Cleveland Clinic journal of medicine
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Electrodiagnostic testing, consisting of nerve conduction studies and needle electrode examination, serves as an extension of a neurologic examination for evaluating a variety of focal and generalized neuromuscular conditions. By providing important clues on location, chronicity, severity, and pathophysiology, it can help to establish a diagnosis, evaluate the need for surgery, and assess patients who do not improve as expected after surgery.
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Concern for contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) or nephrogenic systemic fibrosis may lead to withholding important studies from patients with kidney disease. However, the actual risk or even the existence of these conditions has recently been called into question. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.
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Patients with immunocompromising conditions are at higher risk of vaccine-preventable infections. Further, those receiving immunosuppressive disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) can have variable responses to vaccines depending on which vaccine and which DMARD they are receiving.
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In COVID-19, respiratory infection with SARS-CoV-2 plus another virus (viral co-infection) or with SARS-CoV-2 plus a bacterial pathogen (combined viral and bacterial pneumonia) has been described. Secondary bacterial pneumonia can follow the initial phase of viral respiratory infection or occur during the recovery phase. No obvious pattern or guidelines exist for viral co-infection, combined viral and bacterial pneumonia, or secondary bacterial pneumonia in COVID-19. Based on existing clinical data and experience with similar viruses such as influenza and SARS-CoV, the management approach in COVID-19 should, ideally, take into consideration the overall presentation and the trajectory of illness.