Medicine
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We retrospectively analyzed 82 adult patients with MALA admitted to the ICU over 20 years. The association between the clinical parameters and mortality post-MALA was estimated using logistic regression analysis. ⋯ Despite MALA being a rare event, it is necessary to evaluate its clinical characteristics, especially the associated PLL and mortality. In the current study, higher levels of APACHE II score and PLL show a greater likelihood of mortality in MALA patients.
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Patient safety and medical diagnosis of patients are mainly influenced by laboratory results. The present study aimed to evaluate the errors in the preanalytical phase of testing in a Clinical Chemistry diagnostic laboratory. A review was conducted at the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory of a hospital in Saudi Arabia from January 2019 to December 2020. ⋯ The rate of error in the study was high and the leading causes were nonreceived samples and hemolysis. An increased occurrence of hemolyzed samples in the outpatient department was noted. Enhanced educational efforts emphasizing specimen quality issues and training in sample collection among hospital staff must be carried out.
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To compare the incidence of fracture between sandwich vertebra and ordinary adjacent vertebra after percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP). ⋯ Although the volume of cement in a single vertebral body is less and the procedure time and bleeding are more, the incidence of sandwich vertebral fracture is not higher than that of ordinary adjacent vertebral body.
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Point-of-care (PoC) testing facilitates early infant diagnosis (EID) and treatment initiation, which improves outcome. We present a field evaluation of a new PoC test (Cepheid Xpert® HIV-1 Qual XC RUO) to determine whether this test improves EID and assists the management of children living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. We compared 2 PoC tests with the standard-of-care (SoC) test used to detect HIV infection from dry blood spots in newborn infants at high risk of in utero infection. ⋯ In 6 of the 35 early-treated aviremic children, HIV TNA was detected by RUO but not Qual. The RUO assay outperforms Qual in detecting HIV-1 infection. RUO would therefore potentially improve EID and assist in identifying cART-adherent early-treated children with the lowest HIV TNA levels and the highest HIV cure potential.
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Observational Study
Use of high-flow nasal oxygen in spontaneously breathing pediatric patients undergoing tubeless airway surgery: A prospective observational study.
The use of high-flow nasal oxygen is gaining popularity in apneic and spontaneously breathing adult patients during anesthesia. This prospective observational study evaluated the effect of high-flow nasal oxygen in maintaining adequate oxygenation and ventilation in spontaneously breathing pediatric patients with dynamic airway obstruction, undergoing tubeless airway surgery. Oxygenation was provided via an age-appropriate, high-flow nasal cannula at a flow rate of 2 L kg-1 min-1. ⋯ In conclusion, High-flow nasal oxygen is an alternative technique to maintain oxygenation in children undergoing airway surgeries. However, younger age and longer anesthesia time are significant risk factors leading to the requirement of rescue ventilation in these patients. Further studies with large sample size are required for clinical application of these techniques.