Internal medicine journal
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Older patients with hypertension are at a higher risk of cardiovascular events compared to younger adults but are also more vulnerable to the adverse effects of blood pressure (BP) lowering. Frailty is an important predictor of vulnerability to such adverse events, and age alone may not best reflect underlying risk. Therefore, an individualised approach to management of hypertension in the older person is required. ⋯ Management needs to be holistic and take account of the older person's care needs, wishes and priorities. This review describes physiological considerations and current guidelines and best practices regarding BP lowering in older people and highlights areas with paucity of evidence. A proposed and testable approach to managing hypertension in the older person (≥70 years) is discussed.
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Internal medicine journal · Nov 2022
COVID vaccination can be performed in patients with a history of allergic reactions to the vaccines or their components: experience from a specialist clinic in South Australia.
The development of vaccines against SARS-CoV2 has been a key public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, since their introduction, there have been reports of anaphylactic reactions to vaccines in individuals with history of allergic reactions to other vaccines, excipients or to COVID vaccines. ⋯ Even in a high-risk population, most patients can be vaccinated with available COVID-19 vaccines. This paper reports local experiences using a combined allergy testing protocol with skin testing and BAT during the pandemic.
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Internal medicine journal · Nov 2022
Analysing Triggers for Anti-NMDA-Receptor Encephalitis Including Herpes Simplex Virus Encephalitis and Ovarian Teratoma: Results from the Queensland Autoimmune Encephalitis Cohort.
Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate-receptor (anti-NMDA-R) encephalitis is a complex autoimmune neuropsychiatric syndrome. Although initially associated with ovarian teratoma, subsequent studies have demonstrated that anti-NMDA-R encephalitis may occur without an identifiable cause or be triggered by viral infection of the central nervous system such as herpes simplex virus encephalitis (HSVE). ⋯ In this cohort, the number of cases of anti-NMDA-R encephalitis triggered by HSVE is comparable to those triggered by ovarian teratoma. However, the majority of cases of anti-NMDA-R encephalitis had no identifiable trigger or associated disease process.
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Internal medicine journal · Nov 2022
The quest to reduce stroke treatment delays at a Melbourne metropolitan primary stroke centre over the past two decades.
Reducing door-to-needle time (DNT) for intravenous thrombolysis in acute ischaemic stroke can lead to improved patient outcomes. Long-term reports on DNT trends in Australia are lacking in the setting of extension of the thrombolysis time window, addition of mechanical thrombectomy and increasing presentations. ⋯ Targeted quality improvement initiatives are key to reducing thrombolysis treatment delays in the Australian metropolitan setting. Relative stagnation in DNT improvement is concerning and needs further investigation.