Moment of Intervention inside Asymptomatic Aortic Stenosis
During the COVID-19 pandemic, between March and May 2020, in Italy, people were asked to shelter in place and most had to put their life on hold, while news of the spread of the virus constantly were broadcasted. The change in habits and the potential exposure to a dangerous virus can be categorized as a catastrophic event, which are usually traumatic and therefore have psychological consequences for the people involved.
Assuming the COVID-19 pandemic as a possible traumatic event, this study aims to explore the contingent behavioural and psychological impact of COVID-19 spread and related lockdown on the Italian general population, through measuring anxiety and post-traumatic stress symptoms .
An ad hoc-survey was set up for the this exploratory research, including the standardized Italian versions of the Impact of Event Scale Revised (IES-R) and the Generalized Anxiety Scale (GAD-7), and ad hoc items concerning behavioural reactions due to the pandemic spread and related mass quarantine. Participants nic conditions - yielded less consistent evidence. Results indicate the need of including psychological interventions as a standard tool during the emergency management of a catastrophic events such as a pandemic.
To investigate the role of a preoperative modified frailty index (mFI) based on data from medical records in predicting postoperative complications among older Chinese patients with hip fractures.
This retrospective cohort study included consecutive older patients with hip fracture admitted to the Department of Orthopaedics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, from December 2010 to June 2017 who underwent surgical repair. We selected 33 variables, including characteristics of hip fracture, to construct a mFI. Each variable was coded with a value of 0 when a deficit was absent or 1 when it was present. We calculated the mFI as the proportion of positive items and defined frailty as mFI value greater than or equal to 0.21 according to threshold proposed by Hoover et al. We examined the relationship between mFI and severity of postoperative complications and the occurrence of in-hospital pneumonia including statistical adjustment for several demographics (e.g. age, gender, and marital status) and habits (smoking and alcohol intake), time from fracture to surgery in the multivariable model.
We included 965 patients (34% male; mean age 76.77 years; range 60 to 100 years) with a prevalence of frailty of 13.06%. The presence of frailty was associated with a higher severity of complications (OR 2.07; 95% CI 1.40 to 3.05). Frail patients were more likely to develop in-hospital pneumonia than non-frail patients (OR 2.08; 95% CI 1.28 to 3.39).
The preoperative modified frailty index based on data from medical records proved significantly associated with postoperative complications among older patients with hip fractures undergoing hip surgery.
The preoperative modified frailty index based on data from medical records proved significantly associated with postoperative complications among older patients with hip fractures undergoing hip surgery.
Esophageal and gastric cancers are a significant public health problem worldwide, with most patients presenting with advanced-stage disease and, consequently, poor prognosis. Systemic oncological treatments (SOT) have been widely used over more conservative approaches, such as supportive care. read more Nevertheless, its effectiveness in this scenario is not sufficiently clear. This paper provides an overview of systematic reviews that assessed the effectiveness of SOT compared with the best supportive care (BSC) or placebo in patients with advanced esophageal or gastric cancers in an end-of-life context.
We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, Epistemonikos, and PROSPERO for eligible systematic reviews (SRs) published from 2008 onwards. The primary outcomes were overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), functional status, and toxicity. Two authors assessed eligibility and extracted data independently. We evaluated the methodological quality of included SRs using the AMSTAR-2 tool and the overlap of primary studies (corrected covered area, CCA). Also, we performed a de novo meta-analysis with data reported for each primary study when it was possible. We assessed the certainty of evidence using the GRADE approach.
We identified 16 SRs (19 included trials) for inclusion within this overview. Most reviews had a critically low methodological quality, and there was a very high overlap of primary studies. It is uncertain whether SOT improves OS and PFS over more conservative approaches due to the very low certainty of evidence.
The evidence is very uncertain about the effectiveness of SOT for advanced esophageal or gastric cancers. High-quality SRs and further randomized clinical trials that include a thorough assessment of patient-centered outcomes are needed.
Open Science Framework, https//doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/7CHX6 .
Open Science Framework, https//doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/7CHX6 .
Surgical safety during posterior sagittal anorectal plasty (PSARP) for anorectal malformations (ARM) depends on accurate pre-operative fistula localization. This study aimed to evaluate accuracy of pre-operative fistula diagnostics.
Ethical approval was obtained. Diagnostic accuracy of pre-PSARP symptoms (stool in urine, urine in passive ostomy, urinary tract infection) and examination modalities (voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG), high-pressure colostogram, cystoscopy and ostomy endoscopy) were compared to final intra-operative ARM-type classification in all male neonates born with ARM without a perineal fistula treated at a tertiary pediatric surgery center during 2001-2020.
The 38 included neonates underwent reconstruction surgery through PSARP with diverted ostomy. Thirty-one (82%) had a recto-urinary tract fistula and seven (18%) no fistula. Ostomy endoscopy yielded the highest diagnostic accuracy for fistula presence (22 correctly classified/24 examined cases; 92%), and pre-operative symptoms the lowest (21/38; 55%). For pre-operative fistula level determination, cystoscopy yielded the highest diagnostic accuracy (14/20; 70%), followed by colostogram (23/35; 66%), and VCUG (21/36; 58%). No modality proved to be statistically superior to any other.
Ostomy endoscopy has the highest diagnostic accuracy for fistula presence, and cystoscopy and high-pressure colostogram for fistula level determination. Correct pre-operative ARM-typing reached a maximum of 60-70%.
Ostomy endoscopy has the highest diagnostic accuracy for fistula presence, and cystoscopy and high-pressure colostogram for fistula level determination. Correct pre-operative ARM-typing reached a maximum of 60-70%.