Non-Contrast Based Perfusion Detection with ARFI Variance of Acceleration (VoA)

Low blood SNR makes detecting small vessels, measuring slow flow rates, and assessing blood perfusion without contrast administration challenging. A potential approach is to use Variance of Acceleration (VoA) imaging, which has been demonstrated previously in humans in vivo for monitoring subcutaneous bleeding and delineating intraplaque hemorrhage. We hypothesize that, without the addition of contrast agents, logVoA is relevant to detecting slow flow in small vessels for perfusion assessment.This study found that logVoA could support contrast-free detection of slow blood flow in small vessels and organ perfusion assessment, both in a calibrated flow phantom and in vivo.Bachelor of Scienc

Study of adverse drug reactions in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are the recognized dangers of drug treatment and can arise with several groups of drugs. The purpose of this study was to identify and assess ADRs in inpatients of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Potheri.Methods: A prospective spontaneous reporting was carried out in a tertiary care teaching hospital, Potheri for a period of eight months. The causality assessment of the reported ADRs was done using the Naranjo causality assessment scale. The severity of ADRs was classified as mild, moderate or severe according to the modified Hartwig and Siegel scale.Results: A total of 62 ADRs were reported with male preponderance (51.6%). Majority of ADRs was from General Medicine and General Surgical departments in which the most affected organ systems were the skin (69.4%) and the gastrointestinal system (8.1%). The most frequent drugs causing ADRs were antibiotics (53.2%) in which type B reactions were more compared to type A. The severity assessment showed that most of them were mild reactions (51.6%). Causality assessment revealed that 61.3% of the reactions were probable, possible (30.6%), definite (8.1%) and no reactions were unlikely.Conclusions: The study accomplished that ADRs are widespread and a few of them raised the healthcare expenditure due to the increased hospital stay. The reporting of ADRs to regional pharmacovigilance centres should be encouraged to ensure drug safety

Study of adverse drug reactions in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are the recognized dangers of drug treatment and can arise with several groups of drugs. The purpose of this study was to identify and assess ADRs in inpatients of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Potheri.Methods: A prospective spontaneous reporting was carried out in a tertiary care teaching hospital, Potheri for a period of eight months. The causality assessment of the reported ADRs was done using the Naranjo causality assessment scale. The severity of ADRs was classified as mild, moderate or severe according to the modified Hartwig and Siegel scale.Results: A total of 62 ADRs were reported with male preponderance (51.6%). Majority of ADRs was from General Medicine and General Surgical departments in which the most affected organ systems were the skin (69.4%) and the gastrointestinal system (8.1%). The most frequent drugs causing ADRs were antibiotics (53.2%) in which type B reactions were more compared to type A. The severity assessment showed that most of them were mild reactions (51.6%). Causality assessment revealed that 61.3% of the reactions were probable, possible (30.6%), definite (8.1%) and no reactions were unlikely.Conclusions: The study accomplished that ADRs are widespread and a few of them raised the healthcare expenditure due to the increased hospital stay. The reporting of ADRs to regional pharmacovigilance centres should be encouraged to ensure drug safety

Prospective Comparison of Geriatric Assessment and Provider\u27s Assessment of Older Adults With Metastatic Breast Cancer in the Community

Background: Geriatric assessment (GA) is recommended for evaluating fitness of an older adult with cancer. Our objective was to prospectively evaluate the gaps that exist in the assessment of older adults with metastatic breast cancer (OA-MBC) in community practices (CP). Methods: Self-administered GA was compared to provider\u27s assessment (PA) of patients living with MBC aged ≥65 years treated in CP Providers were blinded to the GA results until PA was completed. McNemar\u27s test was used to detect differences between PA and GA. Results: One hundred patients were enrolled across 9 CP (median age 73.9). Geriatric assessment detected a total of 356 abnormalities in 96 patients; of which, 223 required interventions. African American and widowed/single patients were more likely to have abnormalities identified by GA. On average, across 100 patients, PA did not detect 25.5% of GA-detected abnormalities, mostly in functional status, social support, nutrition, and cognition. These differences were less pronounced among providers with more clinical experience. Patients with abnormal Timed Up and Go tests more likely had additional abnormalities in other domains, and more abnormalities that were not identified by PA. Providers were surprised by GA results in 33% of cases, mainly with cognitive or social support findings, and reported plans for management change for 39% of patients based on GA findings. Conclusions: Including a GA in the care of OA-MBC in CP is beneficial for the detection of multiple abnormalities not detected by routine PA

Population Risk Factors for Severe Disease and Mortality in COVID-19 in the United States during the Pre-Vaccine Era: A Retrospective Cohort Study of National Inpatient Sample

Background-Previous studies on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were limited to specific geographical locations and small sample sizes. Therefore, we used the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) 2020 database to determine the risk factors for severe outcomes and mortality in COVID-19. Methods-We included adult patients with COVID-19. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was performed to determine the predictors of severe outcomes and mortality in COVID-19. Results-1,608,980 (95% CI 1,570,803–1,647,156) hospitalizations with COVID-19 were included. Severe complications occurred in 78.3% of COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and 25% of COVID-19 pneumonia patients. The mortality rate for COVID-19 ARDS was 54% and for COVID-19 pneumonia was 16.6%. On multivariate analysis, age > 65 years, male sex, government insurance or no insurance, residence in low-income areas, non-white races, stroke, chronic kidney disease, heart failure, malnutrition, primary immunodeficiency, long-term steroid/immunomodulatory use, complicated diabetes mellitus, and liver disease were associated with COVID-19 related complications and mortality. Cardiac arrest, septic shock, and intubation had the highest odds of mortality. Conclusions-Socioeconomic disparities and medical comorbidities were significant determinants of mortality in the US in the pre-vaccine era. Therefore, aggressive vaccination of high-risk patients and healthcare policies to address socioeconomic disparities are necessary to reduce death rates in future pandemics

Overall survival in the OlympiA phase III trial of adjuvant olaparib in patients with germline pathogenic variants in BRCA1/2 and high-risk, early breast cancer

International audienc