International journal of clinical practice
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Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Apr 2021
Clinical and novel application of FibroScan, FIB-4, and aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index in liver fibrosis evaluation in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and their roles in esophageal variceal prediction.
Non-invasive techniques for liver fibrosis diagnosis are very important for clinician especially in high-risk patients for liver biopsy. We further explored the diagnostic accuracy of FibroScan, FIB-4 and aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index (APRI) in identifying liver fibrosis and assess their predictive role for oesophageal varices in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). ⋯ FibroScan, FIB-4 and APRI have moderate accuracy for liver fibrosis diagnosis and oesophageal varices prediction in patients with hepatoma. This is a study of these non-invasive techniques applied in specific hepatoma patients and with inevitable limitations and need future more studies for validation.
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Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Apr 2021
Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and choroidal thickness in psoriasis patients.
To conduct a comparative study of retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness and choroidal thickness of psoriasis patients and healthy volunteers. ⋯ The increase in choroidal thickness was found to be significant, while with respect to RNFL thickness, a decrease was evident, a possible indicator of damage to microvascular structures in the choroid and ganglion cells, especially in patients with severe psoriasis. Therefore, choroidal and RSLT thickness measurement with OCT device can assist in the detection of damage to psoriasis.
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Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Apr 2021
Role of serum albumin and proteinuria in patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia.
Hypoalbuminemia is frequently observed in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection although its underlying mechanism and relationship with the clinical outcome still need to be clarified. ⋯ In patients with COVID-19, hypoalbuminemia is common and observed in quite an early stage of pulmonary disease. It is strictly associated with inflammation markers and clinical outcome. The common finding of proteinuria, even in the absence of creatinine increase, indicates protein loss as a possible biomarker of local and systemic inflammation worthwhile to evaluate disease severity in COVID-19.
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Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Apr 2021
Cardiac arrhythmias among hospitalized Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) patients: prevalence, characterization, and clinical algorithm to classify arrhythmic risk.
A significant proportion of COVID-19 patients may have cardiac involvement including arrhythmias. Although arrhythmia characterisation and possible predictors were previously reported, there are conflicting data regarding the exact prevalence of arrhythmias. Clinically applicable algorithms to classify COVID patients' arrhythmic risk are still lacking, and are the aim of our study. ⋯ Dominant arrhythmia amongst COVID-19 patients is AF. Arrhythmia prevalence is associated with age, disease severity, CHF, and troponin levels. A novel simple Classification tree, based on these parameters, can discriminate between high and low arrhythmic risk patients.
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Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Apr 2021
Observational StudyRisk factors associated with the incidence and recurrence of hyperkalaemia in patients with cardiorenal conditions.
Hyperkalaemia (HK) is associated with increased mortality risk. Prior studies suggest that the causes of HK are multifactorial. This study aimed to examine risk factors for incident and recurrent HK in six large real-world cohorts of UK patients that could be considered at elevated HK risk because of underlying disease pathology and/or medication use. ⋯ Several risk factors for HK that are easily measured in routine clinical practice were identified, facilitating the identification of patients who are at the highest risk of experiencing HK, including recurrent HK.