Revista médica de Chile
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Revista médica de Chile · Jan 2015
Review Case Reports[Pneumomediastinum and cutaneous necrosis in dermatomyositis: Report of one case].
We report a 37 years old male with a dermatomyositis treated with oral cyclophosphamide. He was admitted to the hospital due to a zone of skin necrosis with purulent exudate, located in the second left toe. A complete blood count showed a leukocyte count of 2,600 cells/mm³. ⋯ Cyclophosphamide was discontinued and leukocyte count improved. The affected toe was amputated and a chest CAT scan showed a partial resolution of the pneumomediastinum. We discuss and review the pathogenesis, clinical presentation and management of pneumomediastinum and cutaneous necrosis in association with dermatomyositis.
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Breaking bad news is a complex task that requires multiple communication skills from health professionals. Clinical practice demands to communicate all type of bad news, from a diagnosis of cancer to adverse effects of a treatment. ⋯ We revise the consequences of breaking bad news for the patient and for the health care provider, as well as the current protocols available for this purpose. The importance of developing communication skills both for future health professionals as for those who currently work in the area is emphasized.
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Revista médica de Chile · Sep 2014
Review[Magnitude, impact and recommended management strategies for depression, with reference to Chile].
Depression is a global public health priority. Intervention strategies at different levels of care must be implemented. Research is needed in the areas of depression prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. This paper reports a literature review, focused in Chile, on the magnitude, impact, recommended management strategies and new research on depression.
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The leading cause of preventable death in trauma is uncontrolled bleeding. Some of these deaths may be secondary to the Acute Coagulopathy of Trauma, which is present in 30% of patients on admission to hospital. In recent years, Damage Control Resuscitation has been developed, which aims to give a hemostatic resuscitation and avoid deaths caused by bleeding. ⋯ Several studies have reported that early transfusion of all blood products, with a ratio close to 1:1, may be associated with lower mortality and less requirements of total transfusions in trauma patients at risk of massive bleeding and massive transfusion. These findings must be corroborated in randomized controlled trials, along with determining the optimum ratio between blood products. In stable patients, a restrictive transfusion strategy is safe and appropriate.
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Revista médica de Chile · May 2014
Review[The GRADE system: a change in the way of assessing the quality of evidence and the strength of recommendations].
Individual clinicians and organizations making health care decisions should not only consider the magnitude of the benefits and harms of different courses of action (interventions), but also the confidence we can have in those estimates. The Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach offers a systematic and transparent way to summarize the evidence, to rate the confidence we can have in the effects of the interventions and to move from evidence to recommendations. ⋯ In this paper we describe the core concepts of the GRADE approach to rate the quality of the evidence and to grade the strength of recommendations. As clinicians, being familiar with such concepts may be helpful to make decisions informed by the best available evidence.