Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · Aug 2020
[Screening of Mothers in a COVID-19 Low-Prevalence Region: Determination of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in 401 Mothers from Rostock by ELISA and Confirmation by Immunofluorescence].
In children, the infection with SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19, tends to be clinically inapparent more often or less severe than in adults. The spread of this infection from children poses a danger to vulnerable adults. Therefore, child care institutions and schools currently are widely closed. ⋯ At the time of this study, neither SARS-CoV-2 RNA, nor specific antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were detectable in the mothers tested in Rostock.
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · Aug 2020
[Medullary thyroid carcinoma and multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2].
Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a rare malignancy and compromises only 3 % of all thyroid carcinomas. MTC cells secret calcitonin, which serves as a sensitive tumor marker for screening and follow-up of MTC. Calcitonin screening in patients with nodular goiter allows for early diagnosis of MTC and surgical curative treatment. ⋯ MTC is a slowly growing tumor with a good prognosis and 5 and 10 year survival rates up to 80 and 60 %. In the follow-up a dynamic risk stratification allows for a personalized disease management. In symptomatic and progressive metastasizing MTC tyrosine kinase inhibitors are an effective therapy.
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · Aug 2020
Case Reports[Polymyalgic complaint: is there a tumor behind it?]
A 61-year-old caucasian male presenting with pain in arms and thighs, weight loss of 10 kg in the last 3 months, and subfebrile temperatures, also had abdominal pain. In addition, he reported that his abdominal circumference had increased over the last two years. ⋯ The diagnostic work up of polymyalgic complaints should also include rare paraneoplastic diseases.
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · Aug 2020
[Current ethical challenges in intensive care in the face of the corona pandemic].
In view of dramatically increasing patient numbers worldwide in the face of the corona pandemic and scarce resources in intensive care medicine in many countries, some of which are dramatically undersupplied, concerns and fears have spread among the population in Germany. Healthcare workers didn't know how to deal with an overload of the healthcare system. Numerous inquiries from concerned physicians as well as ethics committees prompted the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI) together with seven other medical associations to work out a clinical-ethical recommendation on "Decisions on resource allocation in emergency and intensive care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic".
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The publication of the new ACR/EULAR classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and the revision of the EULAR recommendations for the management of SLE last year include many important novelties that will change the classification and care of lupus patients. This refers to both general basic treatment principles and specific therapy recommendations. For example, SLE can only be classified as such if antinuclear antibodies (ANA) are present, independently of titer height and fluorescence pattern. ⋯ All patients should receive antimalarials in the absence of contraindications. If the response is inadequate or in case of moderate to severe organ manifestations, steroid pulses over a few days and the early use of immunosuppressive drugs (IM) are recommended. With the inclusion of biologicals, especially belimumab and rituximab, new substance classes made their way into the recommendations.