE has no or minimal recognizable symptoms but has mild cognitive and psychomotor deficits. Studies in Western countries have demonstrated increased road accidents (RA) among patients with MHE. Our objective was to investigate the association between Sri Lankan LGHE phenotype and RA. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A prospective, case–control study was conducted in the University Medical Unit, North Colombo Teaching Hospital, Ragama Sri Lanka. Patients with cirrhosis of any aetiology, without OHE, who had been driving during previous 1 month were included. A similar number of age matched, healthy control drivers were also enrolled. Both groups were subjected to five pencil-paper based psychometric tests used to detect LGHE in cirrhotics. Self-reported RA during the previous 1 month were recorded: categorized as ‘major’ when resulted in hospitalization of the involved, ‘minor’ when there were injuries, but not serious enough for hospitalization of the involved and ‘other’ when limited to damages to vehicle or environment without injuries. RESULTS: Among 55 drivers with cirrhosis and LGHE [males, median age 53 years (range 30–60)], 7 (12.7 %) reported RA compared to 6 (10.9 %) among 55 controls [males; median age 51 years (range 30–60)]. There were no ‘major’ accidents in either group. 2/55 (3.6 %) cases and 2/55 (3.6 %) controls reported ‘minor’ accidents. CONCLUSION: There was no increased frequency of RA among Sri Lankan drivers with LGHE compared to healthy controls. This is with the limitation of the study based only on self reported RA.