Croatian medical journal
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Croatian medical journal · Aug 2022
Liver transplantation in hepatocellular carcinoma - should we perform downstaging?
To compare the long-term outcomes between liver transplant (LT) recipients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who were downstaged with transarterial-chemoembolization (TACE) to the Milan criteria (MC) and those initially meeting the MC. ⋯ Patients successfully downstaged with TACE to the MC can achieve post-LT recipient and HCC recurrence-free survival comparable with patients initially within the MC. Good response to TACE as a criterion for LT may be a method of selecting patients with favorable biological characteristics.
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Croatian medical journal · Aug 2022
Survival after hospital discharge in patients hospitalized for acute coronavirus disease 2019: data on 2586 patients from a tertiary center registry.
To assess the long-term survival after hospital discharge of patients hospitalized due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). ⋯ Substantial risk of death persists after hospital admission due to COVID-19. Factors related to an increased risk are older age, higher functional impairment, need for mechanical ventilation during hospital admission, parameters indicating more pronounced inflammation, impaired renal function, and particular comorbidities. Interventions aimed at improving patients' functional capacity may be needed.
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Croatian medical journal · Aug 2022
The COVID-19 lockdown promotes changes in sleep habits in the Croatian general population.
To investigate the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown on sleep habits in the Croatian general population. ⋯ The effect of the lockdown on sleep needs to be better understood. Sleep hygiene education could serve a first-line lifestyle intervention for people in lockdown experiencing sleep disruption.
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Croatian medical journal · Aug 2022
ReviewTreatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis - recommendations of the Croatian Neurological Society.
Untreated multiple sclerosis (MS) irretrievably leads to severe neurological impairment. In European health care systems, patient access to disease modifying therapies (DMT) is often confined to more advanced stages of the disease because of restrictions in reimbursement. A discrepancy in access to DMTs is evident between West and East European countries. ⋯ If pwMS experience ≥1 relapse or ≥3 new T2 lesions while on platform therapies, they should be switched to high-efficacy DMT. Further efforts should be made to enable early and unrestricted access to high-efficacy DMT with a freedom of choice of an appropriate therapy for expert physicians and pwMS. The improvement of access to DMT achieved by the implementation of national treatment guidelines in Croatia can serve as an example to national neurological societies from other Eastern European countries to persuade payers to enable early and unrestricted treatment of pwMS.
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Croatian medical journal · Aug 2022
How effective is a brief educational intervention on prescribing first-line antibiotics in acute cystitis? A quasi-experimental study among general practitioners in Croatia.
To assess the effectiveness of a brief educational intervention on prescribing first-line antibiotics in acute cystitis. ⋯ A brief educational intervention proved to be a useful method in adopting better prescribing habits. Of particular importance is the considerable increase in the use of nitrofurantoin due to its reliable efficacy against multidrug-resistant urinary pathogens.