Clinical Profile of Central Nervous System Involvement in Patients with Rhino Orbital Cerebral Mucormycosis.

Mucormycosis is life threatening fungal infection that occurs in immunocompromised patients. Patients at risk are those with poorly controlled diabetes mellitus, immunosuppressed patients such as those undergoing treatment for hematological cancer or recipients of solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. COVID 19 infection is known to produce a state of hyper inflammation with release of various cytokines this state of immune dysfunction is associated with development of opportunistic infections, of which Mucormycosis is on the rise currently. The widespread use of corticosteroids can cause secondary infections including mucormycosis. CNS penetration typically starts with nasal involvement followed by the paranasal sinuses and palate, ultimately invading the orbit and brain or by direct hematological spread which is called as Rhino-orbito-cerebral Mucormycosis (ROCM) . MATERIAL: This is a cross sectional study conducted on 50 patients diagnosed with COVID 19 associated mucormycosis admitted to the hospitals attached to BMCRI from May2021 to August 2021.All the ROCM cases with CNS manifestation were included The relevant demographic data, clinical presentation, neurologic manifestations, underlying co morbidity, medical treatments, and surgical interventions done were recorded and analyzed. OBSERVATION: A total of 50 patients were included mean age 49.3 year with 38 males and 12 females .Most common comorbidity was diabetes (94%)followed by hypertension (26%) .Most common symptom was headache (86%) followed by facial swelling (68%), facial pain (66%).40% Patients had CNS symptom among which most common was hemiparesis. EOM restriction(70%) and abnormal vision(70%) being most common examination finding. Most common sinus being involved was maxillary 94% followed by ethmoid sinus 92%. Neurological manifestation included acute infarct (56%), Cavernous sinus thrombosis (28%),ICA occlusion (10%) abscess (34%), 3 patients had dual fungal infection. 26% patient underwent craniotomy, 6%carniotomy with Denkers procedure, 30% underwent maxillectomy. Among the mortality group, average duration of diabetes was 11.5 years, average steroid use of 9.53 days, CRP was 104mg/l, D Dimer 755ng/dl, as compared to 5.89 years, 5.3 days, 58.9mg/l, 419ng/dl, respectively among recovered patients. Most patient were left with morbidity like vision loss and facial disfigurement (40%) being most common while hemiparesis in (14%) patients . CONCLUSION: Diabetes mellitus being the main predisposing factor for ROCM. Delayed diagnosis or inappropriate treatment may result in massive tissue destruction and possible extension into the cranial base and/or vault and orbit. Despite advances in imaging and the availability of novel drugs, cerebral mucormycosis continues to be associated with high rates of death and disability.

Study Correlating Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio with Clinical Staging in Mucormycosis Patients.

Rhino-orbital mucormycosis is an aggressive fungal opportunistic infection of the immune-compromised, debilitated patients. The presence of neutrophilia and lymphocytopenia in patients affected with mucormycosis have been reported. Not much study has been done to establish the ratio of neutrophil to lymphocyte as a possible indicator for the severity of Rhino-orbital mucormycosis which is clinical staged. As such, this study aims to find out the relationship of the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio with the clinical staging of Rhino-orbital mucormycosis in COVID19 recovered patient and if such a ratio can help to identify the severity of the opportunistic fungal infection. MATERIAL: This is a Cross-sectional study done on 100 patients who were diagnosed with Mucormycosis based on radiological findings, post-COVID19 recovery. The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio was estimated after obtaining the complete blood count of the patient and calculating the ratio by the division of differential Neutrophil by the differential Lymphocyte count. The clinical staging of Mucormycosis was done based on radiological findings. OBSERVATION: The median value of Neutrophil Lymphocyte ratio was found to be elevated in all the clinical stages of Mucormycosis (from stage 2 to 4) at the time of admission as well as discharge considering the normal value of N/L ratio in a healthy individual to be 3. The median N/L ratio was also found to be in decreasing trend as compared from the time of admission to discharge in all the stages 2 to 4 of mucormycosis and was statistically significant (p=0.00) in stage 3 of mucormycosis. CONCLUSION: The Neutrophil-Lymphocyte ratio can be used as a viable marker of severity of mucormycosis and is a good prognostic indicator for resolution of disease especially in stage 3 of mucormycosis. This study helps to reiterate the importance of N/L ratio in the treatment protocol of mucormycosis.

A Comparison of the Efficacy of Adjuvant Parenteral Methylprednisolone and Dexamethasone in Reducing Covid-19 Disease Severity and Mortality among the Moderate to Critical Patients -A Retrospective Study.

The progression of the severity of COVID-19 caused by the SARS-Cov-2 virus is through an exaggerated host immune response called the cytokine storm. Corticosteroids can reduce this storm through their anti-inflammatory action, thus preventing lung damage. However the efficacy and side effect profile of the two commonly used corticosteroids- dexamethasone and methylprednisolone against COVID-19 have to be compared, to enable the selection of the appropriate drug with better outcomes. Thus the objective was to compare the efficacy of adjuvant parenteral methylprednisolone and dexamethasone in reducing COVID-19 disease severity and mortality among the moderate to critical patients. MATERIAL: A retrospective comparative study was done among 162 adult patients who were COVID-19 RTPCR positive with moderate or severe illness, among whom 100 patients had received parenteral dexamethasone and 62 patients had received parenteral methylprednisolone. The radiological changes, inflammatory markers and outcomes -duration of hospital stay, rate of discharges, deaths improvement in oxygen requirement, blood glucose post steroids were compared between the two groups. The same parameters were compared for duration of either steroid of less than five days and more than five days respectively. OBSERVATION: Both corticosteroids had a significant improvement in the inflammatory markers of serum LDH, D-Dimer and CRP (p<0.001) with a significant improvement in D-Dimer levels in the methylprednisolone group compared to the dexamethasone group (p =0.04). Methylprednisolone was found to have significant improvement in the oxygen requirement (p=0.01), disease severity (p= 0.015) and radiological changes (p=0.002) compared to dexamethasone. Both corticosteroids were associated with an increase in blood glucose levels post treatment, but no significant difference in the glucose levels between the two groups (p=0.469). No significant difference was seen in the outcomes on comparing the duration of steroids of either group for less than five days with a duration of more than five days. CONCLUSION: Parenteral Methylprednisolone is associated with a better improvement in the severity of moderate and severe COVID-19 compared to dexamethasone. Both steroids cause a similar increase in blood glucose levels, indicating that either steroid holds the risk of hyperglycemia and its potential complications. A longer duration of steroids is not associated with a significant difference in outcome compared to shorter duration of steroids, it also has a hyperglycemia risk similar to the latter.

HIV Associated Sensory Neuropathy.

BACKGROUND: In the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy, sensory neuropathies have increased in prevalence. We have documented the frequency and profile of the two most common forms of sensory neuropathies associated with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and looked into clinicoelectrophysiological correlates to differentiate the two entities. METHODS: The study population comprised of all consecutive patients detected to be HIV positive and attending the Neurology outpatient department (from March 2011 to March 2012) who were aged ≥ 18 years and were able to give informed consent. The data were collected from the patient records (including CD4 counts and treatment details) and questionnaire based interview with each patient. All patients underwent detailed clinical examination and nerve conduction studies (NCSs). RESULTS: Among the total study population of 50 patients, there were 31 men and 19 women. Thirty two patients were in age range of 21 - 40 years and rest were above 40 years. 25 were on antiretroviral therapy (18 on regimen containing zidovudine; seven on regimen containing stavudine). The mean duration of antiretroviral therapy was 16.6±8.4 months. Low CD4 counts (<200) were noted in 24 patients (13 of these were on antiretroviral therapy). Clinically, the patients were classified as asymptomatic (n=34) and symptomatic (n=16). Among the symptomatic patients, nine were on antiretroviral therapy since less than one year (seven of these were on regimen containing stavudine). Ten patients aged more than 40-years had symptomatic neuropathy. No significant correlation was found between low CD4 counts and symptomatic neuropathy (p=0.21). Impaired vibration (100%) and absent ankle jerks (75%) were commoner than reduced pin sensitivity (46.6%). Twenty two patients had abnormal NCS results (18 of these were on antiretroviral therapy). Axonal distal symmetrical sensory neuropathy was the commonest pattern noted in 14 patients who were receiving antiretroviral therapy. Subclinical involvement as evidenced by abnormal NCSs was noted in 5 asymptomatic patients who were all on antiretroviral therapy. CONCLUSION: Symptomatic neuropathy was seen predominantly in HIV patients who were on antiretroviral therapy. All patients receiving stavudine containing regimen had severe symptomatic neuropathy within 1 year. There was an increase in the likelihood of symptomatic neuropathy among patients aged > 40 years. Subclinical neuropathy was common in those on antiretroviral therapy. Axonal neuropathy was the commonest pattern noted in patients who were receiving antiretroviral therapy and demyelinating neuropathy in patients not on antiretroviral therapy. Surprisingly no significant correlation was found between low CD4 counts and symptomatic neuropathy.