Role of Radiology in Tropical Diseases

Tropical diseases are infectious diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropical and subtropical regions. India is a tropical country & these diseases permanently curtail human potential, anchoring at least one billion poor people in poverty. They cause enormous economic burden for endemic countries. All such diseases cause great human misery. So this research work is done to evaluate useful role of radiology in early diagnosis of such tropical diseases & to assess value of various radiological modalities like X-rays, Ultrasonography, CT Scan, MR imaging etc. in diagnosis of such tropical diseases with a cost effective approach. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this study, we have collected cases & data of 50 cases of tropical diseases during the period of June 2006 to October 2008, during the period of our postgraduate residency. Most of the patients were referred from medical & surgical departments of civil hospital - Ahmadabad. The patients were selected on the basis of either clinical provisional diagnosis of tropical disease or laboratory-pathology investigations were indicative in favor of the tropical disease. All the patients were examined by one or more radio-diagnostic imaging modality as required; required X-rays & USG of almost all patients were done. Additional radiological investigations like contrast X-ray procedure, CT scan, MRI etc. whichever needed was done to approach the definite diagnosis. Follow up of all patients were also done during and after treatment. IV. CLASSIFICATIONS OF TROPICAL DISEASES There are many ways to classify the Tropical diseases like: Disease wise classification, System wise (Body system affected) classification and the WHO classification. Among all these, "Disease wise classification" is more commonly used, so here mentioned. (3)