Background And Aim Of The Study: Despite the fact that there is a simple and effective treatment for pericardial tamponade (PCT), delayed diagnosis can cause serious morbidities or even mortality. In this study, we discuss the management and the diagnostic procedures of PCT.
Materials And Methods: Sixty-two patients with suspected PCT were initially evaluated with transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and then with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). Forty-nine (79%) patients were chosen for surgery after TEE displayed a suspected PCT diagnosis. Patients with suspected PCT were divided into two groups: Early-phase PCT (symptoms developed within 72 hours) and late-phase PCT (symptoms developed after 72 hours).
Results: Thirty-five (56%) patients were in the early phase and 27 (44%) patients were in the late phase. In 13 out of 22 (59%) cases, from both early and late phases, TTE findings showed no PCT, but TEE findings showed a positive PCT diagnosis. All 13 of the cases where TEE was positive after a negative TTE were confirmed by surgery. Overall, the PCT diagnoses in 48 out of 49 patients were confirmed during surgery.
Discussion: The role of echocardiography in PCT diagnosis is shown to be extremely important in some clinical cases, such as in patients during the postoperative period after cardiac surgery. Furthermore, particularly when TTE does not provide complete imaging of the pericardial sac, TEE should be mandatory. We recommend that even patients with a negative diagnosis of PCT from TTE should undergo further evaluation with TEE.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-8191.2008.00581.x | DOI Listing |
Front Cell Infect Microbiol
December 2024
Department of Infectious Diseases, the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the clinical value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of blood samples for the identification of disseminated tuberculosis (DTB).
Methods: A total of 48 individuals suspected of DTB were enrolled. All patients underwent mNGS of peripheral blood and conventional microbiological tests.
Zhonghua Yu Fang Yi Xue Za Zhi
December 2024
Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, People's Hospital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan750002, China.
In order to investigate the clinical manifestations and laboratory findings associated with brucellosis for the purpose of facilitating prompt clinical diagnosis and effective treatment, as well as to offer a laboratory reference for the prevention of brucellosis outbreaks. In this study, a retrospective cohort design was employed to gather epidemiological characteristics, clinical symptoms, and associated laboratory data from 391 patients diagnosed with bacterial culture-positive brucellosis at the People's Hospital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region between 2019 and 2023. The patients were categorized into four age groups, with each group representing a 20 years age interval.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Primary cardiac tumors (PCT), such as myxoma, are rare and predominantly benign. Angiofibroma tumors are an extremely rare subtype of PCT, reported in less than ten cases. In this study, we presented a mixed tumor of myxoma and angiofibroma for the first time in the human heart.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Radiol
December 2024
Radiology, Balgrist University Hospital, Forchstrasse 340, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland; Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Purpose: To evaluate the interest of additional pseudo-CT images to standard clinical contrast-enhanced MR images (CE-MRI) in the detection of inflammatory erosions and to differentiate them from intraosseous ganglia at the finger joints.
Method: 47 prospectively included patients with suspected or diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis received a CE-MRI of the fingers. Additionally, pseudo-CT images were derived from non-contrast MRI (pCT) and from contrast-enhanced MRI data (CE-pCT) using a high-resolution gradient-echo 3D fast low-angle shot sequence (FLASH), respectively.
JAMA
December 2024
Warwick Medical School, Clinical Trials Unit, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom.
Importance: For hospitalized critically ill adults with suspected sepsis, procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) monitoring protocols can guide the duration of antibiotic therapy, but the evidence of the effect and safety of these protocols remains uncertain.
Objective: To determine whether decisions based on assessment of CRP or PCT safely results in a reduction in the duration of antibiotic therapy.
Design, Setting, And Participants: A multicenter, intervention-concealed randomized clinical trial, involving 2760 adults (≥18 years), in 41 UK National Health Service (NHS) intensive care units, requiring critical care within 24 hours of initiating intravenous antibiotics for suspected sepsis and likely to continue antibiotics for at least 72 hours.
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