Use of Colony-Stimulating Factors in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease that commonly manifests as cutaneous rashes, renal disease, gastrointestinal dysfunction, and cytopenia. Hematological anomalies are frequently associated with drug-induced toxicity in SLE patients. Colony-stimulating factors have been used to treat drug-induced cytopenia in past case reports; however, evidence suggests that colony-stimulating factors can exacerbate autoimmune disorders, including SLE. This case report presents two patients with SLE exacerbations after colony-stimulating factor administration. The first case is a young male with SLE who developed pancytopenia with a white blood cell count (WBC) of 1 × 109 cells/L. The patient was administered filgrastim during his initial admission and presented to the hospital 2 days after discharge in cardiac arrest with a WBC of 66.7 × 109 cells/L. The second case is a 49-year-old female with SLE who was administered sargramostim in response to a WBC count of 9 × 109 cells/L. The patient experienced a drastic increase in WBC followed by a cardiac arrest. These cases highlight the need for more research regarding the safe use of colony-stimulating factors in SLE patients.

Impact of outpatient antimicrobial stewardship guideline implementation in an urgent care setting.

BACKGROUND: Urgent care medicine is a rapidly growing health care sector where patients are commonly treated for acute infectious diseases-related conditions. However, there are few antimicrobial stewardship interventions described in these settings. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to determine whether implementing outpatient antimicrobial stewardship guidelines would improve antibiotic prescribing for acute upper respiratory tract infections (ARTIs), skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI), and urinary tract infections (UTI) at a single urgent care site. METHODS: This was a pre-post interventional study comparing antibiotic prescribing patterns for ARTI, SSTI, and UTI at a single urgent care site in the preintervention group (November 2019 to January 2020) with the postintervention group (November 2020 to January 2021) after implementation of outpatient stewardship guidelines. A second urgent care site that did not receive any interventions served as a control. The outpatient stewardship guidelines were implemented in October 2020 via didactic provider education and pocket guide distribution. The primary end point was the rate of total guideline-concordant antibiotic prescribing. Secondary end points included the rates of guideline concordance of each component of the prescription, including antibiotic selection, duration, dose, therapy indication, and patient safety outcomes. RESULTS: The primary outcome of total guideline-concordant antibiotic prescribing significantly improved after implementation of outpatient antimicrobial stewardship guidelines at the study site (50% vs. 70%, P < 0.001), which was also reflected when comparing postintervention study site with postperiod control site (70% vs. 48%, P < 0.001). There was a statistically significant improvement in guideline-concordant duration of antibiotic therapy (43% vs. 61%, P = 0.001), driven by a reduction in antibiotic duration for UTI (7 [interquartile range (IQR) 5-7] vs. 5 [IQR 5-7] days, P = 0.007), which was also observed when comparing the postintervention study site with the postperiod control site (61% vs. 48%, P = 0.02). Patient safety outcomes were similar between groups. CONCLUSION: An antimicrobial stewardship intervention comprising institutional outpatient guideline implementation and provider education significantly improved total guideline-concordant antibiotic prescribing by 20% for ARTI, UTI, and SSTI in an urgent care site.

Impact of Genitourinary Injuries on Patients Requiring an Emergency Laparotomy for Trauma.

Introduction In patients having emergency abdominal surgery for trauma, the presence of urologic injury tends to increase mortality and morbidity. Methods This retrospective study evaluated patients requiring emergency surgery for abdominal trauma at a Level 1 Trauma Center over 30 years (1980-2010). Special attention was given to patients with concomitant genitourinary (GU) injuries. Results Of 1105 patients requiring an emergency laparotomy for trauma, 242 (22%) had urologic injuries including kidney 178 (16%), ureter 47 (4%), and bladder 46 (4%). Of the 242 patients, 50 (20%) died early (<48 hours) and 13 (5%) died later, primarily due to infection. A concept of "seven deadly signs" of hypoperfusion was developed. In patients with GU injuries, the presence of any deadly sign of hypoperfusion increased the mortality rate from 4% (6/152) to 63% (56/90), p<0.001. Of the 53 patients having a nephrectomy, 36 (68%) had one or more deadly signs and 27 (75%) died. Of 17 without deadly signs, only 2 (12%) died (p=0.001). Of 167 GU patients receiving blood, 59 (35%) developed infection vs 3/75(4%) in those receiving no blood (p<0.001). Conclusions The presence of deadly signs of severe injury and hypoperfusion on admission was the major factor determining mortality. With a severely injured kidney plus any deadly signs of hypoperfusion, special efforts should be made to avoid a nephrectomy.

Impact of prospective verification of intravenous antibiotics in an ED.

BACKGROUND: Delay in appropriate antibiotic therapy is associated with an increase in mortality and prolonged length of stay. Automatic dispensing machines decrease the delivery time of intravenous (IV) antibiotics to patients in the emergency department (ED). However, when IV antibiotics are not reviewed by pharmacists before being administered, patients are at risk for receiving inappropriate antibiotic therapy. The objective of this study was to determine if a difference exists in the time to administration of appropriate antibiotic therapy before and after implementation of prospective verification of antibiotics in the ED. METHODS: This retrospective, institutional review board-approved preimplementation vs postimplementation study evaluated patients 18years or older who were started on IV antibiotics in the ED. Patients were excluded if pregnant, if the patient is a prisoner, if no cultures were drawn, or if the patient was transferred from an outside facility. Appropriate antibiotic therapy was based on empiric source-specific evidence-based guidelines, appropriate pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties, and microbiologic data. The primary end point was the time from ED arrival to administration of appropriate antibiotic therapy. RESULTS: Of the 1628 evaluated, 128 patients met the inclusion criteria (64 pre vs 64 post). Patients were aged 65.2±17.0years, with most of infections being pneumonia (44%) and urinary tract infections (18%) and most patients being noncritically ill. Time to appropriate antibiotic therapy was reduced in the postgroup vs pregroup (8.1±8.6 vs 15.2±22.8hours, respectively, P=.03). In addition, appropriate empiric antibiotics were initiated more frequently after the implementation (92% post vs 66% pre; P=.0001). There was no difference in mortality or length of stay between the 2 groups. CONCLUSION: Prompt administration of the appropriate antibiotics is imperative in patients with infections presenting to the ED. The impact of prospective verification of antibiotics by pharmacists led to significant improvement on both empiric selection of and time to appropriate antibiotic therapy.

H2 blockers decrease gut mucus production and lead to barrier dysfunction in vitro.

BACKGROUND: Pneumonia and other gut-related infectious complications have been associated with the use of histamine 2 (H2) receptor antagonists such as cimetidine in critically ill patients. The mechanism(s) may include acid suppression with resultant effects on the gut flora. Other possibilities include immunologic effects and perturbation of gut barrier function. Recent work has demonstrated the importance of mucus on the gastrointestinal mucosal barrier. We studied the effect of cimetidine on mucus production and mucosal barrier function in vitro. METHODS: HT29-MTX, a mucus-producing intestinal epithelial cell line, was used. HT29-MTX cell monolayers were grown to confluence in the presence of cimetidine for 0, 3, or 6 days. Mucus production was quantified by Western Blot analysis and O-linked oligosaccharide chain release and mucin content by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Fluorescein-labeled Escherichia coli (EC) or unlabeled EC were added to quantify bacterial adherence (60-min co-culture) and passage thru HT29-MTX cell monolayers (120-min co-culture), respectively. RESULTS: Cimetidine treatment decreased mucus/mucin content after 3 or 6 days of treatment. The effect was more profound after 6 days. There was nearly a 2-fold increase in passage of EC across HT29-MTX monolayers after cimetidine treatment. CONCLUSION: Cimetidine seems to contribute to gut barrier dysfunction by its effect on mucus production. This study supports the increasing clinical suspicion that routine administration of H2 blockers in critically ill patients may be ill advised.