Right heart echocardiography findings in hypoxic pneumonia patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in a South African population.

Aims: The right ventricle is affected by Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) via multiple mechanisms, which can result in right ventricular dysfunction (RVD). This study aimed to provide an assessment of right heart function using conventional echocardiography and advanced strain imaging, in patients with hypoxic pneumonia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods And Results: This study was an observational, prospective, single-centre study, including adults with hypoxic pneumonia, in two groups: COVID-19 pneumonia; and non-COVID-19 pneumonia.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia in an academic intensive care unit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) has an estimated incidence of 10 - 41.5 events per 1 000 ventilator days in developing countries, and carries high mortality. Little is known about the incidence and outcomes of VAP in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Time to thrombolysis and factors contributing to delays in patients presenting with ST-elevation myocardial infarction at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Background: Acute coronary syndrome is a public health burden both worldwide and in South Africa (SA). Guidelines recommend thrombolysis within 1 hour of symptom onset and 30 minutes of hospital arrival for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in order to prevent morbidity and mortality. There is a paucity of data pertaining to the time between onset of chest pain and thrombolysis in STEMI patients in SA.