Medicine
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Case Reports
Cardiac thrombus and stroke in a child with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia: A case report.
Cardiac thrombus and stroke are rare complications in Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection, which is a common cause of community-acquired pneumonia in children. Early detection and prevention of thrombus in children with M pneumoniae pneumonia is relatively difficult. ⋯ Early diagnosis and treatment with multiple modalities maybe useful for improving prognosis of cardiac thrombus and stroke in M pneumoniae pneumonia. Changes in D-dimer level and anti-phospholipid antibodies should be routinely monitored in severe M pneumoniae pneumonia.
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Hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure (HBV-ACLF) is a life-threatening syndrome with high mortality. Biomarkers are urgently needed to predict the prognosis of HBV-ACLF. Recent evidence suggests a key role for immune system in the pathology of HBV-ACLF. Here, we analyzed the correlation between peripheral blood T lymphocytes and the severity and prognosis in HBV-ACLF patients. ⋯ HBV-ACLF patients had depletion and dysfunction of immune system. Changes of peripheral T lymphocytes were closely related to the pathogenesis and prognosis of disease. Our results may contribute to predict the severity of HBV-ACLF, and provide a prognosis response to improve the treatment of HBV-ACLF.
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Primary breast angiosarcoma (PBA) is a rare and overly aggressive entity and account for less than 1% of all breast cancer cases. PBA had a high rate of delayed preoperative diagnosis due to absent distinctive radiographic characteristics. ⋯ It is not easy to diagnose PBA with the radiographic examination. This case's importance is by combining CEUS and MRI to reflect enhanced morphology and hemodynamic characteristics of PBA and help diagnose breast angiosarcomas.
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Observational Study
Effect of medications after cardiac surgery on long-term outcomes in patients with cirrhosis.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) after cardiac surgery in the liver cirrhosis (LC) patients. We conducted a population-based cohort study using data from the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) from 2001 to 2013. The outcomes of interest included all-cause mortality, major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) and liver and renal outcomes. ⋯ The risk of negative liver outcomes was significantly lower in the ARB group compared with the ACEI group (9.6% vs 22.7%, hazard ratio [HR] 0.50, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.31-0.83). Furthermore, the risk of MACCE (44.2% vs 54.7%, HR 0.79, 95% CI 0.65-0.96), all-cause mortality (35.3% vs 46.4%, HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.60-0.92), composite liver outcomes (9.6% vs 16.5%, HR 0.56, 95% CI 0.38-0.85) and hepatic encephalopathy (2.7% vs 5.7%, HR 0.45, 95% CI 0.21-0.94) were lower in the ARB group than the control group. Our study demonstrated that ARBs provide a greater protective effect than ACEIs in regard to long-term outcomes following cardiac surgery in patients with LC.
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Since the first infected case of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019, the virus has spread swiftly, inflicting upon millions of people around the globe. The objective of the study is to investigate and analyze the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients infected with COVID-19 in Wuxi, China. Cross-sectional study. ⋯ Laboratory results showed that the lymphocytopenia and increased d-dimer are positively correlated with disease severity. Pulmonary imaging showed unilateral or bilateral ground glass infiltration. Most of the patients entered clinical recovery stage within 15 days after hospitalization.