A retrospective review of immunology patients with primary and/or secondary immunodeficiency, demonstrating the benefits of the rapid transitioning from intravenous immunoglobulin to subcutaneous immunoglobulin at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Forty-four of 50 immunology patients with primary or secondary immunodeficiency receiving intravenous immunoglobulin at a hospital in New South Wales, Australia, were rapidly enrolled in the subcutaneous immunoglobulin (SCIg) programme at the onset of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Health and economic outcomes demonstrated that SCIg provides clinical efficacy as evidenced by the number of infections and maintenance of IgG levels, and also facilitates cost reduction in immunoglobulin maintenance programmes.

Single-step direct drug provocation testing is safe for delabelling selected non-low-risk penicillin allergy labels.

Background: Penicillin allergy labels are prevalent, and removal of incorrect labels improves patient outcomes and health economics. Labels may be classified as "low-risk" or "non-low-risk," of which the symptoms of the latter chiefly suggest immunoglobulin E-mediated etiology. Traditionally, "non-low-risk" allergy labels are evaluated by penicillin skin testing followed by graded multistep penicillin drug provocation testing (DPT).

The Impact of Pneumonia on the Course and Outcome in Patients with Seasonal Influzenza.

Introduction: Seasonal influenza, although often presented as a mild, self-limiting disease, is frequently accompanied by complications that lead to the development of a severe clinical presentation and a fatal outcome. The most common are respiratory complications, with secondary bacterial pneumonia being the leading cause.

Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the impact of pneumonia on the severity of the clinical presentation and outcome in patients with seasonal influenza.

Factors Associated with Lethal Outcome in Patients with Severe Form of Influenza.

Introduction: Clinical manifestations of influenza range from relatively mild and self-limiting respiratory infections to severe clinical manifestations with significant morbidity and mortality. The awareness of predictive indicators for the lethal outcome of influenza is of particular significance in making timely and exact decision for adequate treatment. The aim of this study was to identify the factors in patients with a severe form of influenza, resulting in lethal outcome.

Predictive value of the duration of sciatica for lumbar discectomy.

The optimal time for lumbar discectomy due to sciatica is still under discussion. We examined a group of 177 consecutive patients with lumbar disc herniation, who underwent lumbar discectomy. According to the duration of the sciatica, patients were divided into 3 groups: 31 (17.

Ischemic dilatative cardiomyopathy and aneurysms of the left ventricular cavity: transplantation vs alternative surgery.

Patients with terminal end-stage heart failure due to severe coronary disease associated with dilatative cardiomyopathy have an annual mortality of 30-50%. Between July 1997 and December 1999, 21 patients at the University Hospital in Frankfurt, and 25 patients from Skopje underwent total circular repair with simultaneous coronary artery bypass.