Swiss medical weekly
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Swiss medical weekly · Jan 2017
Role of liver magnetic resonance imaging in hyperferritinaemia and the diagnosis of iron overload.
Hyperferritinaemia is a frequent clinical problem. Elevated serum ferritin levels can be detected in different genetic and acquired diseases and can occur with or without anaemia. It is therefore important to determine whether hyperferritinaemia is due to iron overload or due to a secondary cause. ⋯ Signal intensity ratio may be a good adjunct to R2 and R2* methods as it allows easy visual estimation of the liver iron concentration. In this review a group of Swiss haematologists and radiologists give an overview of different conditions leading to primary or secondary iron overload and on diagnostic methods to assess hyperferritinaemia with a focus on the role of liver MRI. They summarise the standard practice in Switzerland on the use of liver iron concentration MRI as well as disease-specific guideline recommendations.
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Swiss medical weekly · Jan 2017
Minimally invasive extracorporeal circulation: excellent outcome and life expectancy after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery.
Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) remains the gold standard for complex revascularisation in multivessel disease. The concept of the minimally invasive extracorporeal circulation circuit (MiECC) was introduced to minimise pathophysiological side effects of conventional extracorporeal circulation. This study presents early and long-term outcomes after CABG with use of MiECC in a single-centre consecutive patient cohort. ⋯ CABG with use of MiECC is associated with a mortality rate comparable to the overall life expectancy of the general population. MiECC is the first choice for routine and emergency CABG at our centre with a 30-day mortality rate of 0.8% and a low complication rate.
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Swiss medical weekly · Jan 2017
Glycaemic, blood pressure and lipid goal attainment and chronic kidney disease stage of type 2 diabetic patients treated in primary care practices.
The prevalence of chronic kidney disease and diabetes is rising in Europe. These patients are at high cardiovascular and renal risk and need a challenging multifactorial therapeutic approach. ⋯ This cross-sectional study demonstrates that blood pressure and lipid goals are less often achieved than blood glucose control in type 2 diabetic patients followed up by primary care physicians in Switzerland. Goal attainments for HbA1c and LDL-c were not influenced by chronic kidney disease stages, in contrast to blood pressure. Reaching all three goals was rare (2.2%). There is a need for improvement in blood pressure control in advanced chronic kidney disease, whereas HbA1c goals may be loosened in the elderly and in advanced chronic kidney disease.
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Swiss medical weekly · Jan 2017
Informal caregiving, work-privacy conflict and burnout among health professionals in Switzerland - a cross-sectional study.
Health professionals were found to have an elevated burnout risk compared to the general population. Some studies also reported more emotional exhaustion - a component of burnout - for health professionals with informal caregiving responsibilities for children (double-duty child caregivers) or adults (double-duty adult caregivers) or a combination of both (triple-duty caregivers) compared to health professionals without informal caregiving roles (formal caregivers). However, the potential mediating effect of the work-privacy conflict in this relationship as well as differences between occupational groups have not yet been studied in healthcare settings. ⋯ Additional and large-scale studies focusing on the combination of formal and informal caregiving roles are needed to better understand its effect on burnout among healthcare professionals and to evaluate the role of work-privacy conflict.
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Swiss medical weekly · Jan 2017
Oncological patients in the intensive care unit: prognosis, decision-making, therapies and end-of-life care.
The effectiveness of intensive care unit (ICU) care for cancer patients remains controversial. Advances in antitumour and supportive care led to major improvements in outcomes of oncological patients in the ICU. Improved cancer therapies and supportive management of organ dysfunctions have contributed to improved survival rates. ⋯ Establishment of clear goals and approach to admit and treatment for oncological patients in the ICU are however urgently needed. This requires further prospective studies for independent validation in different medical settings and identifying prognostic tools that can aid with decision-making and patient selection for ICU. Cancer should not be seen as an exclusion criterion and priority should be given to assure the quality of life of oncological patients.