An extremely rare presentation of AV fistula: Massive destruction of multiple vertebral bodies with paraparesis.

BACKGROUND: Spinal ventral epidural arteriovenous fistulas (EDAVFs) are rare and underdiagnosed entities and usually present with benign symptoms such as radiculopathy. To the best of our knowledge, EDAVFs presenting with massive vertebral body destruction have not been reported in the literature. CASE DESCRIPTION: A young male presented with mid back pain for 1 year and weakness of both lower limbs for 3 months. He was clinicoradiologically diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis and started on antitubercular treatment elsewhere. Radiological investigations suggested destruction and collapse of T12 and L1 vertebrae. Prominent flow voids were seen in T9-L2 epidural space, likely prominent epidural vessels. The primary differential diagnoses were spinal tuberculosis and neoplastic etiologies. T9 to L3 surgical stabilization and anterior decompression by pediculectomy of left T12 and L was done. The surgeon encountered massive bleeding at the time of anterior decompression and a vascular etiology was suspected. Biopsy revealed negative results for infection or malignancy. DSA revealed ventral EDAVFs, and hence, transcatheter embolization was performed. He had excellent outcome on assessment at 21 months postoperative follow-up. CONCLUSION: Spinal epidural AVFs can rarely present with gross vertebral body destruction and paraparesis. Preoperative radiological assessment with suspicion of spinal epidural AVFs can help to avoid intraoperative difficulties and complications. Timely, management of spinal epidural AVFs can result in excellent outcomes.

Community-based testing of migrants for infectious diseases (COMBAT-ID): impact, acceptability and cost-effectiveness of identifying infectious diseases among migrants in primary care: protocol for an interrupted time-series, qualitative and health economic analysis.

BACKGROUND: Migration is a major global driver of population change. Certain migrants may be at increased risk of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis (TB), HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, and have poorer outcomes. Early diagnosis and management of these infections can reduce morbidity, mortality and onward transmission and is supported by national guidelines. To date, screening initiatives have been sporadic and focused on individual diseases; systematic routine testing of migrant groups for multiple infections is rarely undertaken and its impact is unknown. We describe the protocol for the evaluation of acceptability, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an integrated approach to screening migrants for a range of infectious diseases in primary care. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will conduct a mixed-methods study which includes an observational cohort with interrupted time-series analysis before and after the introduction of routine screening of migrants for infectious diseases (latent TB, HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C) when first registering with primary care within Leicester, UK. We will assess trends in the monthly number and rate of testing and diagnosis for latent TB, HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C to determine the effect of the policy change using segmented regression analyses at monthly time-points. Concurrently, we will undertake an integrated qualitative sub-study to understand the views of migrants and healthcare professionals to the new testing policy in primary care. Finally, we will evaluate the cost-effectiveness of combined infection testing for migrants in primary care. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has received HRA and NHS approvals for both the interrupted time-series analysis (16/SC/0127) and the qualitative sub-study (16/EM/0159). For the interrupted time-series analysis we will only use fully anonymised data. For the qualitative sub-study, we will gain written, informed, consent. Dissemination of the results will be through local and national meetings/conferences as well as publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Beckman Access versus the Bayer ACS:180 and the Abbott AxSYM cardiac Troponin-I real-time immunoassays: an observational prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Reliability of cardiac troponin-I assays under real-time conditions has not been previously well studied. Most large published cTnI trials have utilized protocols which required the freezing of serum (or plasma) for delayed batch cTnI analysis. We sought to correlate the presence of the acute ischemic coronary syndrome (AICS) to troponin-I values obtained in real-time by three random-mode analyzer immunoassay systems: the Beckman ACCESS (BA), the Bayer ACS:180 (CC) and the Abbott AxSYM (AX). METHODS: This was an observational prospective study at a university tertiary referral center. Serum from a convenience sampling of telemetry patients was analyzed in real-time for troponin-I by either the BA-CC (Arm-1) or BA-AX (Arm-2) assay pairs. Presence of the AICS was determined retrospectively and then correlated with troponin-I results. RESULTS: 100 patients were enrolled in Arm-1 (38 with AICS) and 94 in Arm-2 (48 with AICS). The BA system produced 51% false positives in Arm-1, 44% in Arm-2, with negative predictive values of 92% and 100% respectively. In Arm-1, the BA and the CC assays had sensitivities of 97% and 63% and specificities of 18% and 87%. In Arm-2, the BA and the AX assays had sensitivities of 100% and 83% and specificities of 11% and 78%. CONCLUSIONS: In real-time analysis, the performance of the AxSYM and ACS:180 assay systems produced more accurate troponin-I results than the ACCESS system.