Understanding Adoption of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) during a Health Emergency: An Analysis of EMR Usage Logs from Rural Health Facilities in the Philippines.

Background And Objective: The adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) in the Philippines has been initiated and adjusted since the last decade through the Philippine eHealth Agenda framework. EMRs are known to improve clinical management and have been widely adopted in advanced economies. However, empirical research on EMR implementation remains limited.

The 2019 Philippine UHC Act, Pandemic Management and Implementation Implications in a Post-COVID-19 World: A Content Analysis.

The 2019 Philippine Universal Health Care Act (Republic Act 11223) was set for implementation in January 2020 when disruptions brought on by the pandemic occurred. Will the provisions of the new UHC Act for an improved health system enable agile responses to forthcoming shocks, such as this COVID-19 pandemic? A content analysis of the 2019 Philippine UHC Act can identify neglected and leverage areas for systems’ improvement in a post-pandemic world. While content or document analysis is commonly undertaken as part of scoping or systematic reviews of a qualitative nature, quantitative analyses using a two-way mixed effects, consistency, multiple raters type of intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were applied to check for reliability and consistency of agreement among the study participants in the manual tagging of UHC components in the legislation.

Policy-driven mathematical modeling for COVID-19 pandemic response in the Philippines.

Around the world, disease surveillance and mathematical modeling have been vital tools for government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the face of a volatile crisis, modeling efforts have had to evolve over time in proposing policies for pandemic interventions. In this paper, we document how mathematical modeling contributed to guiding the trajectory of pandemic policies in the Philippines.

A Micro-analysis Approach in Understanding Electronic Medical Record Usage in Rural Communities: Comparison of Frequency of Use on Performance Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In strengthening eHealth in the Philippines to support the universal health care (UHC) law, the scaling up and full adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems was strategically scheduled and supposedly completed in 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, delayed these strengthening efforts. We wanted to assess the status of EMR adoption in primary clinics of rural health units (RHUs) and understand the frequency of use, particularly during the pandemic.

Intrathoracic and intra-abdominal Tl-201 abnormalities seen on rotating raw cine data on dual radionuclide myocardial perfusion and gated SPECT.

Purpose: The lower thorax and upper abdomen are visualized during cardiac acquisition of rest Tl-201 and stress Tc-99m tetrofosmin gated SPECT. Thus, abnormal Tl-201 localization in these areas and in organs such as parts of the lungs, liver, spleen, and kidneys can be observed, including rotating raw cine data.

Materials And Methods: Other than cardiac images, the authors retrospectively reviewed Tl-201 rotating (raw data) images of 235 patients.

High-dose intra-arterial cisplatin boost with hyperfractionated radiation therapy for advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Purpose: To evaluate the tolerance and efficacy of intra-arterial (IA) cisplatin boost with hyperfractionated radiation therapy (HFX-RT) in patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN).

Patients And Methods: Forty-two patients with locally advanced primary SCCHN were treated on consecutive phase I/II studies of HFX-RT (receiving a total of 76.8 to 81.

Spontaneous subcapsular and intrarenal hematoma demonstrated by various diagnostic modalities and monitored by ultrasonography until complete resolution.

A patient with acute right abdominal pain and nausea underwent various diagnostic imaging studies, including ultrasonography (US), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), technetium-99m DTPA renal study, and contrast arteriogram. The 99mTc renal study showed a linear photopenic area along the lateral cortical aspect of the right kidney and a focal cortical defect in the left kidney. These lesions corresponded to the findings of US, CT, MRI, and contrast angiography.

High-dose intra-arterial cisplatin and concurrent hyperfractionated radiation therapy in patients with locally advanced primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: report of a phase II study.

Background: This phase II study evaluates the tolerability and efficacy of concurrent hyperfractionated radiation therapy (HFX-RT) and high-dose intra-arterial (IA) cisplatin in patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN).

Methods: Between December 1995 and November 1997, 20 patients with locally advanced T4/T3 SCCHN were treated with HFX-RT (76.8-79.

Demonstration of Achilles tendon rupture by three phase bone scintigraphy and MRI.

A man with complaint of soreness in the right medial ankle underwent three-phase bone scintigraphy; the results of the study suggested chronic active osteomyelitis or cellulitis, he was on antibiotics and was not experiencing any improvement. MR imaging confirmed Achilles tendon rupture. This case illustrates that a positive three-phase study is non-specific disease entity.

Myositis ossificans demonstrated by positive gallium-67 and technetium-99m-HMDP bone imaging but negative technetium-99m-MIBI imaging.

Gallium-67-citrate and 99mTc-diphosphate bone imaging agents are localized in myositis ossificans, a tumor-like benign soft-tissue mass that makes it impossible to differentiate between malignant tumor and the infection/inflammatory process. We present such a myositis ossificans patient whose bone and 67Ga-citrate imagings showed increased uptake in the left thigh and two foci of the right gluteal region leading to inconclusive results. Technetium-99m-MIBI imaging showed the absence of substantial uptake in these regions.

Persistent lung uptake in the redistribution phase of Tl-201 chloride myocardial SPECTs--a sign of severe pulmonary edema: a case report.

Assessment of thallium (Tl)-201 chloride myocardial stress and rest single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) includes left ventricular defects, left ventricular dilation, and pulmonary uptake. Lung uptake is associated with severe coronary artery disease or reflects transient left ventricular dysfunction and provides poor long-term prognosis. On redistribution imaging, lung activity should be absent or decreased relative to the myocardial activity.

Massive pulmonary embolism without symptoms demonstrated by radionuclide imaging with thromboemboli in both main pulmonary arteries.

Massive pulmonary embolism is defined as an anatomic obstruction of 50% or more of the pulmonary artery. A reduction of at least 50% of the cross-sectional area of the pulmonary artery causes significant hemodynamic instability and marked hypoxia exhibiting syncope, apprehension, hypotension, diaphoresis, chest pain, altered mental status, and shortness of breath. A patient, who had no definite clinical signs and symptoms, was demonstrated to have massive pulmonary embolism by extensive mismatched ventilation-perfusion defects scintigraphically and confirmed as thromboemboli in the main pulmonary arteries on a standard CT of the thorax.

A mural thrombus of an infrarenal aortic aneurysm demonstrated as photon deficiency in a radionuclide study.

Radionuclide angiogram (RNA) and aortogram may underestimate external aneurysmal diameter. Photon deficient areas are not uncommon along the abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) on RNA. To determine whether or not photon deficient areas along the aneurysm could represent a large thrombus, we studied radionuclide aortic angiography in thirty-eight patients during a preoperative cardiac gated study.

Medullary thyroid carcinoma imaged by Tc-99m MIBI SPECT and Tl-201 chloride/Tc-99m pertechnetate subtraction SPECT.

A 61-year-old man with medullary thyroid carcinoma and local invasion of the left lobe of the thyroid had Tc-99m MIBI SPECT and Tl-201 chloride/Tc-99m pertechnetate subtraction SPECT after left lobectomy of the thyroid, using a triple-headed gamma camera. Tl-201 chloride/Tc-99m pertechnetate subtraction demonstrated a large mass with high Tl-201 uptake in the left neck. Although there was intense uptake in the tumor in the left thyroid bed on Tc-99m MIBI neck SPECT, there was also uptake in both salivary glands and the right lobe of the thyroid gland.

Tc-99m MAA lung perfusion scintigraphy performed before and after pulmonary embolectomy for saddle-type pulmonary embolism.

A 58-year-old man had shortness of breath, hypotension, and decreased partial pressure of oxygen (PO2) on the eighteenth day after undergoing craniotomy for a meningioma. Tc-99m MAA pulmonary perfusion scintigraphy showed little perfusion to the right lung and left lower lung and multiple perfusion defects in the left upper lung. Although the results of concurrent chest radiography were negative for pulmonary infiltrates, pulmonary angiography demonstrated a saddle-type embolism.

Extracardiac 'hot' and 'cold' areas on thallium-201 myocardial SPECT imaging.

A 72-year-old man underwent Persantine 201Tl myocardial SPECT imaging that showed a transient area of extracardiac radiotracer accumulation inferior to the inferior wall of the left cardiac ventricle, and a persistent, rounded, cold area in the liver. CT of the abdomen confirmed a cystic lesion in the liver corresponding to the cold area, and the transient extracardiac tracer accumulation area corresponded to a large aneurysm of the distal descending thoracic aorta. An extracardiac abnormal area of 201Tl localization, 'hot' or 'cold', should be included for scan interpretation to depict thoracic and/or upper abdominal lesions(s).

Bile leak from gallbladder perforation mimicking bowel activity and a false-negative result in a morphine-augmented cholescintigraphy.

Cholescintigraphy of a patient with bile leak demonstrated intra-abdominal activity that mimicked normal bowel activity. Because the gallbladder was not visualized, morphine was injected intravenously. Gallbladder activity after morphine injection was misleading in the finding of chronic cholecystitis.

Urinary extravasation from the kidney of recurrent renal cell carcinoma.

A man presented with recurrent renal cell carcinoma, complicated with acute pyelonephritis, 3 months status post partial nephrectomy. He underwent cystourethroscopy and a bilateral retrograde pyelogram, then was referred for a Tc-99m DTPA renal study; the images showed an initial photon-deficient area of the right kidney being gradually filled-in by radiotracer with further extension laterally, indicating urinary extravasation. 16 days later this area was aspirated, yielding 5 ml of yellowish fluid with clots consistent with necrotic tumor and pus.

Nuclear changes in cytologic specimens obtained by CT-guided fine needle aspiration biopsies.

A light and electron microscopic study was conducted to investigate nuclear changes observed in specimens obtained from various sites by computed tomographic (CT)-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy. These changes, which consisted of a disappearance of the nuclear chromatin and a disruption of the nuclear membrane, were found in 70% of 10 FNA specimens obtained with CT guidance, in 26% of 15 specimens obtained with fluoroscopic guidance and in 0% of 10 specimens obtained without x-ray imaging techniques. Although the number of cases studied was small and the mechanisms responsible for these changes are not clear, cytopathologists should be aware of alterations in evaluating FNA specimens obtained with the guidance of x-ray imaging techniques.