Revista médica de Chile
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Revista médica de Chile · Nov 2021
Review[The social impact of physician-assisted death legalization].
The debate on legalization of physician-assisted death (PAD) has focused on its purely individual aspects, leaving aside equally relevant social dimensions such as a progressive expansion of PAD's causes, strains and changes in the doctor-patient relationship, and unreported PADs. The aim of this work was to explore these aspects through an analysis of the experience of Belgium and the Netherlands, countries where PAD is legal since 2002. The results, obtained through a systematic review of the literature, indicate that in both countries, the acceptance of the concept of "psychological suffering" allowed PAD to be performed in psychiatric patients, in persons with dementia and in older people with geriatric conditions. ⋯ Moreover, more than 30% of PADs are not reported. All this information was obtained from physicians not willing to incriminate themselves, after the commission of the PADs, therefore hampering the monitoring of law abiding. These results reveal the existence of a social impact of PAD decriminalization that deserves greater consideration and further studies.
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Revista médica de Chile · Nov 2021
[Features of patients admitted for COVID-19 at a regional hospital in the Chilean Araucania Region].
The Araucania region in Chile had the greatest COVID-19 incidence and lethality in Chile Aim: To describe the clinical characteristics and evolution of patients admitted for COVID-19 in a high complexity Hospital in the region of La Araucanía-Chile. ⋯ Symptoms such as cough, dyspnea and fever and specific biomarkers on admission were associated with a worse evolution of adult inpatients with COVID-19.
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Revista médica de Chile · Nov 2021
[The contribution of omic sciences for the management of cancer in Chile].
With or without a COVID19 pandemic, cancer is and will continue to be one of the greatest health challenges on the planet. In Chile, during 2016, this disease was the second cause of death in the country and during 2019, it was the first cause in seven Chilean regions, surpassing cardiovascular diseases. With the advent of precision medicine as a powerful tool for cancer control, it is necessary to have genomic, proteomic, and molecular data in general, ideally on a population scale. ⋯ In this work we put into perspective the role of precision medicine and omic sciences as essential tools for public health. We offer a brief national diagnosis of the knowledge collected to date by the local scientific community regarding onco-genomic data from our own population. We finally discuss the potential behind the strengthening of this scientific knowledge, aiming to optimize the comprehensive management of cancer.
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Revista médica de Chile · Nov 2021
[Comparative performance of urinary creatinine excretion estimating equations].
24-hour urine collection accuracy is generally evaluated based on the values of urine creatinine (UCr) excretion, usually using ranges adjusted by weight. UCr excretion depends on several factors. Equations to estimate UCr in 24-hour collection (UCr/24h) that consider these factors have been developed. However, these formulas have not been evaluated in a sample of Latinamerican origin. ⋯ Walser, Ix and Huidobro equations had the best performance to estimate UCr/24h excretion in a population of latinamerican origin.
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Revista médica de Chile · Nov 2021
[Features and evolution of patients with COVID-19 who required mechanical ventilation].
The overall mortality of patients with COVID-19 admitted to intensive care units is approximately 40%. ⋯ In this study mortality was lower than that reported in the first international studies, probably due to the selection of younger patients and greater knowledge of the disease.