J Postgrad Med
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At the onset of the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic, the publications on managing surgical emergencies were sparse. Health care personnel were facing an unprecedented problem with limited information. On this background, we have reviewed the operational challenges faced and the protocols followed by us while managing emergency surgical patients. The clinical presentations, RT-PCR testing rates, trend of COVID-19 positivity in emergency surgical patients and its comparison to the general population, swab positivity among screen positive and negative patients, grade of COVID-19 affection, the outcomes in emergency surgical patients, and COVID-19 affection in treating personnel is studied. ⋯ The number of COVID-19 positive patients rose serially over the study period. The outcome was not affected by the COVID-19 status in mild cases. A high rate of COVID-19 positivity was seen in patients requiring emergency surgery. Universal precautions ensured delivering treatment to emergency patients in standard time. Testing should continue for all as screening alone is not effective as the virus spreads into the population. Proper protocols helped us to protect the health care workers.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of mobile voice calls on treatment initiation among patients diagnosed with tuberculosis in a tertiary care hospital of Puducherry: A randomized controlled trial.
In India, about one third of tuberculosis (TB) patients diagnosed at tertiary hospitals are missed during a referral to peripheral health institutes for treatment. To address this, we assessed whether mobile voice call reminders to TB patients after diagnosis at a tertiary hospital decrease the proportion of "pretreatment loss to follow-up" (PTLFU), compared with the conventional paper-based referral. ⋯ Mobile voice call reminder to patients is a feasible intervention and can reduce PTLFU among referred TB patients.
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Case Reports
Recurrent aplastic anemia with donor-type aplasia: A rare occurrence in the Indian subcontinent.
Donor-type aplasia (DTA) is a condition where an individual continues to be aplastic even after a successful engraftment of a hematopoeitic stem cell transplant with a majority of donor type cells in the bone marrow. This entity has been seen with varying frequency around the world, especially in Southeast Asia. ⋯ The patient eventually succumbed to his condition before a second transplant could be performed. The awareness about the seriousness of this relatively rare condition, therefore, needs to be emphasized.