Biomedical subjects

H K Ma

Publications and source records attributed to H K Ma.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

PubMed1990

Obstetric outcome among Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong: an age-matched case-controlled study.

The obstetric performance of 308 Vietnamese refugees is compared with that of 308 age-matched Hong Kong Chinese patients. Vietnamese women were of higher parity and had an increased incidence of late booking and unreliable dates. Significant differences were found in the incidence of previous termination of pregnancy, iron-deficiency anemia, parasitic infestation, tuberculosis (TB) and syphilis. There was no significant difference in the mean birthweight between the two groups. However, there were twice as many low birthweight (less than 2500 g) infants amongst the Vietnamese whereas the Chinese patients had a higher incidence of macrosomic (greater than 4 kg) infants. There were no perinatal deaths and no significant perinatal morbidity.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Serum squamous cell carcinoma antigen in the monitoring of radiotherapy treatment response in carcinoma of the cervix.

In this study, squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC) was detected in 96 of 157 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix and the percentage of patients with raised SCC levels increased with the stage of disease (P less than 0.01). The use of serial SCC assays and cervical biopsy histology during the course of radiotherapy to predict tumor response to irradiation was assessed. In patients who were given external irradiation before intracavitary radium, a high SCC level or the presence of viable tumor cells in the biopsy was found to be of no predictive value. However, at completion of radiotherapy, i.e., after intracavitary radium application, patients with persistently high SCC levels had a significantly higher incidence of residual tumor than patients whose SCC levels returned to normal (P less than 0.01). In 60% of patients with a persistently high SCC level, viable tumor was found in the cervical biopsy at the end of radiotherapy. On the other hand, only 5.4% of patients whose SCC level returned to normal had residual tumor.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Etoposide combination chemotherapy in refractory ovarian malignant germ cell tumor.

Thirty-three patients with malignant germ cell tumor of the ovary received postoperative vincristine, dactinomycin, and cyclosphosphamide (VAC) treatment. Eight failed VAC treatment and received etoposide, bleomycin, and cisplatin (PEB) combination chemotherapy. Three were cured and remained disease free 24-79 months after completion of PEB therapy.

Carboplatin↗

PubMed1990

Human papillomavirus infection in the cervix of pregnant females in Hong Kong.

Routine cytological examination and HPV-DNA probing were performed on cervical cells obtained from 215 pregnant Chinese females. The procedure utilized the specific binding of a mixture of complementary [32P]-labelled RNA probes to membrane-bound target HPV DNA types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33 and 35. Positive results for HPV-DNA were obtained in 11/215 (5%) of the cases. The cervical smears were routinely processed and in 3/215 (1.5%) cases a cytological diagnosis of wart virus infection was made. All three were included in the 11 probe-positive cases. Using similar molecular biological techniques, pregnant Western females have an incidence of HPV infection of the cervix which is up to five times that of the present series. This is an unexpected finding in view of the fact that the incidence of cervical cancer is higher in Chinese women than American women.

Female↗

PubMed1990

Vaginal metastases in gestational trophoblastic disease.

From 1976 to 1988, 320 patients with gestational trophoblastic disease were treated in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Hong Kong. Eighteen patients had vaginal metastases. The clinical features and behaviour of the disease were analysed. The prognosis depends mainly on the extent of the disease. Similar favourable response to chemotherapy was observed in low-risk patients with vaginal metastases.

Adult↗

PubMed1990

Routine serological screening for syphilis during pregnancy--disposable anachronism or fundamental necessity?

Between 1984 and 1988 inclusive 34 patients with syphilis during pregnancy were identified in this unit by routine serological screening. There were 2 stillbirths in this group of patients giving a perinatal mortality rate of 59 per 1,000 total births. Analysis of the patients' history and physical examination findings did not reveal any predictive factors for sexually transmitted diseases in most cases. Despite the dramatic fall in the prevalence of syphilis both during pregnancy and the general population in Hong Kong, routine serological screening for syphilis during pregnancy must continue.

Female↗

PubMed1990

Long-term neurological sequelae following vacuum extractor delivery.

Two hundred and ninety-five children delivered by vacuum extractor (VE) 10 years ago were studied to determine if they had an increased incidence of neurological abnormality; 302 children delivered spontaneously in the same hospital looked after by the same doctors in the same year matched for maternal age, gestational age and birthweight were used as controls. Fine- and gross-motor control, perceptual integration and behavioural maturity were screened by 4 tasks selected from the Quick Neurological Screening Test. Intelligence assessment was based on scholastic performance, speech ability and ability of self-care as commented by teachers and parents. Similar scorings were found between the 2 groups. Mental subnormality or severe neurological abnormality was found in 3 children delivered by VE and in 3 children delivered spontaneously and there was no evidence that it was birth-related.

Child↗

PubMed1990

Sexually transmitted diseases amongst pregnant Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong.

In a prospective study the prevalence of syphilis amongst a group of pregnant Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong was found to be 3.4%. No cases of gonorrhoea, genital warts or genital ulcers were found in the same group of patients. The implications of these results are discussed and the importance of adequate screening, treatment, contact tracing and health education amongst this group are emphasised.

Female↗

PubMed1990

Role of CA125 and abdominal pelvic computerized axial tomogram in the monitoring of chemotherapy treatment of ovarian cancer.

Twenty four patients with epithelial ovarian cancer, who were treated by chemotherapy after debulking surgery, were monitored by serial monthly CA125 estimation and half-yearly computerized axial tomogram (CAT) of abdomen and pelvis. The efficiency of these monitoring methods and that of clinical examination were compared. The use of CA125 alone was superior to the use of clinical assessment alone in the detection of tumor progression (p less than 0.01). The addition of the expensive routine half-yearly CAT examination did not improve the tumor detection rate (p less than 0.05). Hence, CAT examination should not be used routinely to detect recurrence of tumor in patients without a raised CA125 level. However, in patients with increased CA125 level, CAT examination had a place in locating and in determining the extent of the tumor which in selected patients may enable us to make changes in therapy without laparotomy and in other patients may help us to make a better assessment on whether further debulking is possible.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

4-epidoxorubicin in recurrent cervical cancer.

Thirty-eight patients with histologically proven recurrent cervical cancer were treated with epirubicin, an analogue of anthracycline. There were eight complete responders and ten partial responders. The overall response rate was 47.8%. The survival duration of the responders was significantly longer than that of the nonresponders. The optimal dose of epirubicin has yet to be determined. The dosage of 120 mg/m2 was well tolerated. The role of epirubicin as an adjuvant chemotherapeutic agent in the treatment of cervical cancer was discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

Predictive value of sperm morphology and movement characteristics in the outcome of in vitro fertilization of human oocytes.

One hundred fourteen semen samples from Chinese males were analyzed for routine semen parameters including the semen volume, sperm count, percentage motility, and percentage normal morphology. Of these 114 samples, 54 also had movement characteristics of seminal and swim-up sperm evaluated by the computer image analyzer system (Cellsoft; Cryo Resources Co., New York). All semen samples were subjected to the swim-up procedure to harvest the motile sperm before inseminations of human oocytes. Fertilization was considered to have occurred when at least one oocyte was observed with two or more pronuclei. Semen samples were classified as infertile (0% fertilization rate; N = 32) or fertile (greater than 0% fertilization rate; N = 82) before statistical analyses. There was a significant difference (P less than 0.005) in percentage normal morphology of seminal sperm between the fertile (mean +/- SE; 67.3 +/- 1.2%) and the infertile (59.3 +/- 2.2%) samples. The percentage normal morphology of seminal sperm correlated (r = 0.3049; P less than 0.002) with the fertilization rate and this parameter was selected by the multivariate stepwise discriminant analysis as the discriminator capable of predicting the fertilization rate with 57.9% accuracy. Statistical analyses of samples where sperm movement was also evaluated demonstrated that there was significant differences (P less than 0.01) between the fertile (N = 38) and the infertile (N = 16) samples in percentage normal morphology of seminal sperm (67.8 +/- 1.8% vs 56.2 +/- 2.6%) and curvilinear velocity of swim-up sperm (89.2 +/- 3.5 vs 68.2 +/- 7.2 microns/sec).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Female↗

PubMed1989

Long-term follow-up of potentiation of radiotherapy by cis-platinum in advanced cervical cancer.

Between January 1982 and January 1983 all patients with advanced cervical cancer were randomized into three groups: radiotherapy only (group I), radiotherapy plus weekly cis-platinum (group II), and radiation plus twice-weekly cis-platinum (group III). Better initial central control was observed in group III patients. Long-term survival was similar in the three groups. Potentiation of radiotherapy with cis-platinum failed to show any significant improvement in long-term survival.

Cisplatin↗

PubMed1989

Use of serum squamous cell carcinoma antigen assays in chemotherapy treatment of cervical cancer.

Serum squamous cell carcinoma antigen levels of 15 patients with recurrent or progressive squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix on chemotherapy treatment were assayed. In 13 of these 15 patients (86.7%), clinical response was positive correlated with change in serum SCC level. A stationary or rising serum SCC level indicated that the disease is probably stationary or progressive and chemotherapy should be stopped or changed.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

The value of tumor markers in a mixed tumor, mucinous and neuroendocrine carcinoma of the ovary.

Serum CA125 is frequently used to monitor the treatment response and to detect early recurrence during the follow-up of patients who have epithelial ovarian tumors. In this report, the level of serum CA125 and urinary 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid of a patient with a carcinoid tumor which occurred in association with a mucinous adenocarcinoma of the ovary is described. The level of serum CA125 decreased despite the presence of a clinically progressive tumor. There was a rise of the 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid level 16 weeks before pelvic recurrence was detected clinically. This indicates that it was the neuroendocrine component, and not the mucinous component of the tumor, that was not responsive to the chemotherapy. The problem of using tumor markers to monitor patients with mixed tumors is discussed.

Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous↗

PubMed1989

Primary treatment with vincristine, dactinomycin, and cyclophosphamide in nondysgerminomatous germ cell tumor of the ovary.

Thirty-three patients with malignant nondysgerminomatous germ cell tumors were treated with vincristine/dactinomycin/cyclophosphamide regimen. Thirty-two patients were suitable for analysis. The overall cure rate was 68.7%. This is comparable to the cure rate observed in the cisplatin/vinblastin/bleomycin regimen. The roles of second-look laparotomy in malignant germ cell tumor are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

Hepatitis B infection in infants after neonatal immunization.

A double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study to prevent hepatitis B infection in 235 babies born to chronic hepatitis B, HBeAg carriers was carried out. Babies in three treatment groups all received heat-inactivated hepatitis B vaccine. In addition multiple doses of HBIG and a single dose of HBIG were given in groups I and II respectively. After three years of follow-up, 4/60 (Group I), 3/64 (Group II), and 1/64 (Group III) developed chronic infection. For those who escaped chronic infection, other hepatitis events also occurred. They were transient HBs-antigenaemia, anti-HBc conversion and significant rise in anti-HBs titre without seroconversion for anti-HBc. It was deduced that 30% of babies born to hepatitis carriers are naturally protected from chronic infection. Immunization, with vaccine only, protects another 46%. The addition of single and multiple doses of HBIG protects another 10% and 5%, respectively. 2% acquired intrauterine infection and 7% failed to respond to the most intensive immunization schedule.

Double-Blind Method↗

PubMed1989

Gonadal dysgenesis: a review of 15 years' management.

Fifteen years' experience in a Menstrual Disorder Clinic revealed that gonadal dysgenesis was the commonest cause of primary amenorrhoea. Investigations using Barr Body study and laparoscopic examination were unsatisfactory and inaccurate. The invasive nature of laparoscopy was the likely principal cause for the high default rate in the early years of the Clinic. The availability of hormone radioimmunoassay and cytogenetic study has improved the diagnostic acuity. Gonadal malignancy associated with the "Y" chromosome could also be identified at its early stage. Oestrogen replacement therapy has been found to be beneficial and is associated with little side effects and no endometrial pathology has been identified.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

Maternal mortality in Hong Kong 1961-1985.

The maternal mortality rate in Hong Kong fell from 0.45/1000 total births in 1961 to 0.05/1000 total births in 1985. During the period between 1961 and 1985 there were a total of 438 maternal deaths and 2,193,012 births. Of the 438 deaths 150 (34%) were due to haemorrhage during pregnancy and childbirth (ICD 640, 641, 666), 89 (20%) were due to pre-eclampsia (ICD 642, 643) and 60 (13.7%) were due to ectopic pregnancy (ICD 633). Comparison of maternal deaths by cause between the periods 1961-1965 and 1981-1985 showed an 86% reduction in deaths due to haemorrhage and pre-eclampsia and a 72% reduction in deaths due to ectopic pregnancy. Pulmonary embolism was not a major cause of maternal mortality.

Adult↗