High AST/ALT Ratio Is Associated with Cardiac Involvement in Acute COVID-19 Patients.

Background and Objectives: We aimed to assess the effect of AST/ALT ratio on echocardiographic and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) parameters after COVID-19 patients recover. Materials and Methods: 87 patients with COVID-19 were included in the study. The patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 pneumonia, but the patients did not need intensive care unit follow-up or non-invasive mechanical ventilation support. After a discharge and two weeks following the positive swab test result, patients were considered eligible if they had any symptoms. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) was performed within 24 h prior to CMRI. The median value of AST/ALT ratio was found, and the study population was divided into two subgroups based on the median AST/ALT ratio value. The clinical features, blood test, TTE and CMRI results were compared between subgroups. Results: C-reactive protein, D-dimer and fibrinogen were found to be significantly higher in patients with high AST/ALT ratio. LVEF, TAPSE, S', and FAC were significantly lower in patients with high AST/ALT ratio. LV-GLS were significantly lower in patients with high AST/ALT ratio. In CMRI, native T1 mapping signal, native T2 mapping signal and extracellular volume raised significantly in patients with high AST/ALT ratio. Right ventricle stroke volume and right ventricle ejection fraction were significantly lower in patients with high AST/ALT ratio, but right ventricle end systolic volume was significantly higher in patients with high AST/ALT ratio. Conclusion: High AST/ALT ratio is related to impaired right ventricular function parameters with CMRI and echocardiography after recovery from acute COVID-19. Assessment of AST/ALT ratio at hospital admission may be used to assess the risk of cardiac involvement in COVID-19 disease, and these patients may require closer follow-up during and after the course of COVID-19.

Cardiac magnetic resonance T2* mapping in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia is associated with serum ferritin level?

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19)-related myocardial injury is an increasingly recognized complication and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become the most commonly used non-invasive imaging technique for myocardial involvement. This study aims to assess myocardial structure by T2*-mapping which is a non-invasive gold-standard imaging tool for the assessment of cardiac iron deposition in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia without significant cardiac symptoms. Twenty-five patients with COVID-19 pneumonia and 20 healthy subjects were prospectively enrolled.Cardiac volume and function parameters, myocardial native-T1, and T2*-mapping were measured. The association of serum ferritin level and myocardial mapping was analyzed. There was no difference in terms of cardiac volume and function parameters. The T2*-mapping values were lower in patients with COVID-19 compared to controls (35.37 [IQR 31.67-41.20] ms vs. 43.98 [IQR 41.97-46.88] ms; p < 0.0001), while no significant difference was found in terms of native-T1 mapping value(p = 0.701). There was a positive correlation with T2*mapping and native-T1 mapping values (r = 0.522, p = 0.007) and negative correlation with serum ferritin values (r = - 0.653, p = 0.000), while no correlation between cardiac native-T1 mapping and serum ferritin level. Negative correlation between serum ferritin level and T2*-mapping values in COVID-19 patients may provide a non-contrast-enhanced alternative to assess tissue structural changes in patients with COVID-19. T2*-mapping may provide a non-contrast-enhanced alternative to assess tissue alterations in patients with COVID-19. Adding T2*-mapping cardiac MRI in patients with myocardial pathologies would improve the revealing of underlying mechanisms. Further in vivo and ex vivo animal or human studies designed with larger patient cohorts should be planned.

What Should Be Design, Organization and Role of Pandemic Hospitals in COVID-19 Infection?

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate the physical structure, design, management, and organization of two emergency hospitals built in Istanbul within 45 days in the COVID-19 pandemic and the role played by these hospitals during the pandemic. A further aim was to determine the advantages and disadvantages of the emergency hospitals by comparing them with similar organizational models in other countries. METHODS: The pandemic hospitals established for the COVID-19 pandemic in Istanbul were investigated in a multi-faceted manner. The parameters investigated were physical structure, bed, and intensive care capacity, mechanics and infrastructure, medical equipment, personnel, organizational structures and management, and the medical services provided by both emergency hospitals during the outbreak. RESULTS: The pandemic hospitals were built on an open area of 125.000 m2 as a hospital building of 75.150 m2. Each hospital has a total bed capacity of 1008, with 576 being clinical and 432 being intensive care beds. The management of the pandemic hospitals is connected to two different hospital management structures, which are experienced in disasters and have all kinds of training, research clinics and academic personnel in this regard. CONCLUSION: The healthcare services provided by both the pandemic hospitals fulfilled the purpose of those hospitals during the pandemic. As it is most likely that the world will face other serious disasters and epidemics in the future, the construction of multi-purpose and permanent emergency hospitals instead of emergency temporary hospitals would be more advantageous in terms of economy, medical service, and environment.

Association of blood groups on the risk of COVID-19 infection, morbidity, and mortality.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to compare the effects of blood groups and Rh factor on the development of coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19) with all aspects such as clinical course, inflammatory parameters, and organ-specific biochemical parameters with a significant number of patients. METHODS: This multicenter study was carried out retrospectively on 3551 patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of COVID-19 and whose blood groups were recorded during the time of hospitalization. As control groups, 22133 individuals' medical data who were admitted to the blood bank affiliated with our hospitals during the last year was used. The differences between the blood groups and clinical characteristics were analyzed. RESULTS: Of the 3551 patients, A Rh (+) blood group was found to be in a higher ratio in the case group than controls, with increased risk to be infected (case: 41.3% vs. control: 38.8%), (OR 1.113; 95% CI: 1.036-1.197; p=0.003). Meanwhile O Rh (+) blood group ratios were significantly lower in the case group than in the control group (case: 26% vs. control: 28.3%) (OR 0.862; 95% CI: 0.823-0.966; p=0.005). There was no significant difference between blood groups in terms of admission to the intensive care units and mortality, it was observed that patients with AB Rh (+) blood group have a greater risk for intubation than others (OR: 1.467; 95% CI: 1.040-2.071; p=0.028). CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that people with blood group A Rh (+) more susceptible to COVID-19, whereas blood group 0 Rh (+) have a protective effect against the infection. Once a person has been infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, we should be mindful that patients with blood group AB Rh (+) would be prone to intubation more than other blood groups.

Aggressive Thromboprophylaxis Improves Clinical Process and Decreases the Need of Intensive Care Unit in Covid-19.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: COVID-19 might cause thrombosis in the arterial and venous system either directly or via indirect means such as cytokine storm or hypoxia. Enoxaparin might contribute to clinical recovery in COVID-19 patients, both by reducing the risk of thrombosis with anticoagulant effect and avoiding the cytokine storm with its anti-inflammatory effect. In this study, the clinical results of prophylactic enoxaparin usage in COVID-19 patients in our hospital were investigated. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the patients who had hospitalized in our hospital with the diagnosis of COVID-19 between March 12 and April 17, 2020. Patients were divided into two groups according to their clinical status. Patients who were discharged to their home were in Group-I and were transferred to intensive care unit (ICU) were in Group-II. Patients' demographics and laboratory examinations were compared between the groups. Then the effect of LMWH treatment in the rate of ICU transfer was evaluated. RESULTS: There were 1216 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in the study period. Increased age, levels of D-Dimer and fibrinogen and decreased hemoglobin, platelet, lymphocyte values were found to be statistically significantly risk factor for the need of ICU. Transfer rates of ICU were two times more in the patients who did not used enoxaparin and readmission after the discharge was higher in the patients who did not received enoxaparin in the hospital. CONCLUSION: Enoxaparin treatment in COVID-19 might be effective not only anticoagulant effect but also anti-inflammatory effect that decreased the risk cytokine storm. In the patients with COVID-19 disease, starting enoxaparin treatment in the earlier stage will decrease the risk of microthrombosis in vital organs and might improve the clinical outcomes.

A comparison of clinical, laboratory and chest CT findings of laboratory-confirmed and clinically diagnosed COVID-19 patients at first admission.

PURPOSE: This study aims to identify chest computed tomography (CT) characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), investigate the association between CT findings and laboratory or demographic findings, and compare the accuracy of chest CT with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). METHODS: Overall, 120 of 159 consecutive cases isolated due to suspected COVID-19 at our hospital between 17 and 25 March 2020 were included in this retrospective study. All patients underwent both chest CT and RT-PCR at first admission. The patients were divided into two groups: laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and clinically diagnosed COVID-19. Clinical findings, laboratory findings, radiologic features and CT severity index (CT-SI) of the patients were noted. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy of chest CT were calculated for the diagnosis of COVID-19, using RT-PCR as reference. RESULTS: The laboratory-confirmed and clinically diagnosed COVID-19 groups consisted of 69 (M/F 43/26, mean age 50.9±14.0 years) and 51 patients (M/F 24/27, mean age 50.9±18.8 years), respectively. Dry cough (62.3% vs. 52.9%), fever (30.4% vs. 25.5%) and dyspnea (23.2% vs. 27.5%) were the most common admission symptoms in the laboratory-confirmed and clinically diagnosed COVID-19 groups, respectively. Bilateral multilobe involvement (83.1% vs. 57.5%), peripheral distribution (96.9% vs. 97.5%), patchy shape (75.4% vs. 70.0%), ground-glass opacities (GGO) (96.9% vs. 100.0%), vascular enlargement (56.9% vs. 50.0%), intralobular reticular density (40.0% vs. 40.0%) and bronchial wall thickening (27.7% vs. 45.0%) were the most common CT findings in the laboratory-confirmed and clinically diagnosed COVID-19 subgroups, respectively. Except for the bilateral involvement and white blood cell (WBC) count, no difference was found between the clinical, laboratory, and parenchymal findings of the two groups. Positive correlation was found between CT-SI and, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and C-reactive protein (CRP) values in the laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 subgroup. Chest CT and RT-PCR positivity rates among patients with suspected COVID-19 were 87.5% (105/120) and 57.5% (69/120), respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy rates of chest CT were determined as 94.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 85.8-98.4), 21.57% (95% CI, 11.3-35.3), 61.90% (95% CI, 58.2-65.5), 73.3% (95% CI, 48.2-89.1) and 63.3% (95% CI, 54.1-71.9), respectively. CONCLUSION: Chest CT has high sensitivity and low specificity in the diagnosis of COVID-19. The clinical, laboratory, and CT findings of laboratory-confirmed and clinically diagnosed COVID-19 patients are similar.

Pregnancy worsens the morbidity of COVID-19 and this effect becomes more prominent as pregnancy advances.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate pregnancy outcomes and compare the clinical characteristics of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) disease in pregnant and agematched non-pregnant women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Hospital records of four tertiary care centers were reviewed retrospectively. The subjects comprised 188 pregnant patients and 799 non-pregnant women who were admitted to these hospitals. RESULTS: Pregnancy significantly affected the clinical severity of COVID-19 and this effect was more prominent in pregnant women at >20 weeks gestation (p<0.001). Rates of oxygen support (10.1% vs 4.8%; p≤0.001), intensive care unit admission (3.2% vs 0.6%; p=0.009), presence of fever (12.8% vs 4.4%; p<0.001), tachypnea (7.0% vs 2.4%; p=0.003) and tachycardia (16.0% vs 1.9%; p<0.001) were significantly more frequent in pregnant women compared with non-pregnant women. Pregnancy was strongly associated with the need for oxygen support [relative risk (RR), 2.125; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.25-3.60] and admission to the intensive care unit (RR, 5.1; 95% CI: 1.57-16.53) compared with non-pregnant women. Some 14.4% of the pregnant women had co-morbidities. Sixty of the 188 pregnant women (31.9%) delivered during the Severe Acute Respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection, 11 (18.3%) had vaginal deliveries and 49 (81.7%) were by cesarean section. Of these 60 deliveries, 40 (66.7%) were <37 weeks gestation. CONCLUSION: Pregnancy worsens the morbidity of COVID-19 and this effect seems to increase as the pregnancy advances, but not the mortality rate.

Clinical analysis of 113 patients with Poland syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Poland syndrome is a rare congenital anomaly characterized by the partial or complete absence of pectoral muscles, varying thoracic deformities, and hand anomalies. To date, many variants of this syndrome and its accompanying anomalies have been reported. METHODS: In our clinic, 113 patients were diagnosed with Poland syndrome between 1990 and 2014. A latissimus dorsi muscle transfer was performed on 6 of these patients. RESULTS: Out of 113 patients, 63 (55.7%) were diagnosed with the syndrome on the right side, 42 (37.1%) were diagnosed on the left side, and 8 (7%) had a bilateral diagnosis. The partial or complete absence of the pectoralis major muscle was detected in all patients. Although 81 (71.6%) patients had a complete absence of the pectoralis major muscle, 32 (28.3%) were lacking only the sternocostal head of the muscle. In the analyzed cases, Poland syndrome was also found to be accompanied by specific anomalies. The most common anomaly accompanying Poland syndrome in these patients was Sprengel deformity, seen in 18 patients. Symmetry and stabilization of the chest wall were performed in 6 patients through transfer of the latissimus dorsi muscle. CONCLUSIONS: Poland syndrome is a rare congenital anomaly, which has several variants and accompanying anomalies. The absence of several muscles in addition to the pectoral muscle can be seen in patients with Poland syndrome. Sprengel deformity is the most common accompanying anomaly. Several surgical procedures have been reported for the syndrome; for example, transposing the latissimus dorsi muscle is an effective procedure in terms of stabilizing the chest wall and providing optimum symmetric body appearance.

The abnormalities of trapezius muscle might be a component of Poland's syndrome.

Poland's syndrome is a rare unilateral congenital anomaly characterized by the absence of the pectoral muscle and hand anomalies. By the time, new components including the absence or hypoplasia of many muscles have been identified, however, the anomalies of trapezius muscle have not been reported in patients with Poland's syndrome. The accepted etiological theory is the temporary interruption of blood supply of the subclavian artery and its branches in the early gestational period. The artery of the trapezius muscle is also one of the branches of subclavian artery. Just because of that, it is likely to trapezius muscle be affected in patients with Poland's syndrome. We are presenting a case of Poland's syndrome associated with unilateral partial absence of trapezius muscle to support this hypothesis.

Eight patients with multiple bilateral thoracic anomalies: a new syndrome or bilateral Poland's syndrome?

BACKGROUND: Poland's syndrome is a rare congenital anomaly characterized by an absence or hypoplasia of the greater and smaller pectoral muscles, breast or nipple anomalies, hypoplasia of subcutaneous tissue, chest wall deformities, pectoral and axillary alopecia, and hand anomalies. Poland's syndrome is usually unilateral. We present 8 patients with multiple bilateral thoracic anomalies. METHODS: Eight patients were admitted to our clinic with an abnormal thoracic appearance and restriction of shoulder mobilization. Bilateral multiple muscles, including the greater pectoral muscle and some other thoracic muscles, could not be palpated during physical examination. All patients were evaluated, with a preliminary diagnosis of bilateral Poland's syndrome. RESULTS: All patients exhibited partial or complete absence of bilateral greater pectoral muscles, absence or hypoplasia of bilateral smaller pectoral muscles, bilateral shoulder protrusion to the front, limited abduction of both shoulders, absence or hypoplasia of other bilateral thoracic muscles (serratus anterior, latissimus dorsi, and trapezius muscles), and scapula alata. CONCLUSIONS: All patients with Poland's syndrome have unilateral hypoplasia or absence of the greater pectoral muscle as the main feature. Poland's syndrome is routinely described as a unilateral syndrome. Cases of Poland's syndrome are typically sporadic. Our patients had different additional bilateral anomalies. In particular, the main problems our patients had were the position of the shoulders and limited abduction of both upper extremities. In contrast to patients with Poland's syndrome, half of our cases were familial. We consider our patients important examples in that they either present a new syndrome or show that Poland's syndrome can be bilateral.

Anterior mediastinal angiomyolipoma.

Angiomyolipomas are benign, solitary, noninvasive mesenchymal tumors. They most often arise in the kidney. Extrarenal presentations of these tumors are in skin, orophaynx, abdominal wall, gastrointestinal tract, heart, lung, liver, uterus, penis, and spinal cord. Angiomyolipoma of the mediastinum is extremely rare and is composed of an admixture of fat, smooth muscle cells, and tortuous, thick-walled, small to medium sized blood vessels. We present a surgically confirmed case of anterior mediastinal angiomyolipoma incidentally diagnosed in an asymptomatic patient.

The effects of clipping on thoracic sympathetic nerve in rabbits: early and late histopathological findings.

BACKGROUND: The clipping of the thoracic sympathetic nerve, which has been a technique used for approximately the past 10 years, has rapidly become popular because of its "bring-back" claim. However, the information regarding the mechanism behind this claim is based on investigator's comments and has not been proven by objective research, such as the histopathological examination of the clipped nerve and/or ganglion. We aimed to evaluate sympathetic regeneration and degeneration after clip removal. METHODS: The rabbits were divided into two groups with six rabbits per group. For the first group (group A), the sympathetic chain was clipped using two titanium clips, and a right thoracotomy was made at the T4 and T5 levels. For the second group (group B), the animals were also operated on, which was similar to the rabbits in group A. At the end of a 48-hour follow-up period, the clips were removed after a second operation. The rabbits in group B were followed for 45 days and sympathetic nerves were also examined histopathologically. RESULTS: In group A, hemorrhage, fibrinous material, polymorphonuclear leukocyte infiltration, and acute inflammation with fat necrosis were observed in and around the sympathetic ganglia and trunk. Loss of nuclei and vacuolization in some sympathetic ganglia cells were also observed. These findings demonstrated severe degeneration of the sympathetic ganglia and trunk. For group B, microscopic examination revealed a loss of sympathetic ganglion cells as well as fibrosis within and around the ganglia. No signs of regeneration were detected and the progression of nerve degeneration was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The clips used in our study were shown to cause the degeneration of neural structures within 2 days. At the end of the 45 days following the removal of the clips, progressive, degenerative changes radiating along the axons of the sympathetic cells were seen.