Polskie Archiwum Medycyny Wewnętrznej
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Pol. Arch. Med. Wewn. · Jun 2020
The clinical value of routine analysis of cardiac implantable electronic devices after death in the tertiary cardiovascular centre.
The postmortem interrogation of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) has not been regularly practiced yet. We presumed that it can provide data not only on the mechanism of the patient's death but also on possible device malfunctions contributing to its occurrence. ⋯ To our knowledge, this is the first study to date to combine the clinical follow‑up of patients before death and on admission at the end of life, autopsy results, and postmortem CIED interrogation. Having implemented the device interrogation, we found 6 CIED‑related events potentially associated with patients' death, which were not detected before its occurrence.
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Pol. Arch. Med. Wewn. · Jun 2020
Diagnostic role of chest computed tomography in coronavirus disease 2019.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‑19) is an infectious disease caused by a novel strain of coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), that appeared in China in December 2019 and spread globally, evolving into the currently observed pandemic. The laboratory diagnosis of SARS‑CoV‑2 infection is currently based on real‑time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT‑PCR) testing, and imaging cannot replace genetic testing in patients with suspected COVID‑19. ⋯ In these settings, a rapid presumptive diagnosis of COVID‑19 potentially offered by CT might be an advantage, in addition to obvious benefits of delineating the nature and extent of pulmonary lesions. In the present paper, we reviewed the diagnostic role of chest CT in patients with COVID‑19.