J Formos Med Assoc
-
Comment Letter
Corticosteroids and rehabilitation in COVID-19 survivors.
-
The study aim was to develop a model for predicting patients with emergency medical service (EMS) witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). ⋯ This newly developed prediction model will help identify high-risk patients with EMS-witnessed OHCA.
-
Observational Study
Direct-acting antiviral therapy of chronic hepatitis C improves liver fibrosis, assessed by histological examination and laboratory markers.
Direct-acting antiviral agents achieve sustained virological response in most chronic hepatitis C patients. However, histological responses are not consistent among all patients. We conducted an observational study to analyze the histological changes after direct-acting antiviral agent therapy. ⋯ Reversal of liver inflammation and fibrosis was achieved in a significant number of patients who received direct-acting antiviral agent. No baseline host or virological factor was predictive of histological regression after antiviral treatment.
-
Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is increasingly being used instead of surgical resection for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor measuring ≦2 cm. However, the long-term outcomes of RFA, especially in comparison to surgical resection, are still debated. We compared the outcomes of surgical resection and RFA in patients with a solitary HCC tumor measuring ≦2 cm from a 10-year cohort study. ⋯ The liver reserve determined the long-term OS of patients with an HCC tumor ≦ 2 cm, and surgical resection offered better RFS than RFA (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04525833.).
-
Until now, there are no approved treatment against COVID-19. Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) was hypothesized to be active against SARS-CoV2 via antiviral and anti-inflammatory effect; however, HCQ for COVID-19 in clinical use remained debating. In this preliminary report, we presented six patients with mild to moderate COVID-19. ⋯ Low level of interferon-gamma was noted in all patients of different stage of infection and three patients had elevation of IL-17 level. Prolonged virus shedding is still observed regardless HCQ. The impact of HCQ on cytokine kinetics remained unclear; however, IL-17 could be an inflammatory marker for disease status monitor and a potential therapeutic target.