Medicina
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This report describes the case of a 32-year-old woman with ectopic pregnancy in the spleen, which was complicated by active bleeding. The patient complained of intermittent pain in her left side and lower abdomen that lasted several days. The serum beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) was increased, but no intrauterine gestational sac was found via transvaginal sonography. ⋯ An angiography examination also showed slow active extravasation from a small artery that branches off at the lower pole of the spleen. Coil embolization was performed. Splenic ectopic pregnancy can be managed by minimally invasive methods in carefully selected patients.
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Insomnia and circadian rhythm disorders are increasingly common in modern society and lead to significant challenges for people's health and well-being. Some studies suggests that men and women differ in neurohormonal secretion, biological processes, and brain morphology. Thus, such differences may affect the etiology, manifestation, and course of sleep disorders, including insomnia and circadian rhythm. ⋯ These include cerebrovascular and cardiometabolic factors, shift work, and infections. The long-term effects of insomnia seem to be more relevant for the male sex, shortening lifespan more than in women. By summarizing and analyzing existing studies, we highlight the need for further research to improve understanding of the interaction between sex and sleep.
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Observational Study
The Effect of Thyroid Surgery on the Accuracy of Palpation-Based Cricothyroid Membrane Identification in Female Patients: A Prospective Observational Cohort Study.
Background and Objectives: This study examined how a history of thyroid surgery impacts the precision of cricothyroid membrane (CTM) identification through palpation (validated by ultrasound) in female patients visiting the operating room for surgeries unrelated to neck procedures. Materials and Methods: This prospective observational cohort study enrolled adult female patients undergoing elective non-neck surgery, dividing them into control (no thyroid surgery history; n = 40) and experimental (with thyroid surgery history; n = 40) groups. CTM identification was performed by palpation and confirmed via ultrasound. ⋯ For female patients with a history of thyroid surgery, the sensitivity of successful CTM palpation was 42.5%, and the specificity was 10%. These figures are based on the calculated true positives (17), false positives (36), true negatives (4), and false negatives (23). Conclusions: Thyroid surgery history in female patients may hinder the accurate palpation-based identification of the CTM, suggesting a need for enhanced clinical practices and considerations during airway management training.
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Background and Objectives: Biliary drainage (BD) in patients with surgically altered anatomy (SAA) could be obtained endoscopically with different techniques or with a percutaneous approach. Every endoscopic technique could be challenging and not clearly superior over another. The aim of this survey is to explore which is the standard BD approach in patients with SAA. ⋯ Conclusions: This survey shows that the endoscopic BD approach is extremely heterogeneous, especially in patients with Roux-en-Y reconstruction or after ERCP failure in Billroth-II reconstruction. Percutaneous BD is still taken into account by a significant proportion of centers in the case of Roux-en-Y anatomy. The total number of endoscopic BD procedures performed in non-tertiary centers is usually low, but this result does not correspond to an adequate rate of referral to more experienced centers.
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Inflammation plays a key role in the induction of choroidal neovascularization (CNV). Inflammatory choroidal neovascularization (iCNV) is a severe but uncommon complication of both infectious and non-infectious uveitides. It is hypothesized that its pathogenesis is similar to that of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and involves hypoxia as well as the release of vascular endothelial growth factor, stromal cell-derived factor 1-alpha, and other mediators. ⋯ Although the majority of iCNV cases are well defined and appear as the "classic" type (type 2 lesion) on fluorescein angiography, the diagnosis of iCNV is challenging due to difficulties in differentiating between inflammatory choroiditis lesions and choroidal neovascularization. Modern multimodal imaging, particularly the recently introduced technology of optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (noninvasive and rapid imaging modalities), can reveal additional features that aid the diagnosis of iCNV. However, more studies are needed to establish their role in the diagnosis and evaluation of iCNV activity.