Decrease in acute coronary syndrome presentations during the COVID-19 pandemic in upstate New York.

The COVID-19 virus is a devastating pandemic that has impacted the US healthcare system significantly. More than one study reported a significant decrease in acute coronary syndrome admissions during that pandemic which is still due to unknown reasons. METHODS: This is a retrospective non-controlled multi-centered study of 180 patients (117 males and 63 females) with acute coronary syndrome (STEMI and NSTEMI) admitted during March/April of 2019 and March/April 2020 in Upstate New York. RESULTS: A total of 113 patients (61.9% males, 38.1% females) with a mean age of 72.3 ±â€¯14.2 presented during March/April 2019 with ACS (STEMI + NSTEMI) while only 67 (70.1% males, 29.9% females) COVID-19 negative patients with a mean age of 65.1 ±â€¯14.5 presented during the same period (March/April) in 2020. This is a drop by 40.7% (P < .05) of total ACS cases during the COVID-19 pandemic. In NSTEMI patients, 36.4% presented late (>24 hours of symptoms) during the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison with 2019 (27.1%, P = .033). CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic led to a substantial drop by 40.7% (P < .05) of total ACS admissions in our area. This decrease in hospital admissions and late presentations can be a worrisome sign for an increase in future complications of myocardial infarctions.

Sinus Bradycardia as a Rare and Unusual Presentation of Partial Empty Sella Syndrome: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND Empty sella syndrome (ESS) occurs when the pituitary gland becomes flattened or shrinks, which leads to filling of the sella turcica with cerebrospinal fluid. This causes the appearance of empty sella on imaging. ESS is often diagnosed after the workup of pituitary disorders, or as an incidental finding after brain imaging. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report in which ESS was diagnosed after an incidental finding of bradycardia pre-operatively. CASE REPORT We present the case of a 66-year-old man who was admitted electively to undergo a transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion at the level of L5-S1. He was found to be bradycardic pre-operatively. Upon further workup, he was found to have a thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level of 0.358 uIU/ML (normal range, 0.465-4.680 uIU/ML) and a free thyroxine (FT4) level of 0.8 ng/dL (normal range, 0.8-2.2ng/dL). He also had a history of hypotestosteronemia. He was diagnosed with central hypothyroidism at the time of admission. Subsequently, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the brain was performed, and partial empty sella syndrome was diagnosed. CONCLUSIONS Bradycardia in the setting of empty sella syndrome is a rare condition. It is of utmost importance for clinicians to keep in mind a wide differential that includes other non-cardiac causes for common cardiac symptoms such as bradycardia.