Medicina
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Background and Objectives: The Greek Society of Migraine and Headache Patients conducted, in 2020, its second online survey, titled "Migraine in Greece-2020", after publication of the first similar online survey conducted in 2018. To compare the current findings with the corresponding data obtained in 2018, we herein release the second part of results obtained from the 2020 survey on the efficacy of preventive and symptomatic anti-migraine medications and the patients' reported satisfaction with these treatments. Materials and Methods: We surveyed 2105 migraine patients from all over Greece with the use of a 151-questions specific migraine-focused questionnaire in Greek language, which was distributed through the online research software "SurveyMonkey". ⋯ About 2 of 3 surveyed patients had received various prophylactic oral medications and the majority of them discontinued these prophylactic medications as a result of inefficacy/safety issues. BoNTA was reported to be effective only when administration was commenced by a trained neurologist/headache specialist, while our current findings are generally comparable to those obtained in our 2018 pre-COVID-19 survey and the pandemic has not imposed any significant attitudes on migraine therapies and corresponding patients' satisfaction. Conclusion: Although a market change is anticipated with the evolving widespread use of anti-CGRPs monoclonal antibodies or gepants in the symptomatic and prophylactic treatment of migraine, it is of great interest to review published results of larger longitudinal population-based studies to further ascertain the satisfaction of patients to migraine therapies.
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Background and Objectives: Odontogenic infections (OI) represent a frequent cause of dental and maxillo-facial interventions, mostly due to late presentations or misdiagnosed complications. It is believed that the intensity of the immunoinflammatory response in OI is the main prognostic factor. Therefore, in this research, it was pursued to determine if the combination of C-reactive protein (CRP) and Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) (CRP-NLR) may serve as potential severity predictors in patients with odontogenic infections. ⋯ The CRP-NLR association determined a 7.28-fold increased risk of severe OI. The receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis of CRP-NLR yielded an area under curve (AUC) value of 0.889, with high sensitivity (79.6%) and high specificity (85.1%), for predicting a severe odontogenic infection using biomarkers measured at hospital admission (p-value < 0.001). Conclusions: Therefore, it can be concluded that CRP-NLR is a reliable and affordable biomarker for determining the severity of odontogenic infections that may be included in other prognostic models for dental infections.
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Background and Objectives: The impact of the duration of symptoms (DOS) on postoperative clinical outcomes of patients with degenerative lumbar spinal diseases is important for determining the optimal timing of surgical intervention; however, the timing remains controversial. This prospective case−control study aimed to investigate the influence of the preoperative DOS on surgical outcomes in minimally invasive surgery-transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS-TLIF). Materials and Methods: Patients who underwent single-level TLIF for lumbar degenerative diseases between 2017 and 2018 were reviewed. ⋯ However, the clinical outcomes were not significantly different between both groups 1 year after surgery. Patient satisfaction was also not significantly different between both groups. Conclusions: Patients with a shorter DOS tended to have a significantly slower recovery; however, clinical outcomes 1 year after surgery were good, regardless of the DOS.
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Background: The subendocardial viability ratio (SEVR), also known as the Buckberg index, is a parameter of arterial stiffness with indirect prognostic value in assessing long-term cardiovascular risk. Materials and Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study on 70 patients with uncomplicated hypertension admitted to a county medical reference hospital. We analyzed demographics, laboratory data, arterial stiffness parameters and cardiovascular risk scores (SCORE and Framingham risk scores) and aimed to identify paraclinical parameters associated with increased cardiovascular risk. ⋯ Between pulse wave velocity and lipid parameters (p = 0.021 for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol
and p = 0.030 for triglycerides) a statistically significant relationship was found for the study group. The augmentation index of the aorta also correlated with serum LDL-cholesterol (p = 0.032) and the hemoglobin levels (p = 0.040) of hypertensive patients. Conclusions: Age, abdominal circumference and Framingham score are independent predictors for SEVR in our study group, further highlighting the need for early therapeutic measures to control risk factors in this category of patients. -
Background and Objecitves: Appendicitis is one of the most frequent surgical emergencies in pediatric surgery. Complicated appendicitis can evolve with appendicular peritonitis characterized by the diffusion of the pathological process to the peritoneal cavity, thus producing generalized or localized inflammation of the peritoneum. The capacity to anticipate the possibility of perforation in acute appendicitis can direct prompt management and lower morbidity. ⋯ Results: The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte radio (PLR) are representative severity markers in infections. This report analyzes the benefit of these markers for distinguishing uncomplicated appendicitis from complicated appendicitis in pediatric patients. Conclusions: Our study suggests that a value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio greater than 8.39 is a reliable parameter to predict the evolution to appendicular peritonitis.