Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate May Predict Diagnosis of Lymphoma Without Fine-needle Aspiration Biopsy: A Retrospective Study

Objective:To assess the relationship between routine blood values recorded before fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) and final diagnosis in patients whose diagnoses could not be confirmed with FNAB, necessitating surgical excisional biopsy (SEB) as a second invasive procedure.Method:The data of patients who could not be diagnosed via FNAB and who underwent SEB of the cervical lymph node between March 2014 and March 2019 in the otolaryngology department of a research hospital were evaluated retrospectively. According to the definitive diagnosis determined by SEB, the cases were divided into 3 groups as follows: 1) benign, 2) other malignancies, 3) lymphoma.Results:The frequency of males in the other malignancies group was significantly higher compared to the other two groups (p=0.007). Compared to the other two groups, C-reactive protein levels were statistically significantly lower in the benign group (p=0.001). Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in the lymphoma group was significantly higher than in the other groups (p35.5 mm/hr (area under the curve= 0.784, 95% confidence interval: 0.708-0.861, p<0.001).Conclusion:Although ESR is non-specific for the diagnosis of lymphoma in asymptomatic patients, it may be a supportive marker to reduce repetitive invasive procedures in symptomatic patients who may require cervical lymph node biopsy for diagnosis

Nation-wide analysis of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on daily urology practice in Turkey

Ozkent, Mehmet Serkan/0000-0002-6613-0671; Mercimek, Mehmet Necmettin/0000-0002-0680-4451; karabay, emre/0000-0003-1654-8524; Sen, Volkan/0000-0003-2832-0682; Ceyhan, Erman/0000-0001-8223-6399; Irer, Bora/0000-0002-7719-9033; deger, dogan/0000-0002-5095-7770WOS: 000584084200001PubMed: 32996259Objective To present a nation-wide analysis of the workload of urology departments in Turkey week-by-week during Covid-19 pandemic. Methodology the centres participating in the study were divided into three groups as tertiary referral centres, state hospitals and private practice hospitals. the number of outpatients, inpatients, daily interventions and urological surgeries were recorded prospectively between 9-March-2020 and 31-May-2020. All these variables were recorded for the same time interval of 2019 as well. the weekly change of the workload of urology during pandemic period was evaluated, also the workload of urology and the distributions of certain urological surgeries were compared between the pandemic period and the same time interval of the year 2019. Results A total of 51 centres participated in the study. the number of outpatients, inpatients, urological surgeries and daily interventions were found to be dramatically decreased by the 3rd week of pandemics in state hospitals and tertiary referral centres; however, the daily urological practice were similar in private practice hospitals throughout the pandemic period. When the workload of urology in pandemic period and the same time interval of the year 2019 were compared, a huge decrease was observed in all variables during pandemic period. However, temporary measures like ureteral stenting, nephrostomy placement and percutaneous cystostomy have been found to increase during Covid-19 pandemic compared with normal life. Conclusions Covid-19 pandemic significantly affected the routine daily urological practice likewise other subspecialties and priority was given to emergent and non-deferrable surgeries by urologists in concordance with published clinical guidelines