[Research advances on the treatment of hydrofluoric acid burns].

Hydrofluoric acid is a highly dangerous and toxic inorganic acid, which is widely used in industrial fields and daily life. The risk of hydrofluoric acid burns is related to hydrofluoric acid mass fraction, duration of exposure to hydrofluoric acid, burn area, burn depth, and burn site, etc. Hydrofluoric acid has strong toxicity and tissue penetration ability. A small area of hydrofluoric acid burns can cause death in a short time. Therefore, improving the understanding of the mechanism of hydrofluoric acid burns and learning how to treat hydrofluoric acid burns in different sites can further improve the cure rate of hydrofluoric acid burns.

[Epidemiological characteristics and treatment outcome analysis of 229 patients with hydrofluoric acid burns in hands].

Objective: To explore the epidemiological characteristics and treatment outcomes of patients with hydrofluoric acid burns in hands. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted. The medical records of 229 patients with hydrofluoric acid burns in hands who were admitted to Zhejiang Quhua Hospital from January 2008 to December 2020 and met the inclusion criteria were collected. The following statistical data of patients were collected, including gender, age, type of affiliated enterprise, hydrofluoric acid mass fraction, injury site, total burn area, prehospital time, length of hospital stay, length of wound healing, whether hypocalcemia and hypomagnesemia occurred or not on admission, whether surgery intervention was performed or not, and whether scar sequelae occurred or not. Single factor and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to screen out the risk factors impacting surgery intervention and scar sequelae of all the patients and patients whose hydrofluoric acid mass fraction was known. Single factor and multivariate linear regression analysis were used to screen out the risk factors impacting the length of wound healing of all the patients and patients whose hydrofluoric acid mass fraction was known. Results: The 229 patients included 206 males and 23 females, with the majority aged 30 to 50 years (139 patients). The type of affiliated enterprise of majority patients was non-fluorine chemical enterprise. The hydrofluoric acid mass fraction was known in only 91 patients, mainly medium. The majority injury site was in the middle and end of finger. The total burn area was below or equal to 1% total body surface area. The prehospital time was 19 (9, 29) h. The length of hospital stay was 2 (1, 7) d. The length of wound healing was 12 (8, 18) d. The proportions of hypocalcemia and hypomagnesemia were 0.9% (2/229) and 1.3% (3/229) on admission, respectively. Thirty-six patients had surgeries and 83 patients had scar sequelae. In 229 patients, single factor logistic regression analysis showed that both type of affiliated enterprise and prehospital time were the factors impacting surgery intervention (with odds ratio values of 7.86 and 51.35, respectively, 95% confidence intervals of 1.83-33.76 and 11.89-221.78, respectively, P<0.01) and scar sequelae of patients (with odds ratio values of 3.62 and 27.40, respectively, 95% confidence intervals of 1.76-7.43 and 13.25-56.68, respectively, P<0.01); multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that prehospital time was the independent risks factor impacting surgery intervention and scar sequelae of patients (with odds ratio values of 43.00 and 24.55, respectively, 95% confidence intervals of 9.89-187.03 and 11.78-51.16, respectively, P<0.01); single factor linear regression analysis showed that both type of affiliated enterprise and prehospital time were the factors impacting the length of wound healing of patients (with ß values of 6.16 and 12.83, respectively, 95% confidence intervals of 3.38-8.93 and 10.72-14.93, respectively, P<0.01); multivariate linear regression analysis showed that both type of affiliated enterprise and prehospital time were the independent risk factors impacting the length of wound healing of patients (with ß values of 2.81 and 12.16, respectively, 95% confidence intervals of 0.50-5.13 and 10.00-14.31, respectively, P<0.05 or P<0.01). In 91 patients whose hydrofluoric acid mass fraction was known, single factor logistic regression analysis showed that type of affiliated enterprise, hydrofluoric acid mass fraction (low and high), and prehospital time were all the factors impacting surgery intervention of patients (with odds ratio values of 9.10, 11.25, 10.69, and 0.04, respectively, 95% confidence intervals of 1.15-72.25, 1.39-90.93, 1.32-86.59, and 0.01-0.19, respectively, P<0.05 or P<0.01), type of affiliated enterprise, hydrofluoric acid mass fraction, and prehospital time were all the factors impacting scar sequelae of patients (with odds ratio values of 0.32, 0.21, and 36.80, respectively, 95% confidence intervals of 0.11-0.92, 0.06-0.73, and 11.03-122.79, respectively, P<0.05 or P<0.01); multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that both hydrofluoric acid mass fraction and prehospital time were the independent risk factors impacting surgery intervention of patients (with odds ratio values of 11.51 and 0.04, respectively, 95% confidence intervals of 1.22-108.26 and 0.01-0.25, respectively, P<0.05 or P<0.01), prehospital time was the independent risk factor impacting scar sequelae of patients (odds ratio=37.71, with 95% confidence interval of 9.97-142.69, P<0.01); single factor linear regression analysis showed that type of affiliated enterprise, hydrofluoric acid mass fraction (low and high), and prehospital time were all the factors impacting the length of wound healing of patients (with ß values of 7.12, -5.63, -9.74, and 13.50, respectively, 95% confidence intervals of 2.43-11.81, -10.59--0.68, -14.78--4.70, and 10.14-16.86, respectively, P<0.05 or P<0.01); multivariate linear regression analysis showed that both hydrofluoric acid mass fraction and prehospital time were the independent risk factors impacting the length of wound healing of patients (with ß values of -5.84 and 0.09, respectively, 95% confidence intervals of -10.59--1.08 and 0.05-0.12, respectively, P<0.05 or P<0.01). Conclusions: The majority of patients with hydrofluoric acid burns in hands are young and middle-aged males. Type of affiliated enterprise, hydrofluoric acid mass fraction and prehospital time are the risk factors that affect the treatment outcomes of patients with hydrofluoric acid burns in hands.

[Prognosis factors analysis of patients with malignant solitary pulmonary nodules].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the prognosis factors that influence the postoperative survival rate in patients with malignant solitary pulmonary nodules and to provide a reference for the prognosis risk stratification of early lung cancer patients. METHODS: In this study, we retrospectively reviewed 172 patients who were admitted to Peking University First Hospital from April 2006 to December 2013. All cases were radiologically defined as solitary pulmonary nodule and were pathologically confirmed to be stage Ia non-small cell lung cancer after surgical procedure. The patients' clinical and follow-up data were summarized and analyzed. The relevance between survival time and factors that may affect patients' prognosis was evaluated, which included gender, age, clinical symptoms, smoking history, comorbidity index, tumor biomarkers, nodule type, type of surgery, nodule location, nodule histopathological type, nodule size, histopathological differentiation grade, proliferating cell nuclear antigen Ki-67 expression level and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutation. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, Cox univariant and multivariant regression analysis were conducted to evaluate the factors affecting prognosis. RESULTS: The 3-year overall survival rate of the atients with malignant solitary pulmonary nodules was 93.6%, and the 5-year overall survival rate was 89.8%. KaplanMeier survival analysis and Cox univariant regression analysis showed that the overall survival rate of the male patients was significantly lower than that of the female patients. In addition, the elderly patients with histopathology characterized as high Ki-67 proliferation index were also associated with the worse overall survival (P<0.05). Cox multivariant regression analysis demonstrated that age more than 65 years as well as the high Ki-67 expression level were independent risk factors for overall survival in patients with malignant solitary pulmonary nodules (age: P=0.023, HR=3.531, 95%CI 1.190-10.472; Ki-67: P=0.004, HR=1.021, 95%CI 1.007-1.035). CONCLUSION: For patients with malignant solitary pulmonary nodules, with pathological defined as stage Ia non-small cell lung cancer, age, gender and Ki-67 expression levels might be important prognostic factors. Comprehensive consideration of Ki-67 proliferation index and clinical pathological features may help to stratify the prognosis more accurately and guide the selection of appropriate therapeutic strategies, which needs to be verified by multi-center studies.

[Clinical analysis of pulmonary cryptococcosis in non-human immunodeficiency virus infection patients].

OBJECTIVE: To improve the understanding of the clinical features of pulmonary cryptococcosis in non-human immunodeficiency virus (non-HIV) infection patients and reduce delay in diagnosis, or misdiagnosis. METHODS: The clinical features, imaging characteristics, laboratory examinations, treatment and prognosis of 34 cases of pulmonary cryptococcosis were retrospectively analyzed. The data were collected from Peking University First Hospital from June 1997 to June 2016. RESULTS: There were 34 cases diagnosed with pulmonary cryptococcosis, including 22 males and 12 females, aged from 20 to 75 years [average: (50.1±15.0) years]. There were 16 cases with host factors and (or) underlying diseases named immunocompromised group. In the study, 67.6% patients had clinical symptoms while 32.4% patients had no symptoms. The most common symptoms included cough, fever, chest pain, shortness of breath, and hemoptysis in sequence. Common chest imaging findings were patchy infiltrates, consolidation, single or multiple nodular or masses shadows. Among the 20 cases with cryptococcal capsular polysaccharide antigen detection, 19 were positive. Eleven cases underwent routine cerebrospinal fluid examination, and 3 cases complicated with central nervous system cryptococcal infection. At first visit, 24 cases were misdiagnosed, among which, 11 cases were misdiagnosed as lung cancer. The diagnosis of 15 cases was proved by percutaneous lung biopsy and 11 were confirmed by surgery, while 8 were diagnosed clinically. Then 11 cases were treated by surgical resection, and in median 4 years' followp, there was 1 case of recurrence. And 23 cases were treated with antifungal therapy, and in median 8 years' follow-up, 3 cases lost to the follow-up and 1 case of recurrence. Compared with normal immune group, immunocompromised patients had higher ages (P=0.017), more crackles (P=0.006) and more percentage of increase of peripheral white blood cells or neutrophils (P=0.003), but no significant difference in symptoms, imaging characteristics or hospitalization time. CONCLUSION: There were no specific clinical symptoms and signs for pulmonary cryptococcosis in non-HIV patients. Diagnosis of pulmonary cryptococcosis depends on pathology. Percutaneous lung biopsy was mostly recommended for clinical highly suspected patients. Cryptoeoccal capsular polysaccharide antigen detection had a high sensitivity for the clinical diagnosis. Antifungal drug therapy was the major treatment, and the prognosis of the most patients was good.

[Analysis on effects of modified dosage of calcium gluconate on patients with hydrofluoric acid burns not in hands or feet].

Objective: To retrospectively explore the effects of modified dosage of calcium gluconate (CG) on the patients with hydrofluoric acid burns not in hands or feet. Methods: One hundred and sixty patients with hydrofluoric acid burns not in hands or feet were hospitalized in our burn ward from January 2004 to December 2017. Based on the dosage of CG at different admission time, 76 patients hospitalized from January 2004 to December 2012 were included in traditional group, and 84 patients hospitalized from January 2013 to December 2017 were included in modified group. For patients in the two groups, subcutaneous injection of CG solution at one time was immediately conducted on admission in topical treatment. In traditional group, the injection was CG solution with mass concentration of 100 g/L. For wounds of superficial partial-thickness and above degree, CG solution was prescribed at the dosage of 50 mg/cm(2). Wounds of superficial-thickness or mass fraction of hydrofluoric acid less than 20.0% did not receive injection. In modified group, the mass concentration of CG solution for injection was diluted with normal saline to 25 g/L. For wounds of deep partial-thickness and above degree, CG solution was prescribed at the dosage of (50×mass fraction of hydrofluoric acid) mg/cm(2). For wounds of superficial partial-thickness, CG solution was prescribed at the dosage of (25×mass fraction of hydrofluoric acid) mg/cm(2). For wounds of superficial-thickness, CG solution was prescribed at the dosage of 2.5 mg/cm(2). For systemic treatment, the injection velocity of CG solution via venous access was adjusted according to the level of serum calcium namely total serum calcium of patients in traditional group. In modified group, serum ionized calcium was additionally detected through automatic blood gas analyzer by the bed to regulate the injection velocity of CG via venous access. The incidence rate of hypercalcemia and mortality of patients after treatment in the two groups, and the situation about treatment of survivors in the two groups were analyzed. Data were processed with chi-square test, Fisher's exact probability test, t test, and Mann-Whitney U test. Results: (1) After treatment, 9 patients (11.8%) had hypercalcemia, while the other 67 patients (88.2%) did not have hypercalcemia in traditional group. Two patients (2.4%) had hypercalcemia, while the other 82 patients (97.6%) did not have hypercalcemia in modified group. The incidence rate of hypercalcemia of patients in traditional group was significantly higher than that in modified group (χ(2)=5.579, P=0.02). (2) There were two deaths (2.6%) and 74 survivors (97.4%) in traditional group, while there were two deaths (2.4%) and 82 survivors (97.6%) in modified group. The mortalities of patients in the two groups were close (P>0.05). (3) The ratios of eschar excision and skin grafting and hyperplastic scar formation, wound healing time, and ratio of esophageal scar stenosis of survivors in the two groups were close (χ(2)=0.002, 0.054, Z=0.66, P>0.05). Conclusions: Hydrofluoric acid is highly dangerous. The early management of patients with hydrofluoric acid burns emphasizing specialized dosage of CG for treatment can be helpful to reduce incidence of complications and improve the safety of treatment.