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Introduction: While COVID-19 is predominantly a lung infection, it can cause systemic viremia in susceptible patients and lead to cardiac involvement and myocarditis (MC);an inflammation of the myocardium characterized by arrhythmias, cardiogenic shock, acute heart failure, and death. Although rare, there is evidence of a surge in MC-related admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic, implying a correlation. However, the risk factors associated with MC susceptibility in these patients remain unclear. This study aims to assess the comorbidities and demographic features associated with the development of MC in adult patients with COVID-19. Method(s): Data were obtained from the PearlDiver database (PearlDiver Technologies, Fort Wayne, IN). The database provides all-payers administrative claims data on the patient level. Using ICD-10-CM codes, a cohort of patients hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19 was identified. The study included only patients admitted to the hospital between January and October 2020 to minimize bias associated with vaccine-related MC. Within this cohort, patients diagnosed with MC during and up to one month after admission were identified and their demographic features and comorbidities to were compared to those without MC. We calculated Risk Ratios with their respective 95% CI. A p-value <0.05 was deemed significant. Result(s): We found 627,465 admissions due to COVID-19 from January to October 2020, with 506 (0.08 %) diagnosis of MC. Patients with MC were more likely to be males (60%), younger (mean age 48, SD= 23 vs. 60, SD =17 - p<0.01), and they had more comorbidities (mean Elixhauser Comorbidity Index: 7.52, SD= 5 vs. 6.9, SD = 5 - p<0.001). The development of MC was significantly associated with a history of coagulopathies [0.55(0.46-0.66);p<0.0001], asthma [1.20 (1.06-1.23);p= 0.01], deep venous thrombosis [1.54(1.38-1.68);p<0.0001], renal disease[1.15 (1.02-1.27);p= 0.03], congestive heart failure [1.24 (1.12-1.34);p=0.006], ischemic heart disease [1.25 (1.14-1.35);p=0.0001], and arrhythmias [1.24 (1.14-1.32);p< 0.0001]. However, a history of diabetes [0.89 (0.67-0.99);p=0.02], hypertension [0.71 (0.62-0.80);<0.000.1], depression [0.71(0.52-0.88);p=0.0001], and hypothyroidism [0.42(0.08-0.69);p<0.0001] was associated with lower risk of MC-related hospitalization. Other preexistent conditions including, psychosis, rheumatoid arthritis, cerebrovascular disease, obesity, tobacco use, alcohol abuse, HIV, anemia, peripheral vascular disease, and non-metastatic solid tumor were not significantly correlated with MC. Discussion(s): MC is a rare yet serious complication of COVID-19. Therefore, a better knowledge of the pathophysiology of COVID-19 and the patient factors associated with development to MC is crucial for prognostication and providing risk-adjusted treatment. Conclusion(s): Patients with a history of cardiovascular disease, renal and pulmonary disease were more likely to develop MC as a result of COVID-19. However, hypertension and diabetes were associated with lower risk of MC, which warrants further investigation.Copyright © 2022
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INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic has presented patients with barriers to receiving healthcare. We sought to determine whether changes in healthcare access and practice during the COVID-19 pandemic has affected perioperative outcomes after robotic-assisted pulmonary lobectomy (RAPL). METHOD(S): We retrospectively analyzed 721 consecutive patients who underwent RAPL between September 2010 and March 2022 by one surgeon at one institution. With March 1st, 2020, defining the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we grouped 638 patients as PreCOVID-19 and 83 patients as COVID-19-Era based on surgical date. An optimal variable ratio matching method of one to four PreCOVID-19 patients (with average of three) were matched to each COVID-19-Era patient. Variables used for matching were age, gender, smoking history in pack-years, and preoperative diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease or myocardial infarction, and FEV1%. Variables of interest were compared utilizing Student's t-test, Wilcoxon rank-sum test, and Chi-square (or Fisher's exact) test, with significance at p<=0.05. Multivariable generalized linear regression was used to investigate predictors of the presence of postoperative complications and report odds ratios (OR). RESULT(S): COVID-19-Era patients had higher incidences of preoperative atrial fibrillation (p=0.027), peripheral vascular disease (p=0.0425), and pancreatitis (p=0.0349) compared to PreCOVID-19 patients. Differences in tumor size and histology, nodal status, and AJCC v8 pathologic stage were statistically insignificant. COVID-19-Era patients experienced a high incidence of effusion or empyema postoperatively (p< 0.0001). The PreCOVID-19 and COVID-19-Era cohorts had comparable odds for developing a postoperative complication. Older age, longer intraoperative skin-to-skin duration, and preoperative COPD are all predictive of an increased risk of developing a postoperative complication (Table 1). CONCLUSION(S): Despite our COVID-19-Era patients having greater indices of preoperative comorbidities, our analysis showed that they had a similar risk of developing a postoperative complication when compared to our PreCOVID-19 patients. Risk factors for development of postoperative effusion should be determined to minimize risk of empyema in COVID-19-Era patients. Patient age, skin-to-skin duration of the procedure, and preoperative COPD should be considered when planning for complication risk following RAPL.
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Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mortality remains high in those with cardiovascular disease (CVD). The temporal trend in higher COVID-19 mortality due to CVD has public health implications. We assessed the association between CVD and COVID-19 mortality throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We retrospectively studied all patients who received care for COVID-19 at Rush University System for Health during the pandemic (divided into 7 waves based on predominant virus variants and vaccine rollouts). CVD was defined as congestive heart failure (CHF), myocardial infarction (MI), cerebrovascular or peripheral vascular disease (ascertained by ICD codes). Using multivariable logistic regression, we assessed independent associations of COVID-19 mortality with age, sex, race, and 17 comorbidities in the Charlson comorbidity index, overall and stratified by pandemic waves. Results Of 43876 patients (mean age 40, 56% female, 14% with CVD), 1032 (2%) died from COVID-19 between March 2020 and August 2022. Adjusted for covariables, mortality was 3.2 times as likely in those with CVD as those without (OR=3.2, 95%CI 2.7-3.9;p<0.001). There was a trend toward increasing mortality associated with co-existing CVD as pandemic progressed to later waves (where Delta and Omicron were predominant), particularly in those with CHF or MI (Figure). Conclusion We found that COVID-19 mortality associated with co-existing CVD (particularly CHF and MI) increased temporally throughout the pandemic. [Formula presented]Copyright © 2023 American College of Cardiology Foundation
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Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) represents one of the most common metabolic diseases in the world, with rising prevalence in recent decades. Most cases are generally classified into two major pathophysiological categories: type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1), which progresses with absolute insulin deficiency and can be identified by genetic and pancreatic islet autoimmunity markers, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2), which is the most prevalent form and involves a combination of resistance to the action of insulin with an insufficient compensatory response of insulin secretion. In the last two decades, in parallel with the increase in childhood obesity, there has also been an increase in the incidence of DM2 in young people in some populations. Other forms of diabetes may affect children and adolescents, such as monogenic diabetes (neonatal diabetes, MODY – maturity onset diabetes of the young, mitochondrial diabetes, and lipoatrophic diabetes), diabetes secondary to other pancreatic diseases, endocrinopathies, infections and cytotoxic drugs, and diabetes related to certain genetic syndromes, which may involve different treatments and prognoses. DM1 is considered an immuno-mediated disease that develops as a result of gradual destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells that eventually results in their total loss and complete dependence on exogenous insulin. Clinical presentation can occur at any age, but most patients will be diagnosed before the age of 30 years
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In the last 3 years of the pandemic situation, SARS-CoV-2 caused a significant number of deaths. Infection rates for symptomatic and asymptomatic patients are higher than that for death. Eventually, researchers explored that the major deaths are attributed to several comorbidity factors. The confounding factors and gender-associated infection/death rate are observed globally. This suggests that SARS-CoV-2 selects the human system recognizing the internal comorbid environment. This article explored the influences of hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular, and renovascular disorders in COVID-19 severity and mortality. Brief mechanistic layouts have been presented here, indicating some of the comorbidity as the critical determinant in the COVID-19 pathogenesis and related mortality.
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The SARS-COV-2/ COVID-19 pandemic created unique, once in a lifetime challenges for healthcare workers across the globe. One of the challenges specific to interventional radiology was the increased incidence of vascular thrombosis leading to urgent and emergent clinical patient management issues. Limited healthcare resources and complex clinical presentations required innovative solutions, and workflows to manage the increased burden on the healthcare providers.
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Background. Research has reported that African American (AA) cancer patients with COVID-19 had a higher hospitalization rate than their white counterparts. Because the severity of COVID-19 is partly related to existing chronic diseases, one of the speculations is that racial differences in COVID-19 severity are attributable to AA cancer patients having a higher prevalence of chronic illnesses. Our study aimed to assess the impact of existing chronic diseases on the racial differences in hospitalization and length of hospitalization in COVID-19 cancer patients in Louisiana. Methods. We linked cancer cases diagnosed in 2015-2019 from the Louisiana Tumor Registry (LTR) with the statewide COVID-19 data to identify COVID-19 patients who had been previously diagnosed with cancer. We also identified chronic illnesses (i.e., heart disease, peripheral vascular and cerebrovascular diseases, pulmonary disease, renal disease, liver disease, diabetes, and others) from 2012-2020 hospital discharge data and LTR data. Age and census tract level poverty were at the time of COVID-19 diagnosis. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were used to exam the association of race with hospitalization after adjusting for socio-demographic and chronic illnesses. The multivariable Poisson model was used to assess the racial disparity in length (in days) of hospitalization. Results. Of 6,518 COVID-19 cancer patients, there were 30.8% AA, 68.4% whites, and 0.8% other races. AA, male, older, residing in high poverty, and patients with chronic illnesses were more likely (P<0.05) to be hospitalized. The odds of hospitalization was 87.2% higher among AA patients than white patients in bivariate analysis. After adjusting for age, gender, poverty, obesity, smoking status, and chronic illnesses, the odds of hospitalization was still higher for AA than white patients (OR=1.81;95% CI: 1.55-2.09). The length of hospital stay for AA was more (P<0.05) than whites After adjusting for the same covariates. Conclusion. Sociodemographic factors and chronic illnesses are associated with the severity of COVID-19 among cancer patients. However, AA COVID-19 cancer patients have significantly higher odds of hospitalization and longer hospital stays even when controlling these factors. More research is warranted to determine underlying factors of the observed racial disparities.
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Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is now the standard of therapy for elderly population with severe aortic stenosis. Several studies have established that the outcomes of TAVR are superior when compared with Surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), especially when the access route is transfemoral arterial approach. In the elderly population with advanced age and numerous comorbidities, iliofemoral arterial disease (IAD) is not uncommon and it precludes the use of this route for TAVR. Peripheral Intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) has been previously established as an excellent safe and efficient modality to treat symptomatic occlusive calcific iliofemoral artery disease. The same principle of IVL has been recently used successfully to modify the vascular compliance of heavily calcified iliofemoral arteries thereby enabling large bore sheath advancement and safe passage of TAVR delivery catheter systems. We report the first case of Intravascular lithotripsy facilitated Transfemoral TAVR (TF-TAVR) in India. This case was done in December 2020 by the “femoral route” in order to keep the TAVR procedure simple straightforward and discharge the patient back home quickly in Covid times. The use of Intravascular Lithotripsy (IVL)was based on evidence of good outcomes in trials of peripheral vascular disease of lower limbs as well as from the good outcomes of few registries on IVL facilitated TAVR.1,2,3,4,5,6,8 The second case was done in August 2021 by us for another patient successfully.
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Background: We present our early experience of introducing state-of-the-art endoscopic vessel harvesting (EVH) into a hospital in Scotland. Coronary arteries bypass grafting (CABG) is the most frequently performed adult cardiac surgical operation and circa. 1200 cases were performed across Scotland in 2019/20, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although internal thoracic artery (ITA) is the preferred conduit, most CABG operations require long saphenous vein (LSV) to be harvested from one or both legs. The radial artery (RA) is also used less frequently. Conduits are currently harvested by open technique, representing one of the longest incisions in surgery. Even when expertly performed, this is a major source of morbidity and delayed hospital discharge. Known risk factors for wound complications include age > 75 years, female sex, BMI > 28, history of smoking, diabetes mellitus and peripheral vascular disease. Both LSV and RA can be successfully harvested endoscopically via 2 cm incision with expected reduction in post-operative morbidity. In our quest to make CABG less invasive, we decided to embark upon a programme of EVH and hereby present our early clinical experience and vision for future roll-out across centres routinely performing cardiac surgery in Scotland. Methods: Consecutive patients undergoing isolated elective CABG surgery at one institution were consented for endoscopic vessel harvesting (EVH). We used a novel on-screen imaging (CoreVista, CardioPrecision), along with latest EVH harvesting tools (HemoPro 2, Getinge) and standard imaging/CO2 insufflation (Stryker). Data on risk factors, wound complications, patient satisfaction and length of stay were collected. Results: A short video will be used to demonstrate key steps of the procedure. Nine patients were recruited into the study. The mean age was 61 years [95% CI 53-69 years]. Six out of 9 (66%) patients had one or more risk factors for post-operative wound complications. LSV was harvested endoscopically in 6 patients (66%) and RA in 3 (33%) patients. The median number of grafts was 3 [range 2-5]. There were no immediate wound complications. All patients expressed a high level of satisfaction with the surgical result. Median post-operative length of stay was 5 days [range 5-6 days]. At a median follow-up of 2 months there were no late wound complication or adverse events reported. Conclusions: EVH was successfully delivered without complications in our series with high degree of patient satisfaction and consistently short length of stay. The combination of devices was easy to use and integrate into the standard CABG theatre footprint and procedure. Plans are now being made to implement EVH more widely across Scotland.
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BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected patients with pre-existing comorbidities, particularly dialysis patients. These patients appear to be more susceptible to severe forms of the infection, due to underlying, coexisting pathologies and their immunocompromised status. The aim of this study was to determine predictors of mortality in this population. METHOD: We conducted an observational, retrospective, cohort study collecting data from the electronic medical records of a single dialysis centre at Hygeia Hospital Tirana, Albania. Baseline patient characteristics, including demographic, clinical and laboratory data were recorded. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to determine predictors of mortality, their respective sensitivity, specificity and cut-off values. RESULTS: Of 170 haemodialysis patients, 52 were diagnosed with COVID-19. The prevalence of COVID-19 infection in haemodialysis patients in our study was 30.5%. The mean age was 61.5 ± 12.3 years and 65.4% were men. The mortality rate in our cohort was 19.2%. Mortality rates were higher in patients with Diabetic Nephropathy (P < 0.04) and Peripheral Vascular Disease (P < 0.01). High BMI (P < 0.024), high RDW (P < 0.03), elevated C-reactive protein (P < 0.018) and elevated serum ferritin (P < 0.021) levels, were found to be risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease. ROC analysis identified lymphopenia and eosinopenia as the strongest predictors of mortality. AUC for lymphopenia was 0.739. It showed a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 85.7%, at a cut-off value of 13.15%. AUC for eosinopenia was 0.814. At a cut-off value of 0.185%, it revealed a sensitivity and specificity of 72.7% and 75%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our study revealed that risk factors for the development of severe COVID-19 infection were high BMI, high RDW, elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum ferritin. Lymphopenia and eosinopenia were determined as the most important predictors of mortality, in our cohort. Early recognition during the course of the infection, of a declining tendency of lymphocyte and eosinophil counts is paramount, in identifying high-risk patients for severe disease and poor outcomes among haemodialysis patients.
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BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has been in our daily practice for almost 2 years now. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have aimed to study its most immediate effects on patients to find the best line of treatment or, at least, mitigate its worst outcomes. Nevertheless, we also know some long-term health consequences such as fatigue, sleep difficulties, headache, among others, but its long-term kidney effects are not entirely clear yet. The aim of this study was to describe if coronavirus disease's (COVID- 19) severity increases the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression after a previous hospitalization and observe if there are any additional risk factors that could help us predict this outcome. METHOD: In this study, a sample of consecutive patients who required admission due to COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic (from March to May of 2020) was recruited. Patients were followed for 12 months since initial admission. The composite outcome of the study included either death or CKD progression. CKD progression was defined as incremental progression to a higher KDIGO CKD stage compared to baseline pre COVID-19 renal function [(in mL/min/1.73 m2): estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥60;stage 3a: 45-59;stage 3b: 30-44;stage 4: 15-29;stage 5: <15], or dialysis initiation. Cardiovascular disease was defined as a history of myocardial infarction, stroke, or peripheral vascular disease. Chronic lung diseases included asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic bronchitis. RESULTS: The sample was composed of 93 patients, of which 14 (15.1%) died during follow-up. Of those alive 12 months after initial admission, 17 (21.5%) suffered CKD progression. No patient required renal replacement therapy. Patients that suffered the composite outcome presented a higher prevalence of cancer, tended to be slightly older and suffered from additional comorbidities more frequently (Table). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, previous history of CKD [odds ratio (OR): 1.066 (0.433- 2.624);P = 0.889], severe or critical COVID-19 on admission [OR: 0.657 (0.24-1.8);P =0.414] or ICU admission [OR: 0.986 (0.082-11.898);P = 0.991] failed to predict the composite outcome. CONCLUSION: Our main hypothesis was that COVID-19 sequelae should be due to an exaggerated activation of the immune system against the virus. Thus, patients that suffered severe COVID-19 should be expected to develop more long-term health consequences of the infection when compared with those with milder disease. However, we failed to prove any link between COVID-19 severity and long-term CKD progression. History of CKD or ICU admission was also unable to predict the composite outcome. Previous studies have described a relationship between COVID-19 severity and adverse renal outcomes, a relationship that we failed to observe. These discrepancies could be due to the small sample size of our study and the different definition of CKD progression applied. In addition, age could act as a potential modifier of CKD progression after admission due to COVID. More studies are required to further clarify the mechanisms and long-term renal consequences of COVID-19 and define potential lines of treatment. (Table Presented).
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BACKGROUND AND AIMS: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is pressuring healthcare systems worldwide. Disease outcomes in certain subgroups of patients, such as nephropathic patients, are still scarce. Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and on haemodialysis (HD) are at risk of a more severe disease course and worst outcomes. Here, we aimed to describe the characteristics and outcomes of CKD and HD patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, admitted to the Covid Nephrology Unit in the first three pandemic waves, analysing mortality rate and risk factors for mortality in this subgroup of patients. METHOD: A Covid Nephrology Unit was organized in March 2020 to manage the high number of CKD and HD patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Several 'spoke' units were also set to manage HD asymptomatic patients (Hi Hotel and 'Villa Luce' Dialysis Center) or with mild symptoms ('Miulli Hospital'-Acquaviva delle Fonti and 'Fallacara Hospital'-Triggiano). Clinical and laboratory data in several timepoints were collected using electronic medical records. Primary outcome was to assess the mortality rate. Moreover, we analysed the trend of inflammatory markers in the first 7 days after hospital admission between survivors and non-survivors;finally, risk factors for mortality were analysed by logistic regression. RESULTS: From March 2020 to May 2021, a total of 221 patients were admitted to the Covid Nephrology Unit;among these, 112 patients on chronic haemodialysis, 21 with acute kidney injury (AKI), 58 with CKD, 24 kidney transplant recipients and 6 patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD). Median age was 71 years (IQR 62.5- 80), while male gender predominated (61.5%). Main comorbidities were arterial hypertension (81%), diabetes mellitus (41.8%) and cardiovascular disease (CVD, 60.6%). At admission, 13.2% of patients required non-invasive ventilatory (NIV) support (CPAP, BiPAP) and about 60% presented interstitial pneumonia at CT scan. A total of 80 patients (36.1%) died during hospital stay with a medium length of stay of 15.8 days. In the first 7 days, 29 patients presented respiratory failure requiring transfer to ICU. Conversely, 100 patients were discharged at home, while 48 patients were transferred to the spoke units (39 patients at Miulli and Fallacara Hospitals, 9 patients at Hi Hotel). Compared to survivors, patients who died were older (median age 75.5 versus 66 years, P < .001), characterized by more comorbidities (diabetes mellitus 54.5% versus 35.2%, P = .01;CVD 81.1% versus 51.4%, P < .001;chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, 41.5% versus 19%, P = .01;peripheral vasculopathy 58.4% versus 34.2%, P = .01) and more severe respiratory compromission at hospital admission (patients in NIV, 22.6% versus 8.1%, P = .005). As shown in Table 1, in the first 7 days of hospital stay, a significant increase in WBC (8.29 versus 12.6 × 106, P < .001) was described in the non-survivor group;similarly, inflammatory markers such as CRP and IL-6 did not improve in the non-survivors at day 7 (CRP 81.8 versus 85.7 mg/L, P = .62;IL-6 63.1 versus 79.4 pg/mL, P = .84), while they significantly improved in survivors (median CRP 42.5 versus 10.1 mg/L, P < .001;median IL-6 32.3 versus 13.7 pg/mL, P = .01). In a multivariate logistic regression model, age (OR 1.062, 95% CI 1.007-1.119, P = .025), history of CVD (OR 8.308, 95%CI 1.704- 40.499, P = .009) and dyspnoea at hospital admission (OR 9.465, 95%CI 1.231-72.79, P = .031) were associated with risk of mortality in this population. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the largest study analyzing characteristics and outcomes of CKD and hemodialysis patients to date. A wide heterogeneity of severity of disease has been documented in our cohort;we documented a higher mortality rate in this cohort of patients compared to general population. The presence of several comorbidities, a more severe disease at hospital admission and the persistence of elevated inflammatory markers during hospital stay are risk factors for mortality. (Table Presented).
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Dasatinib, a second-generation BCRABL1 tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), is an approved treatment for chronic myeloid leukaemia, both as first-line therapy and following imatinib intolerance or resistance. It is generally well tolerated, however, dasatinib has been associated with a higher risk for pleural effusions. Frequency, risk factors and outcomes of this significant side effect were analysed in the phase 3 DASISION and 034/Dose-optimization trials. Annual risk of 5%-15% was reported. Drug-related pleural effusion occurred in 28%-33% of patients in a minimum of 5-year follow-up period. One major risk factor was advanced age. We therefore reviewed a cohort of 34 patients treated with dasatinib between 2016 and 2021, to determine 'real-world' data of this toxicity. Case notes, pathology results and radiological reports were analysed. We identified 12 (35%) cases of pleural effusions. Eight (66%) cases were male. The median average age of patients with and without drug-related pleural effusion were 59.5 years (range: 31-91 years) and 54.5 years (range: 20-88 years) respectively. Cardiovascular and respiratory comorbidities were noted in eight patients (66.6%) with pleural effusion (ischaemic heart disease, hypertension, lung cancer, COVID, peripheral vascular disease and hyperlipidaemia) and nine patients (41%) without pleural effusion (prior non-TKI pleural effusion, hypertension, asthma, congenital heart defect, COPD and atrial fibrillation). Nine cases (75%) of those with pleural effusion were non-smokers. Lymphocytosis was not noted in any of those 12 cases of drug-related pleural effusion. Ten cases (83%) were on dasatinib 100 mg daily when pleural effusion was diagnosed, one was on 50 mg daily and the other was on 20 mg daily. Pleural effusion occurred after a median of 36 months (range: 6-108 months). Nine cases (75%) were mild to moderate in severity-Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE ) grade 1-2, two were grade 3 and one was grade 4. Two required no intervention, three required only medical intervention (steroid+/-antibiotics), three required pleural tap and three required pleural drain. One required VATS procedure with talc pleurodesis. The patient with grade 1 pleural effusion required no treatment change. One required dose reduction of dasatinib without interruption. One required temporary interruption but restarted on the same dose. Six required temporary interruption of dasatinib followed by dose reduction to 50 mg daily. Two of these subsequently recurred on lower dose dasatinib and were then switched to an alternative TKI (bosutinib and imatinib). Two required temporary TKI interruption and were restarted on a different TKI (nilotinib). One case of pleural effusion persisted and the patient was kept off TKI treatment. Although the numbers are too small for statistically robust analysis, we have observed several trends which may help to guide patient counselling and selection. Pleural effusion has an incidence of 35% in our local population. Risk factors were cardiovascular and respiratory comorbidities, advanced age and male sex. Smoking status and lymphocytosis did not appear to be risk factors in our cohort, where they have been in other reports. Most effusions were mild to moderate in severity and could usually be managed by steroid+/-pleural tap+/-drain. Most patients required temporary interruption of their dasatinib but were successfully able to restart at a lower dose without recurrence..
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Myxomas are very rare intracardiac benign tumors. They can arise in any of the cardiac chambers, although 75% occur in the left atrium. Atrial myxomas (AMs) show a female predominance with a sex ratio of 3:1. There is a diversity in the clinical presentation;it may resemble many cardiovascular or systemic diseases. Furthermore, it is possible to present as an acute upper or lower limb ischemia or organ infarction due to systemic emboli. Hereby, we report a previously healthy 38-year-old male, who presented to the emergency department with acute pain of both lower limbs, unilateral upper limb, and acute abdomen. A bedside transthoracic echocardiogram was done which showed a mass that was confirmed to be an AM. The patient underwent surgical embolectomy and tumor resection. As this tumor is rare, the duration between the onset of symptoms to finally reaching the correct diagnosis is usually prolonged, and meanwhile, the patient can experience irreversible neurological damage or even death. Hence, we would like to highlight the role of echocardiogram in detecting AMs. In addition, excluding the primary cause of the thrombi, the patient's ischemic pain has a spectrum of differential diagnosis ranging from peripheral vascular disease to COVID-19. We would also like to emphasize the importance of a high index of suspicion by emergency physicians when such cases present.
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Objective: In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of hypertension (HT) and antihypertensive treatment on prognosis, which is one of the cardiovascular risk factors affecting the prognosis of COVID-19. Methods: We included 117 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 by nasopharyngeal polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The patients were divided into a hypertensive group and a control group. Biochemical, complete blood count and imaging data of the patients were recorded. Mortality of patients with and without HT was evaluated. The effect of antihypertensive therapy on mortality was evaluated. Results: In thorax CT, ground glass opacity and pneumonic consolidation were found statistically significantly higher in the hypertensive group (p <0,001). Hospital stay duration (days) of the patients were significantly longer in the hypertensive group and need for intensive care unit was statistically higher in the hypertensive group (p <0,001). Mortality of hypertensive patients was higher than of those without hypertension (p <0,001). There was no statistically significant difference in mortality in antihypertensive treatment groups (p = 0,801). Conclusion: Hypertension is an important risk factor that increases mortality in COVID-19 patients. Uncontrolled hypertension was common in most patients. Inflammatory parameters are higher especially in patients with uncontrolled hypertension. Patients with uncontrolled hypertension have a higher risk of mortality. There is no data to suggesting that the use of ACEI/ARB worsens prognosis. High blood pressure on admission to the hospital is important and the patient’s current antihypertensive therapy should not be discontinued.