“The particulars of loss”: Grief Memoirs and Their Pragmatic Applications

Death is commonly pushed to the periphery in contemporary society, leaving the grief-struck to endure the turbulent nature of their loss alone. Unsurprisingly, our mortality-denying times have witnessed the proliferation and popularity of grief memoirs. However, not every text will resonate with every reader, and the selection of appropriate, relatable texts is made more difficult with the overabundance of digital data in our lives. This essay explores select life-altering states of grief addressed in autobiographical accounts of loss and compares the details with the assessment of these states in bereavement literature. The correlations and disparities between the literary and the clinical reveal that the personal nature of grief memoirs makes them a suitable aid in the education of helping professionals and in therapy. Greater familiarity with grief memoirs among therapists may increase their visibility among the bereaved. To facilitate the selection and assessment of proper texts, a closer collaboration between literary scholars specializing in trauma narratives and helping professionals who use bibliotherapy is needed

The usefulness of SPECT-CT with radioisotope-labeled leukocytes in diagnosing lead-dependent infective endocarditis

Background. Lead-dependent infective endocarditis (LDIE) is a life-threatening complication of permanent transvenous cardiac pacing. According to the 2015 European Society of Cardiology (ECS) guidelines, the diagnosis of LDIE is based on the modified Duke criteria (MDC), while single-photon emission computed tomography with conventional computed tomography (SPECT-CT) with radioisotope-labeled leukocytes serves as an additional tool in difficult cases. The major challenge is to differentiate between true vegetation and a thrombus.   Objectives. The aim of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of SPECT-CT with radioisotope-labeled leukocytes in diagnosing LDIE in patients with intracardiac masses (ICMs).   Material and Methods. The prospective registry included 40 consecutive patients admitted with an ICM on the lead and suspicion of LDIE. The confirmation or rejection of the LDIE diagnosis was made according to an algorithm based on the MDC. The cohort was divided into 2 groups: patients with definite and possible LDIE diagnoses based on the MDC (the LDIE-positive group), and patients with negative LDIE diagnoses according to the MDC (the LDIE-negative group). All patients underwent SPECT-CT with radioisotope-labeled leukocytes. The diagnostic ability of SPECT-CT was compared to the gold standard MDC.   Results. The LDIE-positive group with diagnosis based on the MDC consisted of 19 patients (LDIE definite – 11; LDIE possible – 8). The LDIE diagnosis was rejected on the basis of the MDC in 21 patients. The SPECT-CT results were compared with the MDC results and showed 73.7% sensitivity, 81.0% specificity, 77.5% accuracy, 77.8% positive predictive value (PPV), 77.3% negative predictive value (NPV), likelihood ratio positive (LR+) 3.868, likelihood ratio negative (LR–) 0.325, and moderate agreement (κ = 0.548, p < 0.001). After the exclusion of 5 patients treated with antibiotics at the time of the SPECT-CT, LR+ and LRimproved to 5.250 and 0, respectively, and inter-test agreement amounted to almost perfect concordance (κ = 0.773, p < 0.001).   Conclusion. Single-photon emission computed tomography with conventional CT with radioisotopelabeled leukocytes is a useful, efficient, single-step test for diagnosing LDIE

Discharge protocol in acute pancreatitis: an international survey and cohort analysis.

There are several overlapping clinical practice guidelines in acute pancreatitis (AP), however, none of them contains suggestions on patient discharge. The Hungarian Pancreatic Study Group (HPSG) has recently developed a laboratory data and symptom-based discharge protocol which needs to be validated. (1) A survey was conducted involving all members of the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP) to understand the characteristics of international discharge protocols. (2) We investigated the safety and effectiveness of the HPSG-discharge protocol. According to our international survey, 87.5% (49/56) of the centres had no discharge protocol. Patients discharged based on protocols have a significantly shorter median length of hospitalization (LOH) (7 (5;10) days vs. 8 (5;12) days) p < 0.001), and a lower rate of readmission due to recurrent AP episodes (p = 0.005). There was no difference in median discharge CRP level among the international cohorts (p = 0.586). HPSG-protocol resulted in the shortest LOH (6 (5;9) days) and highest median CRP (35.40 (13.78; 68.40) mg/l). Safety was confirmed by the low rate of readmittance (n = 35; 5%). Discharge protocol is necessary in AP. The discharge protocol used in this study is the first clinically proven protocol. Developing and testifying further protocols are needed to better standardize patients' care

Discharge protocol in acute pancreatitis : an international survey and cohort analysis

There are several overlapping clinical practice guidelines in acute pancreatitis (AP), however, none of them contains suggestions on patient discharge. The Hungarian Pancreatic Study Group (HPSG) has recently developed a laboratory data and symptom-based discharge protocol which needs to be validated. (1) A survey was conducted involving all members of the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP) to understand the characteristics of international discharge protocols. (2) We investigated the safety and effectiveness of the HPSG-discharge protocol. According to our international survey, 87.5% (49/56) of the centres had no discharge protocol. Patients discharged based on protocols have a significantly shorter median length of hospitalization (LOH) (7 (5;10) days vs. 8 (5;12) days) p < 0.001), and a lower rate of readmission due to recurrent AP episodes (p = 0.005). There was no difference in median discharge CRP level among the international cohorts (p = 0.586). HPSG-protocol resulted in the shortest LOH (6 (5;9) days) and highest median CRP (35.40 (13.78; 68.40) mg/l). Safety was confirmed by the low rate of readmittance (n = 35; 5%). Discharge protocol is necessary in AP. The discharge protocol used in this study is the first clinically proven protocol. Developing and testifying further protocols are needed to better standardize patients’ care.Peer reviewe