Publications by authors named "Fu-Loi Chow"
Background: Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a rare but potentially life-threatening soft tissue infection. The objective of this study was to assess the association between timely surgery within 6 h and hospital mortality in patients with limb NF, and to describe the trends in patients with NF, time to surgery and standardized mortality ratio (SMR) over 11 years.
Methods: This was a multicenter, retrospective cohort study of all intensive care unit patients who had emergency surgery within 24 h of hospitalization for limb NF between April 1, 2008 and March 31, 2019 in Hong Kong.
Article Synopsis
- A study compared hospital outcomes between critically ill patients with COVID-19 and those with influenza A, focusing on mortality rates and risk factors.
- The research involved a retrospective analysis of adult patients in Hong Kong, matching 373 COVID-19 patients with 373 influenza A patients based on similar characteristics.
- Findings showed that COVID-19 patients had a significantly higher hospital mortality rate (17.5%) compared to influenza A patients (7.5%), with factors such as age and coinfections impacting these outcomes.
Article Synopsis
- - This study examined the outcomes of 940 critically ill patients with tuberculosis (TB) admitted to ICUs in Hong Kong over an 11-year period, finding high mortality rates of 24.7% in ICUs and 41.1% in hospitals, with a significant portion of ICU deaths occurring in patients who did not receive TB treatment.
- - Researchers used methods like generalized linear modeling and analyzed mortality trends, concluding that delays in TB treatment are linked to increased hospital mortality, and they noted that diagnostic methods like MTB PCR were underutilized.
- - The results suggest that despite TB being preventable and treatable, survival rates for ICU patients have not improved, emphasizing the need for quicker diagnoses and treatment to enhance patient
Article Synopsis
- * The research utilized data from a population electronic health record database and found that the APACHE IV standard mortality ratio (SMR) improved significantly, indicating better predictive performance over time as well.
- * Overall, despite limited healthcare resources, Hong Kong's ICU services have become more efficient and of higher quality, with shorter than predicted length of stay for patients.
Background: Experience from influenza pandemics suggested that convalescent plasma treatment given within 4 to 5 days of symptom onset might be beneficial. However, robust treatment data are lacking.
Methods: This is a multicenter, prospective, double-blind, randomized controlled trial.
Background: Experience from treating patients with Spanish influenza and influenza A(H5N1) suggested that convalescent plasma therapy might be beneficial. However, its efficacy in patients with severe pandemic influenza A(H1N1) 2009 virus (H1N1 2009) infection remained unknown.
Methods: During the period from 1 September 2009 through 30 June 2010, we conducted a prospective cohort study by recruiting patients aged ≥ 18 years with severe H1N1 2009 infection requiring intensive care.
Background: Infections caused by the pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza virus range from mild upper respiratory tract syndromes to fatal diseases. However, studies comparing virological and immunological profile of different clinical severity are lacking.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 74 patients with pandemic H1N1 infection, including 23 patients who either developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or died (ARDS-death group), 14 patients with desaturation requiring oxygen supplementation and who survived without ARDS (survived-without-ARDS group), and 37 patients with mild disease without desaturation (mild-disease group).