External validation of the bedside score for the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis.

Objective: Acute cholecystitis usually presents with right upper quadrant (RUQ) abdominal pain. However, there are other conditions with similar findings which make the diagnosis difficult. The objective of this study is to prospectively validate the performance of the bedside score for the diagnosis of cholecystitis in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with possible acute cholecystitis. Study design: We performed a prospective observational study of a convenience sample of patients with RUQ pain admitted to the ED of three academic hospitals. Symptoms (post prandial symptoms), physical signs (RUQ tenderness, murphy's sign) and ultrasound findings (Murphy's sign, gallstone, and gallbladder thickening) were scoring system items. The final diagnosis of cholecystitis was confirmed with a surgical pathology and/or discharge diagnosis of the patient in a 30-day follow-up. The treating physicians' clinical gestalt of acute cholecystitis was also assessed by 5-point Likert scale. Results: One hundred thirty patients were followed up and were included in the analysis. 42 patients (32 %) had cholecystitis. The bedside clinical score of less than 4 had a sensitivity of 100 % (CI95 %: 91.60 %-100 %), negative predictive value (NPV) of 100 % (CI 95 %: 41.35 %-63 %), and negative likelihood ratio (-LR) of 0. Score of 6 and above had a specificity of 90.91 % (CI 95 %: 82.87 %-95.99 %), positive predictive value (PPV) of 83.67 % (CI 95 %: 72.55 %-90.86 %), and positive likelihood ratio (+LR) of 10.74 (CI95 %: 5.54-20.83). Physicians' clinical gestalt at the scale of 4 and 5 showed a specificity of 95.45 % (CI 95 %: 88.77 %-98.75 %), PPV of 90.91 % (CI 95 %: 79.29 %-96.31 %), and +LR of 20.95 (CI95 %: 8.02-54.71). At the same time at the scale of 1 and 2, the sensitivity was 95.24 % (CI 95 %: 83.84 %-99.42 %), NPV was 97.22 % (CI 95 %: 90.01 %-99.27 %), and the -LR was 0.06 (CI 95 %: 0.02-0.423). The area under the curve of bedside clinical score was not significantly higher than clinical gestalt (97.58 (CI 95 %: 95.31-99.85) vs. 95.37 (CI 95: 99.24-100))(p-value = 0.35). Conclusion: This study showed while the bedside score would be helpful to rule out and rule in acute cholecystitis, physicians' gestalt had similar diagnostic performance.

Pulmonary embolism in pregnancy with COVID-19 infection: A case report.

Pregnant women in the third trimester are at the highest risk. Contracting COVID-19 increases the complications. Hence, it is critical for pregnant women, especially during the third trimester, with slightest COVID-19 symptoms to visit as soon as possible. Early diagnosis considerably contributes to saving both the mother and the fetus.

A COVID-19 pregnant patient with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy seems to increase the risk of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) relapses and make the TTP more severe in any of the pregnancy trimesters, or even during the postpartum period. CASE PRESENTATION: This study highlights details of treating a COVID-19 pregnant patient who survived. This 21-year addicted White woman was admitted at her 29th week and delivered a stillbirth. She was transferred to another hospital after showing signs of TTP, which was caused by a viral infection. CONCLUSION: This viral infection caused fever and dyspnea, and the patient was tested positive for COVID-19 infection. A chest computed tomography scan showed diffuse multiple bilateral consolidations and interlobar septal thickening. She stayed at the Intensive Care Unit for 20 days and treated with plasmapheresis. As far as we know, this is the first report of a TTP pregnant patient with COVID-19 infection.

Prophylactic Chemotherapy with Methotrexate Leucovorin in High-Risk Hydatidiform Mole.

AIM: Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia (GTN) is used to describe a group of malignant gestational tumors originating from the placenta. The chance of having malignant GTN is high in a high-risk molar pregnancy. The main aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of using prophylactic chemotherapy in high-risk molar pregnancy to prevent malignant GTN. METHOD: In this case-control retrospective study, all patients with high-risk mole referred to Firoozgar and Akbarabadi Hospitals affiliated with Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS) from 2003 to 2013 were divided into two groups of recipient and non-recipient of methotrexate prophylactic chemotherapy.Demographic information including age, parity, weight, serum ßHCG before and after the intervention, level of liver function tests (LFT) and GTN were analyzed. RESULTS: There were 102 patients with a mean age of 27.13 years (SD= 0.37), and 51 patients (50 %) received prophylactic Methotrexate (MTX), and others were the non-receivers. Finally, 23 patients (22.5%) were inflicted with GTN, and 79 (77.5 %) did not. The average time of ßHCG spontaneous remission between the groups were 2.5 (SD=1.33) and 3.2 (SD=1.21), for the recipient and non-recipient, respectively, which showed a significant difference (p). CONCLUSION: This study concludes that prophylactic chemotherapy with MTX and leucovorin may be capable of reducing GTN, which supports the prescription of MTX in high-risk mole, especially in countries with limited resources. The toxicity of methotrexate can be reduced with the addition of leucovorin.
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Uterine primitive neuroectodermal tumor.

Primitive neuroectodermal tumors are fairly rare in uterus. A case of uterine body primitive neuroectodermal tumor in a 32-year-old Iranian woman is presented. The patient was admitted with abdominal pain and fever and underwent emergency exploratory surgery with total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and pelvic lymph node dissection. Posterior wall of the uterus was necrotic and ruptured and a huge tumor disrupted the uterine body. The tumor was strongly positive for CD99, NSE, and chromogranin; No reaction was seen for CD10, CD45 and myogenin. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an uterine body primitive neuroectodermal tumor and the second report of uterine primitive neuroectodermal tumor from Iran.

Cervical Cancer Along with Unknown Cirrhosis: A Misdiagnosed Case.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is the second most common malignancy in women worldwide. Vaginal bleeding and vaginal discharge are the most common symptoms. Although ascites has been reported in cases with cervical cancer, it is due to other causes such as ovarian metastasis. CASE PRESENTATION: A 78-year-old diabetic woman who presented with ascites and abdominopelvic mass was misdiagnosed with ovarian cancer and treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical hysterectomy and adjuvant radiotherapy. However, pathology confirmed locally advanced cervical cancer stage IV in this patient. She was discharged from the hospital three weeks after surgery with no serious complications. DISCUSSION: Considering all signs and symptoms to reach a verdict would reduce such malpractices and consequently lead to select the best management and treatment.

Human chorionic gonadotrophin as an indicator of persistent gestational trophoblastic neoplasia.

BACKGROUND: Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) disease is excessive and inappropriate proliferation of trophoblast after termination of the pregnancy. Many attempts have been made to improve follow-up procedures, but no studies have evaluated Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (HCG) as a post treatment indicator. Thus we aimed to know ß-HCG variability in post treatment pregnancies. METHODS: 40 Molar affected pregnancies were followed post-surgical treatment by serum ß-HCG level in a tertiary level hospital. All subjects were treated by evacuation and followed by ß-HCG every week for three weeks, then every month for six months. RESULTS: 30 women were normal (group I) and 10 (group II) diagnosed as GTN cases. Serum ß-HCG which obtained serially shown significant differences between two groups (p=0.001). The quantity of ß-HCG/week had significantly higher level than normal females (p<0.001) CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that ß-HCG serum level could be used as a strong indicator for identifying affected patients at early stage.

An unusual, giant and benign condyloma acuminatum lesion on the genital area for more than a decade.

Condyloma acuminatum, is a rare sexually transmitted disease. The virus responsible for condyloma is human papillomavirus.HPV-6 and HPV-11 are the most commonly detected HPV genotypes, but at least 20 other HPV genotypes have occasionally been found in genital wart tissue specimens. In fact genital HPV infection is common among sexually active populations. This disease may occur at any age after puberty and always seen in the mucosal area. It is characterized by slow growth. We reported here a case of a 42-year-old female patient with a 12 year history of a condyloma acuminatum lesion in her genitalia area without any medical treatment.