[The impact of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on oncological patients in a tertiary hospital]. / Impacto de la primera ola de la pandemia de COVID-19 en la atención a pacientes oncológicos en un hospital terciario.

BLACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has over-burdened the Spanish health service and, as a result, affected the treatment and management of oncological patients. The aim of this study is to make a descriptive analysis of the management of oncological patients and the functioning of the tumour committees in the University Hospital La Paz (Madrid) during the first wave of the pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A descriptive analysis was made, based on the results of a questionnaire given to all 18 adult tumour committees and 3 paediatric tumour committees in the University Hospital La Paz. Further information was obtained from all the hospital services involved in the diagnosis and treatment of oncological patients. RESULTS: During the first wave of the pandemic, there was a significant decrease in diagnostic tests. For many weeks, the majority of oncological surgical procedures were delayed or referred to other hospitals. Highly beneficial systemic and radiotherapeutic treatments were maintained and preoperative treatment was increased. The diagnosis and treatment of paediatric tumours was unaltered. Tumour committees were affected but each one adjusted in a different way. All the departments involved in the diagnosis and treatment of oncological patients made contingency plans to minimalize the effect on patients. CONCLUSION: This study shows how the management of oncological patients and the functioning of tumour committees was affected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seismic data of a rockslide: Evaluation of noise levels, site effects, frequency content and identification of seismic phases.

Seismic data can provide information to deduce the occurrence of mass movement events, their release time, event location and dynamics characterization [1]. Nevertheless, the effect of local site amplifications, the level of seismic noise and the frequency content of the signals are important constraints to correctly identify and describe these types of events. In this article we provide data on: site effects, power spectral densities, polarization particle motion and spectrograms generated by a rockslide (∼450 m3) (hereinafter NR) recorded in two permanent seismic stations (EPOB and POBL) located ∼10 km from the source. Original data are available through the International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks (FDSN, http://www.fdsn.org) for POBL and on request from Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN, http://www.ign.es) for EPOB. POBL and EPOB site effects analysis by means of Horizontal-to-Vertical spectral ratio (H/V) technique shows important signatures in POBL signal between 1 and 10 Hz, indicating strong amplification effects at these frequencies, not present in EPOB. For frequencies >1 Hz, Power Spectral Densities (PSD) are higher in POBL than in EPOB, indicating that POBL is noisier than EPOB. Based on the H/V and PSD analyzes, the EPOB station data was deemed preferable over the POBL, to conduct the research presented in the related article [1]. Particle polarization motion data enabled the identification of the arrivals of P, S, and superficial waves, confirming that Pg waves were correctly identified, providing necessary information for the event location in the research article [1]. Moreover, EPOB and POBL spectrograms together with the Fourier transform are included to analyze their content in the frequency domain showing that the expected high frequency phenomenon of the rockslide recorded at 10 km is attenuated and only the low frequency content between 1 and 15 Hz is recorded.

Multislice computed tomography for evaluating acetabular defects in revision THA.

Acetabular bone defects influence acetabular revision surgery, but plain radiographs provide limited information about the osteolytic lesions. Multislice computed tomography may show the volume and location of osteolytic cavities in patients with failed cups more accurately than plain radiographs. We asked whether multislice computed tomography with metal artifact minimization could calculate the volume and location of pelvic osteolysis associated with a failed cup. We evaluated 60 hips with computed tomography just before cup revision. Resolution and bone contrast were maximized using the 135 kV and 250 mA scan settings. The computed tomography slice thickness was 3 mm and the reconstruction index was 1.5 mm. Bone defects were classified according to the radiographic criteria of Paprosky et al. Radiographs showed acetabular lysis on 33 hips, whereas computed tomography scans showed it on 52 hips. The most frequent locations of osteolysis were the posterior wall and ischium. Radiographs underestimated the extent of the lysis. In most hips, the amount of osteolysis seen on the computed tomography views was greater compared with the radiographs: the average volumetric bone was 37.9 cm3. Multislice computed tomography with metal artifact minimization is more sensitive than plain radiographs for identifying and quantifying osteolysis around the cup.