Internal and emergency medicine
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A diabetic foot ulcer is present in approximately 2.4% of hospitalized patients. Care for diabetic foot ulcers is highly variable. We sought to describe care practice patterns and risk factors for poor outcomes for patients hospitalized with a diabetic foot ulcer in our institution, an 894-bed tertiary care academic hospital located in downtown Chicago, IL. ⋯ Male, Black or African-American patients, and those with high Charlson score had the highest risk of poor outcomes. Care practices for patients hospitalized with diabetic foot ulcers were highly variable. Future interventions should target standardization to improve outcomes, with particular attention to health inequities as vulnerable populations have a higher risk of poor outcomes.
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Tranexamic acid (TXA) is a common haemorrhage control agent in both emergency department (ED) settings and intra-operatively. While efficacy and potential harms are well-studied, there are no overviews of reviews completed on TXA efficacy in the ED setting. We set out to provide an overview of systematic reviews on TXA efficacy in trauma, gastrointestinal bleeding, and subarachnoid haemorrhage in the ED setting, with outcomes including short and long-term mortality, thromboembolic (TE) events, and whether bleeding continued. ⋯ TE risk is elevated when used in gastrointestinal bleeds. Selective use in high-risk patients may be warranted. TXA should strongly be considered in management in ED and prehospital settings.
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Lung ultrasound (LUS) has rapidly emerged in COVID-19 diagnosis and for the follow-up during the acute phase. LUS is not yet used routinely in lung damage follow-up after COVID-19 infection. We investigated the correlation between LUS score, and clinical and laboratory parameters of severity of SARS-COV-2 damage during hospitalization and at follow-up visit. ⋯ We found a significantly higher LUS score at the follow-up in the patients with persistent dyspnea (7.00, IQR 3.00-11.00) when compared to eupnoeic patients (3.00, IQR 0-7.00 p < 0.001). LUS score at follow-up visit correlates with more severe lung disease. These findings support the hypothesis that ultrasound could be a valid tool in the follow-up medium-term COVID-19 lung damage.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Role of modified hydration for preventing contrast-associated acute kidney injury in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction after primary percutaneous coronary intervention.
To assess the efficacy of modified hydration on contrast-associated acute kidney injury (CA-AKI) in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) after primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI). A total of 438 patients were randomly assigned to 2 groups. The traditional hydration group (group I) was given at a rate of 1 ml/kg/h for 24 h, and the modified hydration group (group II) was given at a rate of 3 ml/kg/h in the first 4 h, and then reduced to 1 ml/kg/h for 12 h. 0.3 mg/kg of furosemide was given 1-h after hydration. ⋯ The modified hydration may reduce the incidence of CA-AKI, although this difference was not statistically significant. The relationship between CA-AKI and mortality strengthened as creatinine times above baseline increased. Mitigating the occurrence of CA-AKI may reduce all-cause death and cardiac death.