Reviews in Clinical Medicine

143-151

Authors: Zohre Najafi; Zahra Sadat Manzari

Introduction: Nurses play a key role in the process of organ donation and transplantation, and previous studies have widely addressed the level of knowledge and attitude of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses in this regard. Considering the direct correlation between the positive attitude of the healthcare team, especially nurses, and the level of consent on organ donation, knowledge and attitude of nurses are important factors that have been assessed in several studies. However, no definite conclusions have been drawn in this regard. The present study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of ICU nurses toward organ donation and the related factors. Methods: A systematic review was conducted via searching in databases such as ProQuest, Medscape, MedlinePlus, MagIran, PubMed, and ScienceDirect to identify the articles published during 1990-2015 using keywords such as knowledge, attitude, organ donation, and nurses. Result: Awareness and knowledge are the main determinants of attitude in nurses, which should be applied in order to foster positive attitudes in the process of organ donation. Furthermore, extensive clinical knowledge should be acquired on organ donation and communication skills by ICU nurses through proper training programs. Conclusion: According to the results, using standard guidelines or scheduled training programs in nursing schools could improve the level of knowledge in nurses, which in turn enhances nursing performance. In addition, our findings indicated that positive attitude and knowledge of nurses could largely influence the viewpoint of families toward organ donation.

160-164

Authors: Mandana Kashaki; Ladan Younesi; Marjan Esmaeili; Hasan Otoukesh; Mohammad Esmaeili

Introduction: Ultrasonographic assessment of the kidney size in newborns is essential to the diagnosis of renal diseases during the neonatal period. According to the literature, altered renal dimensions may lead to changes in the kidney echotexture in certain renal pathologies. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the renal dimensions in premature and term neonates. Methods: This systematic review was conducted to identify the English articles on the renal dimensions of children and premature/term neonates via searching in databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus. In total, 74 studies were retrieved from the electronic databases. After reviewing the titles and abstracts, 10 articles that were in line with the study objectives were selected in full text and evaluated. Result: The studies on the renal dimensions of newborns had been performed on various populations. Some studies had compared kidney diameters with the body weight and length of the neonates within the first days of birth, while some others had compared the gestational age of neonates with their kidney size. However, no conclusive results were proposed. In addition, several studies were found on kidney size during the fetal period and childhood, while limited investigation was available regarding the neonatal period. In the present study, we analyzed the correlations between the renal dimensions of neonates and their gestational age, length, weight, and body surface area by reviewing the current literature. Conclusion: Although renal volume is considered to be the most precise index of the kidney size, renal length is evidently the most practical indicator of renal dimensions, which is correlated with the anthropometric indices and gestational age of neonates.

169-172

Authors: Malihe Amirian; Atiyeh Vatanchi; Maryam Safari

Uterine atony is the main cause of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH). Uterine compression suture is a common technique to control PPH in caesarean delivery. This article aimed to report a complication of this method for post-delivery atony. A 27-year-old primigravida woman with term pregnancy underwent caesarean delivery and was unresponsive to medical therapy and uterine artery ligation due to uterine atony. Two compression sutures were placed on her uterus. However, after 11 days, the patient underwent surgery again due to severe fever, infection, and a necrotic mass in the uterine cavity. The necrotic mass was we removed during the surgery. Although uterine compression suture is an effective method for the treatment of PPH, we witnessed some side effects in the patient, especially myometrium necrosis.

176-179

Authors: Mohammad Faraji-rad; Hadi Tohidi; Elnaz Faraji-rad

his study aimed to assess the efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in localizing epileptic foci in children with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). This prospective study was conducted on 12 patients including five males and seven females aged between 2 and 16 years old with a clinical diagnosis of TLE. All the patients underwent high-resolution MRI and if no abnormality was identified, SPECT was used for further assessment. In all the patients, visual inspection identified unilateral mesial temporal sclerosis, and the patients underwent craniotomy and lesionectomy. According to the results, eight patients were categorized in class I and two cases were classifies as class II, and all the patients survived. About 25% of the patients showed adequate memory function on the non-operated temporal lobe, and general intelligence quotient increased by 10% in 50% of the patients. According to the results, in patients with clinically suspected TLE, MRI alone is not able to localize the epileptic foci correctly, and SPECT can be helpful to localize these lesions.