The burden of tuberculosis among patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma in a tertiary care center.

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer and tuberculosis share similar risk factors, clinical spectrum, radiological features and it is difficult to differentiate but it is important to diagnose both conditions for targeted therapy and better outcome. AIMS: Our primary objective was to estimate the proportion of TB in primary biopsy proven non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) cases. MATERIAL & METHODS: This prospective observational study was conducted in the Departments of Medicine/Pulmonary Medicine/Medical Oncology and Microbiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi for a period of 2 years (January 2020-December 2021). Patients with biopsy proven, primary non-small cell lung cancer were recruited and sputum samples were subjected to microbiological investigations to confirm tuberculosis. Comparison was done in two groups of lung cancer patients with confirmed TB (Group A) and without confirmed tuberculosis (Group B). RESULTS: Total 75 patients with biopsy proven, primary NSCLC were recruited and 16 % (12/75) were diagnosed with confirmed TB. Adenocarcinoma (36.48 %) and Squamous cell carcinoma (33.44 %) were the two predominant histopathological subtypes of NSCLC. About 57 (76 %) of them were found to be in stage IV of Lung cancer at initial presentation itself (75 % in group A & 74.6 % in group B; p value < 0.80). A majority of patients (11/12 cases; 91 %) of group A were males with a mean age of 59 ± 7.5 years. The upper lobes of the lung were involved in 65 % (49/75) of the cases and showing a mass lesion on imaging (75 % in group A & 65 % in group B; p value < 0.52). Kaplan Meier survival revealed a median survival time of 11 months in subjects with only NSCLC and a median survival time of 4 months in the group with concomitant TB and NSCLC (p value < 0.44).

Post COVID-19 sequelae: A prospective observational study from Northern India.

Post COVID-19 sequelae are a constellation of symptoms often reported after recovering from COVID-19. There is a need to better understand the clinical spectrum and long-term course of this clinical entity. The aim of this study is to describe the clinical features and risk factors of post COVID-19 sequelae in the North Indian population. This prospective observational study was conducted at a tertiary healthcare centre in Northern India between October 2020 and February 2021. Patients aged >18 years with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 were recruited after at least two weeks of diagnosis, and details were captured. A total of 1234 patients were recruited and followed up for a median duration of 91 days (IQR: 45-181 days). Among them, 495 (40.1%) had persistent symptoms post-discharge or recovery. In 223 (18.1%) patients, the symptoms resolved within four weeks; 150 (12.1%) patients had symptoms till 12 weeks, and 122 (9.9%) patients had symptoms beyond 12 weeks of diagnosis/symptom-onset of COVID-19. Most common symptoms included myalgia (10.9%), fatigue (5.5%), shortness of breath (6.1%), cough (2.1%), insomnia (1.4%), mood disturbances (0.48%) and anxiety (0.6%). Patients who were hospitalized were more likely to report fatigue as a feature of long COVID. Hypothyroidism (OR: 4.13, 95% CI: 2.2-7.6, p-value < 0.001) and hypoxia (SpO2 ≤ 93%) (OR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.1-2.4, p-value 0.012) were identified as risk factors for long COVID sequelae. In conclusion, long COVID symptoms were common (22%), and 9.9% had the post COVID-19 syndrome. Myalgias, fatigue and dyspnoea were common symptoms. Patients with hypothyroidism and hypoxia during acute illness were at higher risk of long COVID.

Clinico-pathological features in fatal COVID-19 infection: a preliminary experience of a tertiary care center in North India using postmortem minimally invasive tissue sampling.

OBJECTIVES: To study the histopathology of patients dying of COVID-19 using post-mortem minimally invasive sampling techniques. METHODS: This was a single-center observational study conducted at JPNATC, AIIMS. Thirty-seven patients who died of COVID-19 were enrolled. Post-mortem percutaneous biopsies were taken from lung, heart, liver, kidney and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Immunohistochemistry was performed using CD61 and CD163. SARS-CoV-2 virus was detected using IHC with primary antibodies. RESULTS: The mean age was 48.7 years and 59.5% were males. Lung histopathology showed diffuse alveolar damage in 78% patients. Associated bronchopneumonia was seen in 37.5% and scattered microthrombi in 21% patients. Immunopositivity for SARS-CoV-2 was observed in Type II pneumocytes. Acute tubular injury with epithelial vacuolization was seen in 46% of renal biopsies. Seventy-one percent of liver biopsies showed Kupffer cell hyperplasia and 27.5% showed submassive hepatic necrosis. CONCLUSIONS: Predominant finding was diffuse alveolar damage with demonstration of SARS-CoV-2 protein in the acute phase. Microvascular thrombi were rarely identified in any organ. Substantial hepatocyte necrosis, Kupffer cell hypertrophy, microvesicular, and macrovesicular steatosis unrelated to microvascular thrombi suggested that liver might be a primary target of COVID-19.

Development and Validation of a Clinical Symptom-based Scoring System for Diagnostic Evaluation of COVID-19 Patients Presenting to Outpatient Department in a Pandemic Situation.

Background Preventive strategies in the form of early identification and isolation of patients are the cornerstones in the control of COVID-19 pandemic. We have conducted this study to develop a clinical symptom-based scoring system (CSBSS) for the diagnostic evaluation of COVID-19.  Methods In this study, 378 patients presenting to screening outpatient clinic with clinical suspicion of COVID-19 were evaluated for various clinical symptoms. Statistical associations between presenting symptoms and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) results were analysed to select statistically significant clinical symptoms to design a scoring formula. CSBSS was developed by evaluating clinical symptoms in 70% of the total patients. The cut-off score of the CSBSS was determined from ROC (receiver operating characteristics) curve analysis to obtain a cut-off for optimum sensitivity and specificity. Subsequently, developed CSBSS was validated in the external validation dataset comprising 30% of patients. Results Clinical symptoms like fever >1000F, myalgia, headache, cough and loss of smell had significant association with RT-PCR result. The adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence interval [CI]) for loss of smell, fever >100°F, headache, cough and myalgia were 5.00 (1.78-13.99), 2.05 (1.36-3.07), 1.31 (0.67-2.59), 1.26 (0.70-2.26) and 1.18 (0.50-2.78), respectively. The ROC curve and area under the curve of development and validation datasets were similar. Conclusion The presence of fever >100°F and loss of smell among suspected patients are important clinical predictors for the diagnosis of COVID-19. This newly developed CSBSS is a valid screening tool that can be useful in the diagnostic evaluation of patients with suspected COVID-19. This can be used for the risk stratification of the suspected patients before their RT-PCR results are generated.

Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns in Clinically Significant Isolates from Medical Wards of a Tertiary Care Hospital in North India.

Background The global burden of infections due to multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) has a significant impact on patients' morbidity and mortality along with increased healthcare expenditure. Aim This article estimates the prevalence of MDRO and the spectrum of clinical infectious syndromes caused by these organisms in medical wards of a tertiary care hospital in India. Design and Methods A cross-sectional observational study was performed among patients admitted in medicine wards diagnosed with the various infectious syndromes and one or more clinically significant positive culture at a tertiary care hospital in North India over a period of 18 months. Results Out of 323 clinically significant microbiological culture isolates from 229 patients included in the study, 86 (27%) isolates showed multidrug resistance (MDR) pattern, 197 (61%) isolates showed possible extremely drug-resistance pattern, and only 40 (12%) isolates showed nonmultidrug-resistance pattern of antibiogram. Conclusion The prevalence of MRDOs is high in clinically significant culture isolates from medicine wards in India. This emphasizes the importance of appropriate antibiotic usage and implementation of antibiotic stewardship programs in this part of the world.