Irish journal of medical science
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Early cardiac death is more common in patients with Crohn's disease (CD) than in healthy adults, but the exact cause is unknown. ⋯ This study suggests visually undetectable myocardial involvement due to chronic systemic inflammation in patients with Crohn's disease. Cardiac MRI can help assess and monitor cardiac involvement in patients with CD.
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Reactivation of herpes family viruses in immunocompromised patients may result in detrimental outcomes for the hosts; therefore, herpes simplex virus-1 and varicella zoster virus infections in the context of COVID-19 may have clinical and prognostic implications. Several reports associated this human herpes virus with COVID-19 infection and have claimed that it can be an indicator for latent COVID-19 infection. However, since most of these were case reports, it is impossible to assess the prevalence of these associations. ⋯ Herpes simplex-1 and varicella zoster viruses are strongly associated with COVID-19 infection.
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Callispheres® microspheres (CSM) are the first drug-eluting bead (DEB) product developed in China; meanwhile, DEB-transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with CSM is effective and safe in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. However, the data regarding the role of irinotecan-eluting beads-TACE (DEBIRI-TACE) using CSM for colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRLM) treatment is limited. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of DEBIRI-TACE using CSM in the patients with unresectable CRLM. ⋯ DEBIRI-TACE with CSM achieves high treatment response, acceptable survival benefits, and good toleration in unresectable CRLM treatment.
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Tokyo guidelines (TG13/18) are used for the severity assessment of acute cholangitis (AC). Lactate is a clinical marker of tissue hypoxia and disease severity, independent from blood pressure. ⋯ The blood lactate level is associated with the severity of AC. In addition to TG13/18 guidelines, blood lactate level can be a useful biomarker in the severity grading of AC.
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Elderly patients are at increased risk of developing acute kidney injury (AKI) following major surgery and rapid diagnosis is essential. ⋯ Plasma NGAL levels seem to represent an early and reliable marker for AKI in elderly patients undergoing laparotomic surgery with the potential to allow early diagnosis and prevent further renal deterioration. Further confirmatory studies are warranted.