Peri-operative red blood cell transfusion in neonates and infants: NEonate and Children audiT of Anaesthesia pRactice IN Europe: A prospective European multicentre observational study

BACKGROUND: Little is known about current clinical practice concerning peri-operative red blood cell transfusion in neonates and small infants. Guidelines suggest transfusions based on haemoglobin thresholds ranging from 8.5 to 12 g dl-1, distinguishing between children from birth to day 7 (week 1), from day 8 to day 14 (week 2) or from day 15 (≥week 3) onwards. OBJECTIVE: To observe peri-operative red blood cell transfusion practice according to guidelines in relation to patient outcome. DESIGN: A multicentre observational study. SETTING: The NEonate-Children sTudy of Anaesthesia pRactice IN Europe (NECTARINE) trial recruited patients up to 60 weeks' postmenstrual age undergoing anaesthesia for surgical or diagnostic procedures from 165 centres in 31 European countries between March 2016 and January 2017. PATIENTS: The data included 5609 patients undergoing 6542 procedures. Inclusion criteria was a peri-operative red blood cell transfusion. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary endpoint was the haemoglobin level triggering a transfusion for neonates in week 1, week 2 and week 3. Secondary endpoints were transfusion volumes, 'delta haemoglobin' (preprocedure - transfusion-triggering) and 30-day and 90-day morbidity and mortality. RESULTS: Peri-operative red blood cell transfusions were recorded during 447 procedures (6.9%). The median haemoglobin levels triggering a transfusion were 9.6 [IQR 8.7 to 10.9] g dl-1 for neonates in week 1, 9.6 [7.7 to 10.4] g dl-1 in week 2 and 8.0 [7.3 to 9.0] g dl-1 in week 3. The median transfusion volume was 17.1 [11.1 to 26.4] ml kg-1 with a median delta haemoglobin of 1.8 [0.0 to 3.6] g dl-1. Thirty-day morbidity was 47.8% with an overall mortality of 11.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate lower transfusion-triggering haemoglobin thresholds in clinical practice than suggested by current guidelines. The high morbidity and mortality of this NECTARINE sub-cohort calls for investigative action and evidence-based guidelines addressing peri-operative red blood cell transfusions strategies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT02350348

Acute respiratory failure following ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome

Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome is a serious and potentially life-threatening physiological complication that may be encountered in patients who undergo controlled ovarian hyperstimulation cycles. The syndrome is typically associated with regimes of exogenous gonadotropins, but it can be seen, albeit rarely, when clomiphene is administered during the induction phase. Although this syndrome is widely described in scientific literature and is well known by obstetricians, the knowledge of this pathological and potentially life-threatening condition is generally less than satisfactory among physicians. The dramatic increase in therapeutic strategies to treat infertility has pushed this condition into the realm of acute care therapy. The potential complications of this syndrome, including pulmonary involvement, should be considered and identified so as to allow a more appropriate diagnosis and management. We describe a case of a woman with an extremely severe (Stage 6) ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome who presented ascites, bilateral pleural effusion and severe respiratory failure treated with non-invasive ventilation. The patient was admitted to the intensive care unit because of severe respiratory failure, ascites, and bilateral pleural effusion due to ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Treatment included non-invasive ventilation and three thoracentesis procedures, plus the administration of albumin, colloid solutions and high-dose furosemid. Severe form of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome is observed in 0.5-5% of the women treated, and intensive care may be required for management of thromboembolic complications, renal failure and severe respiratory failure. Pulmonary intensive care may involve thoracentesis, oxygen supplementation and, in more severe cases, assisted ventilation. To our knowledge, there have been only two studies in English language medical literature that describe severe respiratory failure treated with non-invasive ventilation

Pneumonia associada a influenza A (H1N1)

OBJETIVO: Descrever as características dos pacientes com pneumonia associada a influenza A (H1N1) tratados em dois hospitais na região da Ligúria, Itália, e descrever seu tratamento e desfechos. MÉTODOS: Estudo prospectivo observacional que incluiu todos os pacientes com mais de 16 anos de idade e com diagnóstico confirmado de influenza A (H1N1) admitidos no Hospital Villa Scassi, em Gênova, ou no Hospital Geral de Sestri Levante, em Sestri Levante, Itália, entre setembro de 2009 e janeiro de 2010. O desfecho primário foi mortalidade em até 60 dias do diagnóstico, e os desfechos secundários foram necessidade de ventilação mecânica e tempo de hospitalização. RESULTADOS: Durante o período do estudo, dos 40 pacientes com diagnóstico confirmado de influenza A (H1N1), 27 apresentaram pneumonia. A média de idade dos 27 pacientes foi de 42,8 ± 14,8 anos, e o tempo médio de hospitalização foi de 11,6 ± 8,2 dias. Dos 27 pacientes, 20 tiveram insuficiência respiratória, 4 necessitaram de ventilação mecânica invasiva e 5, de ventilação mecânica não invasiva. Somente 1 paciente com várias comorbidades teve falência múltipla de órgãos e faleceu. CONCLUSÕES: Embora a influenza A (H1N1) tenha sido mais branda e com menor incidência de mortalidade na Itália do que em outros países, 9 de nossos pacientes (33%) tiveram evolução rápida para falência respiratória e necessitaram de ventilação mecânica

Psicoterapia Breve Dinamica in pazienti distimici: studio prospettico longitudinale d'efficacia

INTRODUZIONE: Diversi studi hanno dimostrato l’efficacia della Psicoterapia Breve Dinamica (PBD) nel trattamento dei disturbi depressivi minori (Maina et al., 2005). Scopo del presente lavoro è valutare l’efficacia del modello psicoterapico attuato dall’Unità Urgenze Psichiatriche della Clinica Psichiatrica degli Università degli Studi di Milano (Invernizzi e Bressi, 1999) nel trattamento di pazienti distimici e la stabilità dei risultati ottenuti mediante un follow-up di 12 mesi. METODOLOGIA: sono stati inclusi nello studio 14 pazienti consecutivi con diagnosi di Distimia secondo i criteri del DSM-IV trattati con Psicoterapia Breve Dinamica secondo il modello dell’Unità Urgenze Psichiatriche della Clinica Psichiatrica di Milano. La valutazione dei sintomi psicopatologici è stata effettuta mediante Symptom Check List 90 Revised (S.C.L. 90-R) all’inizio della terapia (T0) ed a 12 mesi dal termine della stessa (T1). RISULTATI: La valutazione mediante “Paired Samples Test” delle componenti SCL-90-R al T1 rispetto al T0 ha evidenziato: una diminuzione statisticamente significativa nelle sottoscale Somatizzazione (t=3.07; p<0.01; mean 1.01 vs 1.63), Depressione (t=2.170; p<0.05; mean 1.17 vs 1.53) e negli indici globali: Totale Generale (t=2.95; p<0.05; mean 77.02 vs 123.29), Gravità Totale (t=2.80; p<0.05; mean 0.92 vs 1.36), Distress da Sintomi positivi (t=3.66; p<0.01; mean 1.58 vs 2.00). CONCLUSIONE: La diminuzione statisticamente significativa evidenziata nelle sottoscale e negli indici globali del SCL-90-R al T1 suggerisce la stabilità dei risultati ottenuti con il modello psicoterapico proposto nella terapia di pazienti distimic

Germline rare variants of lectin pathway genes predispose to asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in elderly individuals

Purpose: Emerging evidence suggest that infection-dependent hyperactivation of complement system (CS) may worsen COVID-19 outcome. We investigated the role of predicted high impact rare variants - referred as qualifying variants (QVs) - of CS genes in predisposing asymptomatic COVID-19 in elderly individuals, known to be more susceptible to severe disease. Methods: Exploiting exome sequencing data and 56 CS genes, we performed a gene-based collapsing test between 164 asymptomatic subjects (aged ≥60 years) and 56,885 European individuals from the Genome Aggregation Database. We replicated this test comparing the same asymptomatic individuals with 147 hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Results: We found an enrichment of QVs in 3 genes (MASP1, COLEC11, and COLEC10), which belong to the lectin pathway, in the asymptomatic cohort. Analyses of complement activity in serum showed decreased activity of lectin pathway in asymptomatic individuals with QVs. Finally, we found allelic variants associated with asymptomatic COVID-19 phenotype and with a decreased expression of MASP1, COLEC11, and COLEC10 in lung tissue. Conclusion: This study suggests that genetic rare variants can protect from severe COVID-19 by mitigating the activity of lectin pathway and prothrombin. The genetic data obtained through ES of 786 asymptomatic and 147 hospitalized individuals are publicly available at http://espocovid.ceinge.unina.it/