Short-term outpatient follow-up of COVID-19 patients: A multidisciplinary approach.

BACKGROUND: Short-term follow-up of COVID-19 patients reveals pulmonary dysfunction, myocardial damage and severe psychological distress. Little is known of the burden of these sequelae, and there are no clear recommendations for follow-up of COVID-19 patients.In this multi-disciplinary evaluation, cardiopulmonary function and psychological impairment after hospitalization for COVID-19 are mapped. METHODS: We evaluated patients at our outpatient clinic 6 weeks after discharge. Cardiopulmonary function was measured by echocardiography, 24-hours ECG monitoring and pulmonary function testing. Psychological adjustment was measured using questionnaires and semi-structured clinical interviews. A comparison was made between patients admitted to the general ward and Intensive care unit (ICU), and between patients with a high versus low functional status. FINDINGS: Eighty-one patients were included of whom 34 (41%) had been admitted to the ICU. New York Heart Association class II-III was present in 62% of the patients. Left ventricular function was normal in 78% of patients. ICU patients had a lower diffusion capacity (mean difference 12,5% P = 0.01), lower forced expiratory volume in one second and forced vital capacity (mean difference 14.9%; P<0.001; 15.4%; P<0.001; respectively). Risk of depression, anxiety and PTSD were 17%, 5% and 10% respectively and similar for both ICU and non-ICU patients. INTERPRETATION: Overall, most patients suffered from functional limitations. Dyspnea on exertion was most frequently reported, possibly related to decreased DLCOc. This could be caused by pulmonary fibrosis, which should be investigated in long-term follow-up. In addition, mechanical ventilation, deconditioning, or pulmonary embolism may play an important role.

Respiratory failure in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic SCT--a randomized trial on early non-invasive ventilation based on standard care hematology wards.

The prognosis of patients suffering from respiratory failure (RF) after allogeneic hematopoietic SCT (HSCT) is poor. However, early treatment for using non-invasive ventilation (NIV) may be of benefit. We conducted a randomized trial to prove the impact of early NIV in patients in the early post-transplant period. A total of 526 patients undergoing HSCT in a single center were monitored for signs of RF. Patients with RF were enrolled into either treatment arm A (oxygen supply only) or treatment arm B (oxygen+intermittent NIV). RF had to be diagnosed in 86 patients (16%). RF was an independent risk factor for both short-term (100 day mortality/ OR 2.76; P<0.001) and long-term survival (OR 1.57; P<0.01). Although early RF treatment with NIV was associated with a decreased rate of failure to achieve sufficient oxygenation (39% in arm A vs 24% in arm B, P=0.17), neither intensive care unit admission rate, nor need for intubation or survival parameters were affected by the treatment strategy. An early interventional strategy using NIV was not associated with improvement of the prognosis of the patients. The limited influence of NIV may be related to the study design allowing for switching of treatment in case of unsatisfactory efficacy.

[Twin pregnancy and severe obstructive sleep apnea]. / Zwillingsschwangerschaft und schwere obstruktive Schlafapnoe.

Obstructive sleep apnea during pregnancy, associated with arterial hypertension, pre-eclampsia and adverse outcome of the newborn, has been described. Usually it can successfully be treated with non-invasive ventilation. A 36-year-old, twin-pregnant woman at 28 + 6 weeks of gestation presented with the complaints of snoring and nocturnal oxygen desaturations. Polysomnography confirmed the diagnosis of severe obstructive sleep apnea (respiratory disturbance index [RDI] 104/h, minimal oxygen saturation in pulse oximetry [SpO2/min] 75%). First therapeutic approaches including oxygen supplementation, non-invasive ventilation with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) or bilevel positive airway pressure--spontaneous (BiPAP-S) remained without success. Only after ventilation with bilevel positive airway pressure in spontaneous/timed modus (BiPAP-ST) combined with additional oxygen supplementation a satisfactory treatment result could be achieved (RDI 32/h, SpO2/min 85%). Because of progressive pre-eclampsia despite therapy at 31 + 0 weeks of gestation cesarean section was performed and 2 healthy children were delivered. After surgery non-invasive ventilation had to be continued for another six weeks before the condition improved. In contrast to the documented benefits of non-invasive positive pressure ventilation in pregnant women the literature, in our case even with sufficient therapy of sleep apnea progressive pre-eclampsia and premature delivery could not be prevented. Possible explanations include the short treatment duration and existence of twin pregnancy.

Predictive value of ischemic lesion volume assessed with magnetic resonance imaging for neurological deficits and functional outcome poststroke: A critical review of the literature.

OBJECTIVE: Ischemic lesion volume is assumed to be an important predictor of poststroke neurological deficits and functional outcome. This critical review examines the methodological quality of MRI studies and the predictive value of hemispheric infarct volume for neurological deficits (at body function level) and functional outcome (at activities level). METHODS: Using Medline, PiCarta, and Embase to identify studies, 13 of the 747 identified studies met the authors' inclusion criteria. Subsequently, studies were tested for adherence to the key methodological criteria for internal, statistical, and external validity. Each criterion was weighted binary, and studies with 6 points or more were judged to be valid for assessing the predictive value of MRI for outcome. RESULTS: The 13 included studies had several methodological weaknesses with respect to internal validity, and none of them took lesion location into account. Only a few used outcome measures according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health and followed patients beyond 6 months. Correlation coefficients between MRI lesion volume and outcomes were higher for outcomes defined at body function level (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale; median 0.67; range: 0.57-0.91) than for those defined at the level of activities (Barthel Index; median -0.49; range: -0.33 to -0.74). CONCLUSIONS: Methodological shortcomings of most studies confound the prognostic value of MRI in predicting stroke outcome, and few studies have focused on functional outcome. Future studies should investigate the added value of MRI volume over clinical neurological variables in predicting functional outcome beyond 6 months poststroke.

Ischemic lesion volume correlates with long-term functional outcome and quality of life of middle cerebral artery stroke survivors.

PURPOSE: Previous studies investigating relationships between stroke lesion volume and outcome were restricted to short follow-up periods (3-6 months) and outcome measures of stroke severity and activities only, whereas functional improvement has been found to extend far beyond six months. Therefore, this study investigated relationships between infarct volume and a broad range of outcomes of stroke survivors at a long follow-up period. METHODS: Correlations between lesion volumes (determined by conventional MRI scans in the second week post-stroke) and outcomes after one year of 75 first-ever ischemic stroke survivors were investigated. RESULTS: Moderate Spearman Rank correlation coefficients were found between lesion volume and motor impairment (Motricity Index (MI): -0.43, p < 0.01; Fugl Meyer Motor Assessment Scale (FM): -0.43; p < 0.01). Correlation coefficients with activities of daily living were moderate but low associated with Barthel Index (r(s) = 0.30; p < 0.01), modified Rankin Scale (r(s) = 0.39; p < 0.01) and Frenchay Activities Index (r(s) = -0.35; p < 0.01). Lesion volume had a significant but low association (r(s) = 0.27; p = 0.02) with patient's health status measured with Sickness Impact Profile 68 (SIP68)) and a moderate correlation with well-being assessed with Life Satisfaction Questionnaire (LSQ; r(s) = -0.45; p < 0.01). Found correlation coefficients were slightly stronger after correction for mixed (cortical/subcortical) and purely subcortical lesion location. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that infarct volume moderately correlates with long-term motor impairment, functional outcome and quality of life of patients surviving stroke.

Relationship between ischemic lesion volume and functional status in the 2nd week after middle cerebral artery stroke.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between the volume of the middle cerebral artery stroke lesion and functional status in the subacute phase of stroke. METHODS: Infarctvolumes of 94 patients with a 1st middle cerebral artery stroke assessed on conventional MRI scans obtained in the 2nd week poststroke were related to a clinical measure of stroke severity (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS]) and to functional status: motor impairment (Motricity Index [MI]) and limitation in activities (Barthel Index [BI] and modified Rankin Scale). Separate correlations were computed for patients with large (>30 ml) and small (30 ml) lesions, and to investigate the influence of lesion location on the relationship between volume and functional status, correlations were computed for patients with left and right hemisphere lesions and for patients with cortical and subcortical lesions. RESULTS: Lesion volume correlated strongly with NIHSS scores (R = 0.61) and moderately with the patient's functional status (MI [R between -0.42 and - 0.49], BI [R = -0.43], and Modified Rankin Scale [R = 0.45]). Right hemisphere lesions and cortical lesions had a stronger correlation with functional status. In patients with small lesion volumes (0-30 ml), no relationship between lesion volumes and functional status was seen at all. CONCLUSIONS: Lesion volume is moderately to strongly related to the functional status in the 2nd week poststroke.

New telemetric system for daily pulmonary function surveillance of lung transplant recipients.

BACKGROUND: Following lung transplantation, prompt diagnosis and therapy of acute pulmonary rejection and infection episodes relies primarily upon changes in pulmonary function and determines long-term outcome. We tested a new system that allows daily monitoring of the patient's pulmonary status even after discharge from the hospital. METHODS: Seven lung transplant recipients from our center were equipped with a telemetric monitoring device consisting of a portable flowmeter and a special modem unit. The flowmeter measures forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume per second (FEV1), and mid expiratory flows (MEFs), encodes information like fever, cough, and dyspnea in a binary code form, and stores all values in a 32 kB memory unit. After its use, the patient positions the flowmeter onto the modem unit which automatically connects to a central computer at our center to transfer all saved data. The whole set can be used via any regular phone jack. The patient's file in the computer can be checked every day. RESULTS: All patients learned to use the unit during their postoperative stay or during later follow-up, and were able to apply the system at home. In a mean follow-up period of 10.3+/-2.2 months, 15 episodes of significant deterioration in home pulmonary function tests (PFTs) (>10%) were registered in 6 patients, which were all confirmed by in-hospital body plethysmography. They resulted in diagnoses of 4 episodes of acute rejection, 6 cases of beginning bacterial pneumonia, and 5 cases of, most likely, viral tracheobronchitis. Only 1 patient had to be admitted to the hospital. All patients PFTs returned to previous values after treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Telemetric monitoring of graft function in lung transplant recipients allows reliable early diagnosis and treatment of infection or rejection, which might help to prevent exacerbation of the pathology and reduce quantity of amounting graft dysfunction.

Adenoviral vector-mediated expression of a foreign gene in peripheral nerve tissue bridges implanted in the injured peripheral and central nervous system.

Axons of the CNS do normally not regenerate after injury, in contrast to axons of the PNS. This is due to a different microenvironment at the site of the lesion as well as a particular intrinsic program of axonal regrowth. Although transplantation of peripheral nerve tissue bridges is perhaps the most successful approach to promoting regeneration in the CNS, ingrowth of CNS nerve fibers with such transplants is limited. Genetic modification of peripheral nerve bridges to overexpress outgrowth-promoting proteins should, in principle, improve the permissive properties of peripheral nerve transplants. The present study shows that pieces of peripheral intercostal nerve, subjected to ex vivo adenoviral vector-mediated gene transfer and implanted as nerve bridges in transected sciatic nerve, avulsed ventral root, hemi-sected spinal cord and intact brain, are capable of expressing a foreign gene. In vitro studies showed expression of the reporter gene LacZ up to 30 days in Schwann cells. After implantation, LacZ expression could be detected at 7 days postimplantation, but had virtually disappeared at 14 days. Schwann cells of the transduced nerve bridges retained the capacity of guiding regenerative peripheral and central nerve fiber ingrowth. Transduction of intercostal nerve pieces prior to implantation should, in principle, enable enhanced local production of neurotrophic factors within the transplant and has the potential to improve the regeneration of injured axons into the graft.