Medical principles and practice : international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre
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Meta Analysis
Meta-Analysis of the Diagnostic Accuracy of Primary Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcomas by 18F-FDG-PET.
The goal of this meta-analysis was to assess the use of FDG-PET in the diagnosis of primary bone and soft tissue sarcomas. ⋯ Our findings indicate FDG-PET can efficiently differentiate between benign and malignant bone and soft tissue tumors. We also found that FDG-PET improves accuracy in diagnosing soft tissue sarcomas when combined with CT.
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The problem of high systolic blood pressure (sBP) combined with low diastolic blood pressure (dBP) requires attention because sBP is directly and continuously related to the most important criterion, i.e., all-cause mortality, whereas dBP becomes inversely related to it after the age of 50-60 years. The European Society of Cardiology and European Society of -Hypertension (ESC/ESH) 2018 guidelines for hypertension (HTN) are helpful because they recommend a lower safety cut-off for in-treatment dBP. To prevent tissue hypoperfusion, these guidelines recommend that dBP should be ≥70 mm Hg during treatment. ⋯ The dilemma about whether or not to treat isolated systolic hypertension (SH) patients with low dBP (<70 mm Hg) is evident from the fact that almost half (45%) remain untreated. This is a common occurrence and identifying this problem is the first step to solving it. We suggest that an adequate search and analysis should be performed, starting from the exploration of the prognosis of the isolated (I)SH subset of patients with a very low dBP (<70 mm Hg) at the beginning of already performed randomized clinical trials.
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Meta Analysis
Epstein-Barr Virus Infection and Increased Sporadic Breast Carcinoma Risk: A Meta-Analysis.
An association of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection with breast carcinoma (BC) risk has so far been disputed in the literature. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to clarify this relationship. ⋯ The current results suggest that EBV infection is significantly associated with increased risk of BC.
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Multicenter Study
Precipitating Factors for Hospitalization with Heart Failure: Prevalence and Clinical Impact Observations from the Gulf CARE (Gulf aCute heArt failuRe rEgistry).
Despite the expanding burden of heart failure (HF) worldwide, data on HF precipitating factors (PFs) in developing countries, particularly the Middle East, are very limited. We examined PFs in patients hospitalized with acute HF in a prospective multicenter HF registry from 7 countries in the Middle East. ⋯ Preventive and therapeutic interventions specifically directed at noncompliance with medications and ACS are warranted in our region.
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Multicenter Study
Abnormal Dispersion of Ventricular Repolarization as a Risk Factor in Patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus: Tp-e interval, Tp-e/QTc ratio.
In recent years, there has been worldwide recognition of the problems associated with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The prevalence of cardiovascular disease in the HIV-infected population is increasing. Repolarization abnormalities, the significant contributor to life-threatening arrhythmias and mortality, are the most frequent electrocardiographic changes in this population. This study aimed to evaluate the changes in Tp-e interval, Tp-e/QT and Tp-e/corrected QT (QTc) ratios, and traditional electrocardiographic features of electrical dispersion in adults infected with HIV. ⋯ Our study revealed that the cTp-e interval, Tp-e/QT and cTp-e/QT ratios were prolonged and correlated to the severity of the disease in HIV-infected patients. Our findings may shed light on the cTp-e interval and Tp-e/QTc ratio and lead to further studies showing a relationship with ventricular arrhythmias and mortality in HIV-infected individuals.