Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a novel and highly contagious disease caused by Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Older adults and patients with comorbidities and ...immunosuppressive conditions may experience severe signs and symptoms that can lead to death. This case series assesses the clinical course, imaging features, and outcomes for 12 patients with COVID-19 and a history of kidney transplantation. Patients were evaluated for symptoms, laboratory data, imaging findings, and outcomes from February 2020 to April 2020. Fever, cough, and dyspnea were the most common clinical symptoms, noted in 75% (nine/12), 75% (nine/12), and 41.7% (five/12) of the patients, respectively. Most of the patients had a normal white blood cell count, while 33.3% (four/12) had leukopenia and 8.3% (one/12) had leukocytosis. A combination of consolidation and ground glass opacity was the most predominant (75%) pattern of lung involvement on computed tomography (CT). Eight patients died of severe COVID-19 pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome and four were discharged. All recovered cases had a unilateral peripheral pattern of involvement limited to only one zone on initial chest CT. It seems that CT imaging has an important role in predicting COVID-19 outcomes for solid organ transplant recipients. Future studies with long-term follow up and more cases are needed to elucidate COVID-19 diagnosis, outcome, and management strategies for these patients.
To investigate the clinical features of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and occult pulmonary embolism (PE).
Clinical data of 67 AF patients complicated with PE (AP group) admitted to the ...Tianjin Chest hospital from January 2014 to July 2018 were analyzed. A total of 70 AF patients without PE served as the control group (AF group). The AP group was divided into 2 subgroups: AF with occult PE (OPE subgroup) and symptomatic PE (SPE subgroup). The clinical features of OPE subgroup were analyzed.
The levels of leukocyte counts, C-reactive protein, D-dimer and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide in the AP group were (7.4±2.7)×10(9)/L, 18.0 (5.9, 65.7) mg/L, 2.61 (1.63, 3.72) mg/L and 1 657 (600, 3 172)ng/L, which were higher than those in the AF group (
0.008,
0.001,
0.001 and
0.002, respectively); Arterial oxygen pressure in the AP group was (74±13) mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa), lower than the AF group (
0.001); and pulmonary artery systolic pressure was (46±16) mmHg, higher than the AF group (
0.001). In t
To explore the clinical characteristics and microsurgical strategies of intracranial posterior circulation aneurysms.
The clinical manifestations, imaging data, surgical approaches and follow-up ...results of 35 patients with circulating aneurysms (37 aneurysms) treated by microsurgery in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2013 to January 2018 were analyzed retrospectively.
A total of 22 aneurysms were clipped, 13 were clipped and resected, 1 case was clipped and together with AVM resection and 1 case was isolated. Of 37 aneurysms in 35 patients, 11 aneurysms were at the basilar artery apexes, 10 at the posterior cerebral arteries, 6 at the posterior inferior cerebellar arteries, 3 at the basilar arteries, 3 at the vertebral arteries (including 1 case of vertebral arterial dissecting aneurysm), 2 at the anterior inferior cerebellar arteries and 2 at the superior cerebellar arteries. The surgical approaches included pterional approach, extensive pterional approach, infratemporal fo
Background: COVID-19 pandemic, which started in late 2019, has brought various ups and downs worldwide. Planned policies were highly useful in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran. ...However, due to several reasons, the country faced the second wave. Objectives: The current study aimed to compare patients’ features in the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in the city of Tehran, Iran. Methods: Following a retrospective, cross-sectional design, the current study was carried out on 5000 suspected/confirmed COVID-19 cases who were randomly selected from all cases transferred by ambulance to hospitals located in the city of Tehran. The first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic was from February 20 to May 04, 2020, and the second wave was from May 05 to August 05, 2020. Data for both waves, were collected using a researcher-made checklist. Results: In this study, data of 5000 suspected/confirmed COVID-19 cases were analyzed (2773 cases belonged to the first wave and 2227 to the second one). The older mean age of patients (P < 0.001), the frequency of cigarette smoking (P < 0.001), opium abuse (P = 0.004), and the presence of underlying diseases (P < 0.05) were more frequent in the second wave than in the first one. The notable finding in this study was the significant increase of non-respiratory symptoms of patients in the second wave. The number of cases who reported close contact with COVID-19 patients was higher in the second wave. Also, hypoxia, intubation during the hospital stay, length of hospitalization, and mortality rates were significantly lower in the second wave. During the second wave, the odd ratio of positive findings in lung CT-scan was 3.4 times more (95% confidence interval: 2.51 to 4.55) compared to the first wave (P < 0.001). Conclusions: This study demonstrated considerable differences between the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic concerning the patients’ features.
Background Urinary calculi in primary aldosteronism (PA) have been studied almost only in case reports, and most of which have been reported to be associated with nephrolithiasis. Literature review ...demonstrates that there are few reports on the prevalence, clinical characteristics and possible causative factors of asymptomatic nephrolithiasis/nephrocalcinosis in PA. Objective To investigate clinical features and possible causative factors of asymptomatic nephrolithiasis/nephrocalcinosis in primary aldosteronism patients in Sichuan. Methods In this retrospective study, we enrolled 147 PA patients from Department of Endocrinology, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital from January 2017 to April 2021, including 34 also with asymptomatic nephrolithiasis/nephrocalcinosis and 113 patients with PA alone. Clinical data were collected, including sex, age, duration of hypertension, duration of hypokalemia, the lowest serum potassium level in medical history, abnormal glucose metabolism, smoking history, drinking history