Ansar Latif, Anmol Zahara, Asad Shabbir Cheema, Faisal Shabbir, Muhammad Qasim Butt.
Backache: Presentation and Diagnosis: a Prospective study at Allama Iqbal Teaching Hospital Sialkot.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;12(1):89-93.

Aim : To study the presentation of backache and its diagnosis in patients reporting in different departments of Allama Iqbal Memorial Teaching hospital, Sialkot. Study design: Prospective study. Place and duration of study : Department of General Surgery, Khawaja Muhammad Safdar Medical College, Sialkot from January 2016 to October 2017. Methods: All new patients serially presenting for the first time in the Outpatients’ Department of Allama Iqbal Memorial hospital fulfilling the inclusion criteria were registered. A detailed data was recorded on a proforma of all the patients dealt with in the outpatients’ departments of General surgery, orthopedic surgery, neurology, neurosurgery, urology, medicine and psychiatry. A series of investigations were performed on the patients suffering from backache to reach a diagnosis for how to manage such patients. Management record was also maintained to analyze the outcome of the treatment. All the data was obtained from different out patients’ departments of Allama Iqbal Memorial Teaching Hospital, Sialkot. The patients were classed in two groups: Group I- acute backache patients having acute presentation i.e. less than 12 weeks duration while Group II- chronic backache had the symptoms for more than 12 weeks duration. Results: A total of 3994 patients from OPDs of Allama Iqbal Memorial Hospital, Sialkot. The patients were classed depending upon the duration of symptoms into Group I- Acute backache and Group II Chronic Backache; having 773 and 3221 patients respectively. Out of Group I, para-spinal muscular spasm was the most common etiology 502 while new or undiagnosed hypertension was the cause in 53 patients. In Group II, connective tissue disorders and arthralgias in 987 patients, prolapsed inter vertebral disc in 42 patients and depressive illness was found in 219 patients. Laboratory investigations to get diagnosis were done repeatedly while radiological investigations including x-rays thoracic spine 18 and 591, x-rays lumbosacral spine 1390 and 6039, myelography in 0 and 173 , computed tomographic scan in 76 and 2115 while MRI in 23 and 856 in the two groups respectively were done.

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