Publications by authors named "Daniel Belman"
Background: Prognostication is complex in patients critically ill with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Objectives: To describe the natural history of ventilated critical COVID-19 patients.
Methods: Due to our legal milieu, active withdrawal of care is not permitted, providing an opportunity to examine the natural history of ventilated critical COVID-19 patients.
We sought to prospectively investigate the accuracy of an artificial intelligence (AI)-based tool for left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) assessment using a hand-held ultrasound device (HUD) in COVID-19 patients and to examine whether reduced LVEF predicts the composite endpoint of in-hospital death, advanced ventilatory support, shock, myocardial injury, and acute decompensated heart failure. COVID-19 patients were evaluated with a real-time LVEF assessment using an HUD equipped with an AI-based tool vs. assessment by a blinded fellowship-trained echocardiographer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The association between COVID-19 infection and the cardiovascular system necessitates the use of an echocardiogram in this setting. Information on the utilization, safety, and quality of point-of-care cardiac and lung ultrasound using a hand-held device in these patients is scarce.
Aims: To investigate the safety, technical aspects, quality indices, and interpretive accuracy of a hand-held echocardiogram in patients with COVID-19.
Article Synopsis
- The study explores using handheld echocardiography for cardiac evaluation in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, given limitations on traditional echocardiography due to strict isolation precautions.
- Among 102 patients, 25.5% had abnormal echocardiograms, correlating with older age, comorbidities, and severe symptoms; abnormal results indicated a higher risk of adverse outcomes.
- The findings suggest handheld echocardiography is a valuable tool for assessing high-risk COVID-19 patients but is not recommended for those at low risk.
Objective: To assess the role of the computerized tomography (CT) scanner in cross-transmission of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii between hospitalized patients undergoing CT scan.
Methods: A single-centre retrospective observational analysis of inpatients undergoing CT scans. Patient-unique CT scans were defined as 'index cases' (patients undergoing CT scan with carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) colonization documented during the previous 60 days), 'incident cases' (patients found colonized with CRAB within 14 days following CT scan), and 'negative cases' (negative for CRAB before and after CT scan).
Background/aims: Cerebrovascular diseases such as stroke are increased in dialysis patients, and haemodiafiltration has been reported to reduce cerebrovascular mortality compared to haemodialysis. We wished to determine whether haemodiafiltration improves arterial stiffness.
Methods: We audited aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) measurements 6 months apart in 3 cohorts of patients: 69 treated with haemodialysis, 78 who converted from haemodialysis to haemodiafiltration and 142 treated with haemodiafiltration.