Flash pulmonary edema in the cardiac catheterization laboratory: a case report

Flash pulmonary edema is a potentially fatal condition that can suddenly deteriorate a patient's status in a variety of settings, including the catheterization laboratory. We describe a 51-year-old woman with a history of hypertension who was admitted for a second valve operation for degenerated aortic bioprosthesis. Before undergoing coronary angiography, she looked a little worried, she experienced respiratory distress and a significant increase in blood pressure in favor of acute flash pulmonary edema, which was immediately and successfully managed by respiratory support and administration of high-dose intravenous nitroglycerine and loop diuretic therapy. The present scenario highlights the significance of being aware of the warning signs of acute flash pulmonary edema to make a prompt diagnosis and initiate the appropriate treatment to prevent catastrophic consequences

The Survey of Malnutrition Prevalence in Patients With Parkinson Disease In Tehran, Iran

Background: Parkinson disease (PD) introduced as the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease following Alzheimer disease. A patient’s nutritional status may be compromising in PD. This study aimed to describe the outpatient nutritional status in patients with PD at a third-level hospital in Iran.Methods: The validated Persian version of the Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire was used to evaluate the nutritional status of 158 Iranian PD patients (age, 35-85 years). The exclusion criteria were as follows: chronic comorbidities affecting the nutritional status (e.g., diabetes and hypertension); adherence to special diets; and cognitive disorders. Based on the MNA questionnaire, a total score below 17 represented malnutrition, while scores 17-24 indicated a risk of malnutrition.Results: Based on the findings, 26% of the participants had low weight, 67% of whom were over 65 years. According to the MNA questionnaire, 14.3% of the participants showed malnutrition and 26.2% were at risk of malnutrition.Conclusion: Based on our findings, PD can contribute to reduced nutritional status. More than one-fourth of the PD population was at risk of malnutrition, which highlights the need for more attention towards nutritional assessment. Nutritional assessment is essential for the development of nutritional interventions and early detection of PD patients who are at risk of malnutrition

Challenges and Problems of Public Private Partnership in Health System: A Review Study

Background and Objective: Public private partnership (PPP) model has been recently introduced as an approach to improve functional efficiency and solving governments’ health care shortages in various aspects. The number of studies focused critically and explanatory on this model are scarce. Furthermore, lack of study organization and structural coherence for deducing practical consequences are still bold in this field. This review summarizes and categorizes these shortcommings. Materials and Methods: This study is designed in review manner: search was conducted in Pubmed, Google scholar, SID.ir and Scopus with all of the combinations of the two keyword groups with the time period search restriction of 2010 to 2017 published studies: group one included “Public private partnership”, “Public private cooperation”, “Privatization”, “Public private initiatives” and their abbreviations; and group two included “Health”, and “Hospital”. After stepwise evaluations and appropriate screening, of 145 assessed papers in the first place, 23 papers were finally selected for data extraction. After reading the full-text of included articles, all of the mentioned information about the problems and challenges of PPPs were extracted. Then, the drafted results for each study were evaluated and compared with each other and organized as main subgroups. Afterwards, the frequency of repeats and emphasis of each subgroup was calculated for all of the 23 studies. Finally, a description review was adapted and registered for each subgroup using related articles. Results: Analysis and assessment of the papers included in this study pointed to several discrete issues which were categorized and discussed in 12 main subgroups based on their conceptual coherence: complexity, low-quality evaluation and supervision, lack of transparency, inadequate coordination, neglecting justice and public interest, lack of flexibility, lack of experience and practical knowledge, insufficeient financial resources, lack of appropriate risk assessment, inadequate cooperation of stakeholders, partner choice restrictions, and paying insufficient attention to the staff. Conclusion: The most important problems and challenges currently confronting health care PPPs were assessed to be complexity, low-quality evaluation and supervision, lack of transparency, and inadequate coordination. All of the items highlight the need to enhance the comprehension of both agreement sides regarding the nature, structure, and complexity of these types of cooperation; as well as complete and precise clarifications for sides, community, and other stakeholders. DOI: http://doi.org/10.22037/ch.v5i4.1976

Echocardiography in left atrial thrombosis

Abstract Atrial fibrillation is one of the major predisposing factors in developing left atrial thrombosis, leading to morbidity and mortality. Echocardiography plays a paramount role in this condition's detection and subsequent treatment