Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Manual Measurements: Intraoperator and Interoperator Agreements Under A Strict Protocol in a Large Sample.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the intraoperator and interoperator agreement for manual measurements of intima-media thickness (IMT) performed under a strict carotid ultrasound technical protocol.

Methods: Two blinded experienced operators independently performed an ultrasound examination at the distal common carotid of 242 subjects in the same patient's position, diastolic phase, probe type, zooming, and depth. Thirty-six subjects were reevaluated in another time point.

Implementation and evaluation of the medication management in nursing units of a university hospital by means of a quality improvement cycle.

Aims: The aim of this study was to improve compliance with protocols for the correct handling and storage of medication, both in medication rooms and on resuscitation trolleys in order to reduce the level of adverse effects on inpatients.

Background: The most frequent adverse effects in healthcare are due to medication errors.

Methods: Twenty hospital units were studied in 2012.

[Preiser's disease. A case study].

The idiopathic avascular necrosis of the scaphoid or Preiser's disease is condition about which few cases have been described. In the majority of cases, it is debatable whether it is actually a spontaneous osteonecrosis, or a pathological process secondary to a systematic disease, or a result of chemotherapy treatment, or associated with taking steroids. We present the case of a 20-year old woman, with no previous trauma, with pain in her right wrist, which progressed over a period of four years.

[Splenectomy in a patient with beta thalassemia intermedia and severe hemolytic anemia].

A 36-year-old woman with beta thalassemia intermedia suffered a hemolytic crisis secondary to Epstein-Barr virus infection. She was given a transfusion of phenotypically compatible blood. However, severe hemolysis persisted (with hemoglobin levels around 4 g/dl) in spite of gamma globulin and corticosteroid administration.