Clinical characterisation of patients diagnosed with cancer following emergency self-referral.

Background: Despite their frequency and potential impact on prognosis, cancers diagnosed via self-referral to the emergency department are poorly documented. We conducted a detailed analysis of cancer patients diagnosed following emergency self-referral and compared them with those diagnosed following emergency referral from primary care. Given the challenges associated with measuring intervals in the emergency self-referral pathway, we also aimed to provide a definition of the diagnostic interval for these cancers.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of molecular testing in minimally invasive samples to detect endometrial cancer in women with postmenopausal bleeding.

Introduction: New approaches are being developed to early detect endometrial cancer using molecular biomarkers. These approaches offer high sensitivities and specificities, representing a promising horizon to develop early detection strategies.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of introducing molecular testing to detect endometrial cancer in women with postmenopausal bleeding compared to the current strategy using the national healthcare service perspective.

Recognizing distant faces.

As an 'early alerting' sense, one of the primary tasks for the human visual system is to recognize distant objects. In the specific context of facial identification, this ecologically important task has received surprisingly little attention. Most studies have investigated facial recognition at short, fixed distances.

Prevaccine Human Papillomavirus Status in Invasive and Intraepithelial Lesions of the Vulva in New Zealand Women.

Objective: The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, introduced in New Zealand (NZ) in 2008, is predicted to substantially lower the incidence of HPV-associated precancers and cancers. The aim of this study is to estimate the proportion of vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (VIN) lesions and invasive vulvar squamous cell carcinomas (SCCV) attributable to HPV in NZ women treated by the Auckland Regional Gynecological Oncology Service, covering an estimated 50% of the NZ population.

Materials And Methods: Polymerase chain reaction and reverse hybridization were used to analyze retrospective histologically proven SCCV from 1990 to 2007 and VIN lesions from 2000 to 2007 for HPV content and genotype in a collaborative study with the Catalan Institute of Oncology.

Night work, chronotype and risk of endometrial cancer in the Screenwide case-control study.

Background: Circadian disruption caused by night work has been associated with hormonal-related cancers such as breast and prostate cancer. Data on the role of circadian factors in the aetiology of endometrial cancer, an oestrogen-associated cancer, are scarce.

Methods: We examined the association between endometrial cancer and night shift work, chronotype (a characteristic correlating with preference for morning or evening activity) and sleep duration, in 180 incident cases and 218 hospital controls.

Delays in Cancer Diagnostic Testing at a Quick Referral Unit in Spain during COVID-19.

Although COVID-19 has had dire consequences on diagnosis of cancer, little data assessing its impact on the whole range of diagnostic activity relevant to cancer are available. We examined trends in the provision of full diagnostic tests for consecutive patients with suspected cancer referred to an academic hospital-based Quick Diagnosis Unit from January 2019 to December 2020. As weekly volumes declined, waiting times for endoscopic, imaging and biopsy/cytology procedures increased steeply during the COVID-impacted period (26 February-28 April 2020).

The impact of Covid-19 on patients with suspected cancer: An analysis of ED presentation and referrals to a quick diagnosis unit.

Purpose: Patients evaluated in the emergency department (ED) who have concerning symptoms suggestive of a cancer diagnosis are mostly referred to the quick diagnosis unit of our tertiary hospital. This study analyzed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the volume, disease patterns, and accessibility to essential investigations of patients with suspected cancer referred by the ED to this unit.

Methods: Trends in referrals were analyzed from January 1 to July 8, 2020 and the corresponding dates of 2019.

A comparative cost analysis between two quick diagnosis units of different levels of complexity.

To compare by micro-costing the costs incurred by quick diagnosis units of tertiary and second-level hospitals. We included 407 patients from a tertiary and secondary hospital unit. A bottom-up approach was applied.

Clinical characteristics and outcome of patients aged over 80 years with covid-19.

To investigate the clinical characteristics and outcome of octogenarians with covid-19.This is a observational, retrospective, descriptive study.Consecutive patients aged >80 years who were admitted for covid-19 pneumonia during a 6 weeks period (March 20-April 30, 2020).

Tumour markers with clinically controlled cut-offs for suspected cancer.

Background: Due to insufficient scientific evidence, panels of tumour markers (TMs) are currently not recommended for use in suspected cancer. However, recent well-designed studies have revealed a potential clinical value in lung cancer. We analysed the diagnostic accuracy of a panel of 11 circulating TMs with clinically controlled thresholds in the differentiation of cancer from nonmalignant diseases.

Arrhythmogenic substrate detection in chronic ischaemic patients undergoing ventricular tachycardia ablation using multidetector cardiac computed tomography: compared evaluation with cardiac magnetic resonance.

Aims: Late gadolinium enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance (LGE-CMR) permits characterizing ischaemic scars, detecting heterogeneous tissue channels (HTCs) which constitute the arrhythmogenic substrate (AS). Late gadolinium enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance also improves the arrhythmia-free survival when used to guide ventricular tachycardia (VT) substrate ablation. However, its availability may be limited.

Quick diagnosis units: predictors of time to diagnosis and costs.

Financial crisis has forced health systems to seek alternatives to hospitalization-based healthcare. Quick diagnosis units (QDUs) are cost-effective compared to hospitalization, but the determinants of QDU costs have not been studied.We aimed at assessing the predictors of costs of a district hospital QDU (Hospital Plató, Barcelona) between 2009 and 2016.

Going 'trans-E-3-ve': Educational principles for a new generation of medical students.

Educating medical students represents a thrilling yet challenging task. In an era of research breakthroughs but also global health setbacks, there is a risk that scientists and educators focus on highly specialized areas of knowledge, neglecting interrelated systemic issues. Here, we argue that the education of medical students should be embraced using a different strategy remodeled through what we call a 'tranS-E-3-ve' lens.

Takotsubo syndrome and cancer, clinical and prognostic implications, insights of RETAKO.

Background And Objectives: A relationship between neoplasms and Takotsubo syndrome (TS) has been postulated. Our goal was to determine its prevalence in patients with TS, compare the clinical profile of TS with or without cancer and study its long-term evolution.

Materials And Methods: The oncological situation of patients included in the National Registry on TAKOtsubo syndrome (RETAKO), admitted between 2002 and 2019, provided by 38 hospitals throughout the country is analysed.

Cervical spinal cord injury by a low-impact trauma as an unnoticed cause of cardiorespiratory arrest.

Background: Cardiorespiratory arrest (CA) secondary to traumatic cervical spinal cord injury can occur in minor accidents with low-impact trauma and may be overlooked as the cause of CA in patients admitted in the coronary care unit.

Case Summary: We present two patients admitted to the coronary care unit because of suspected CA of cardiac origin. Both patients were found in CA with asystole, one after collapsing in a shopping mall and falling down a few steps and the other in the street next to his bicycle.