Frequently Used Allopathic and Traditional Medicine for COVID-19 Treatment and Feasibility of Their Integration.

To date, no satisfactory treatment for COVID-19 is available. This review reported few recent updates regarding the drugs (allopathy/traditional medicines) used for the treatment of COVID-19 concerning clinical studies. Content of the article spotlight the contribution of allopathic and Ayurvedic drugs to the scientific basis for utilization as a potential therapy against COVID-19 infection and provide new insights on the integration of allopathy and traditional medicine. It advocated the combination of these two systems of treatment will ascertain their integrations, and there would be a good possibility and scope for developing a model of integration in the management of COVID-19. Provided discussion may help researchers, physicians, and healthcare policymakers to encourage for effective and integrated use of allopathic and Ayurvedic medicines to control the COVID-19 pandemic more effectively.

Adapting Policy Guidelines for Spine Surgeries During COVID-19 Pandemic in View of Evolving Evidences: An Early Experience From a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital.

Introduction The recent novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought the world to a standstill. This outbreak not only affected healthcare systems but the resultant economic losses were also enormous. COVID-19 has demanded that the health care systems globally evolve, develop new strategies, identify new models of functioning, and at times, fall back on the old conservative methods of orthopedic care to decrease the risk of disease transmission. Although, the majority of hospitals are refraining from performing elective surgeries, emergent and urgent procedures cannot be delayed. Various strategies have been developed at the institute level to reduce the risk of infection transmission among the theatre team from an unsuspected patient (asymptomatic and presymptomatic) during the perioperative period. Material and methods The present study is a part of an ongoing project which is being conducted in a tertiary level hospital after obtaining research review board approval. All patients admitted either for vertebral fracture or spinal cord compression from February 2020 to May 2020 were included. The present study included 13 patients (nine males and four females) with an average age of 35.4 years The oldest patient was of 63 years which is considered a risk factor for developing severe COVID-19 infection.  Results Eight patients (61.5%) presented with spinal cord injury (SCI) due to vertebral fracture with fall from height (87.5%) as the most common etiology. Among the traumatic SCI patients, six (75%) were managed surgically with posterior decompression and instrumented fusion with pedicle screws while two patients (25%) were managed conservatively. There were four patients (30.8%) of tuberculosis of the spine of whom two (50%) were managed with posterior decompression, debridement, and stabilization with pedicle screws, samples for culture, biopsy, and cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test (CBNAAT) were collected during the procedure; for the remaining two patients (50%), a trans-pedicular biopsy was performed to confirm the diagnosis for initiation of anti-tubercular therapy. Prolapsed intervertebral disc causing cauda equina syndrome was the reason for emergency surgery in one patient (7.7%). COVID-19 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test was performed in four patients (30.8%), in whom the most common symptom was fever (two patients (50%)). These patients were residents of high prevalence area for COVID-19 infection. Sore throat (25%), fatigue (25%), and low oxygen saturation (25%) were present in one patient which prompted us to get the COVID-19 test. All patients were reported negative for COVID-19. Conclusion The structural organization and the management protocol we describe allowed us to reduce infection risk and ultimately hospital stay, thereby maximizing the already stretched available medical resources. These precautions helped us to reduce transmission and exposure to COVID-19 in health care workers (HCW) and patients in our institute. The aim of this article is that our early experience can be of value to the medical communities that will soon be in a similar situation.