Irish journal of medical science
-
Acute appendicitis (AA) is a common cause of abdominal pain resulting in admission to the emergency room. Imaging methods such as ultrasonography and CT are usually used for diagnosing acute appendicitis. Reports regarding CT scans conducted during night shifts are prepared by private teleradiologists. ⋯ POCUS performed by an emergency medicine specialist showed a higher sensitivity for the diagnosis of AA compared with private teleradiology. Hence, POCUS is more successful in diagnosing AA than private teleradiology. In conclusion, we recommend the concurrent use of AS and POCUS in emergency departments rather than private teleradiology for the diagnosis of AA.
-
Psychological stressors may cause mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorders and fibromyalgia (FM) patients could be affected by these stressors. ⋯ Anxiety and widespread pain levels were higher in patients with FM and recovering from COVID-19 infection.
-
Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) inhibitor is widely utilized in advanced-stage carcinomas including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), while its neoadjuvant application plus transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in HCC remains unexplored. Thereby, the current study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of TACE plus PD-1 inhibitor as neoadjuvant therapy bridging to surgical resection in intermediate-stage HCC patients. ⋯ Neoadjuvant TACE plus PD-1 inhibitor realizes a satisfying downstaging rate, acceptable survival profile, and tolerance in intermediate-stage HCC patients.
-
We aimed to evaluate and compare the efficacy and complications of three consecutive prone positions (PP) in COVID-19 ICU. ⋯ We believe that a more careful decision should be made after the second prone position in patients who have to be placed in sequential prone position.
-
Observational Study
Prone positioning for mechanically ventilated patients with coronavirus disease 2019: the experience of an Irish regional hospital intensive care unit.
The benefits of prone positioning in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) have been known for many years. While some controversy exists regarding whether coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia should be treated with the same therapeutic strategies as for non-COVID ARDS, the Surviving Sepsis Campaign still provide a weak recommendation to utilise prone positioning in this setting. ⋯ We found prone positioning to be a safe method of significantly improving oxygenation in mechanically ventilated patients with severe COVID-19 ARDS. We did not find a relationship between patient baseline characteristics nor illness severity and degree of PaO2/FiO2 ratio improvement, nor did we find a relationship between degree of PaO2/FiO2 ratio improvement and survival.