The middle thyroid vein has been noted to be frequently absent during thyroidectomies in Papua New Guinea (PNG). To verify this and other known inconsistencies in the neck a total of 103 bodies were dissected at the Port Moresby General Hospital in 2002. The middle thyroid vein was absent in 59% of the cases. It would be to the advantage of surgeons in PNG to be aware of this.
Veins ; Desiccated thyroid ; Papua New Guinea ; Lower case en ; Melanesians

Acute appendicitis is a common cause of acute abdomen requiring an emergency appendicectomy. Complications such as perforation and peritoneal contamination leading to peritonitis can result from delay in presentation and an emergency operation. This study prospectively recruited 101 patients diagnosed with acute appendicitis to correlate the bacterial flora with the severity of appendicitis. The results show that 90 patients had acutely inflamed or gangrenous appendicitis and 11 had perforated appendicitis. The ages ranged from 6 to 49 years with a median of 20 years. There were 59 females and 42 males. The commonest isolates were aerobic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Group D streptococci and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Mixed infection with anaerobes such as Bacteroides fragilis was seen only in perforated appendicitis. The best choices of antibiotic were a fluoroquinolone, cephalosporin and aminoglycoside for aerobic organisms and metronidazole for anaerobes.

In the recent decade in Papua New Guinea and other Pacific countries there has been an increasing trend of lifestyle diseases, including obesity associated with diabetes mellitus. Foot ulceration and infection leading to amputation are common and feared complications of diabetes. Yet these are potentially the most preventable of all complications in diabetic patients. Several studies have shown that half of all diabetic foot ulcers can be prevented by education and simple foot care. The primary goal of this study was to depict the scale of the diabetic foot as a community health problem. The secondary goal was to review the current literature on diabetic foot in order to develop a more effective preventive strategy.