ABSTRACT
Background: Intracoronary thrombus is common in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the treatment of choice for these patients. Intracoronary thrombus is still a challenge during PCI in STEMI, even with dual antiplatelets, glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor, and anticoagulation. Intracoronary thrombus can cause distal or nonculprit vessel embolization and no-reflow state. No reflow results in large infarct size, adverse left ventricular remodeling, arrhythmias, and death. Recently, catheter-directed intracoronary thrombolysis (ICT) is gaining acceptance in patients with no-reflow due to a large thrombus burden. Aim: Evaluation of catheter-directed ICT in patients with acute STEMI who develop no reflow due to large thrombus burden during PCI. Materials and Methods and Results: This was a retrospective observational study conducted after approval of the institutional ethics committee in a tertiary care hospital of north India from April 15, 2021 to April 14, 2022, included 1020 adult patients who had undergone coronary evaluation. 37.25% patients had PCI, among these 10% had PCI for acute STEMI. Thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) Grade 5 in 79.17% and Grade 4 in 20.83%. ICT was done with low-dose tenecteplase (15 ± 5 mg). The TIMI flow III in 91.67% and II in 8.33% of patients was achieved after intracoronary thrombolysis. Major risk factor was tobacco smoking in 41.67%, and the major complication was left ventricular failure in 33.33%. Conclusions: Catheter-directed ICT is safe and effective in reducing thrombus burden, thus improving myocardial reperfusion in STEMI. This condition has a grave prognosis and can lead to adverse cardiac outcomes. There are many drugs that have been tried to manage no reflow. The use of ICT to treat no-reflow state can be life saving with minimal systemic side effects.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a serious health challenge to the entire mankind. The association between clinical characteristics of disease and formation of neutralizing antibodies have not well studied. A prospective study was conducted for patients recovered from confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections from 1st August 2020 to 28th February 2021, to study the association between SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody response titres and clinical characteristics of the disease. A total 92 patients were included in the study. Median age was 52 years; majority were male and middle or old aged. About 48% patients required hospitalization and 38.3% had moderate CT severity score. Positive SARS-CoV-2-IgG was detected in all patients except one. On comparing the antibody titres among various sub-groups of COVID-19 recovered patients, old age was the only factor associated with statistically significant higher antibody response (28 AU/ml for age<35 years, 53 AU/ml for age group 35-60, and 71 AU/ml for age group >60 years, p=0.01). Severity of infection, worse CT severity scores, need of hospitalization, oxygen or ventilatory support were associated with higher antibody titres but were not statistically significant. There was a strong correlation of antibody titres when analysed for age of study population (Spearman correlation=0.39, p<0.001); whereas a weak correlation (Spearman correlation=0.03, p=0.753) was seen when analysed for CT severity score. Elderly patients had higher antibody titre after recovery from Covid-19 infection. Severity of disease, need of hospitalisation or oxygen/mechanical ventilation did not influence the antibody titre.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Adult , Aged , Antibodies, Viral , Female , Humans , Immunoglobulin G , Male , Middle Aged , Oxygen , Pandemics , Prospective Studies , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The nervous system is the most frequent and serious targets of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. In spite of a wide prevalence of neurological manifestations in HIV there are not many studies to look into it, especially from this part of the world. We investigated various neurological manifestations of HIV and their association with CD4 and CD8 counts at the time of presentation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All HIV-infected patients who presented to 750 bedded teaching hospital in North India were subjected to thorough neurological and neuropsychological evaluation. Wherever indicated, neuroimaging, cerebrospinal fluid study, electromyography, and nerve-conduction studies were performed to confirm the diagnosis. CD4 and CD8 counts were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 416 HIV-positive patients were seen. Of them 269 were males. A total of 312 neurological events were identified in 268 patients having evidence of neurological involvement. HIV-associated dementia (HAD) was the most common cause of morbidity (33.65%), followed by CNS infections (21.63%). Most common CNS infection was tuberculosis (65.56%). CD4 counts in CNS infections and HAD were 64.8/µl and 83.52/µl, respectively. Most of the patients in our study had low scores on MMSE (22.32). CONCLUSIONS: Even in the absence of overt neurological disease, subclinical involvement in the form of subtle cognitive and motor decline is found to occur with greater frequency. Most of these patients have lower CD4 and CD8 counts, thus substantiating the proposition that neuroAIDS is a late manifestation. Significant correlation exists between CD4 counts and type of neurological manifestation. We concluded that neuropsychological assessment should be mandatory for all HIV-positive patients.
ABSTRACT
Delirium tremens is recognized as a potentially fatal and debilitating complication of alcohol withdrawal. Use of sedatives, particularly benzodiazepines, is the cornerstone of therapy for delirium tremens. But sometimes, very heavy doses of benzodiazepines are required to control delirious symptoms. We are reporting one such case of delirium tremens, which required very heavy doses of benzodiazepines and was ultimately controlled by using infusion of propofol. Thus propofol should always be considered as an option to treat patients with resistant delirium tremens.
