Internal medicine journal
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Internal medicine journal · Mar 2024
Serum lipase in acute pancreatitis associated with hypertriglyceridaemia.
The incidence of hypertriglyceridaemic pancreatitis is increasing. Hypertriglyceridaemia may be associated with false lowering of serum amylase and lipase in vitro. ⋯ Serum lipase levels were in the normal range in two patients (7.7%) and less than three times the upper end of the reference interval in 11 individuals (42%). Awareness of the potential for normal and nonsignificantly elevated serum lipase levels in the setting of hypertriglyceridaemic pancreatitis is important to avoid a missed diagnosis, to enable appropriate short- and long-term management and to prevent recurrent episodes.
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Internal medicine journal · Mar 2024
A system for developing reasonable adjustments to the application of the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards for adult patients with intellectual disability in Australian hospital settings.
The Australian Commission of Safety and Quality in Health Care mandates the application of the eight National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards to minimise high-risk adverse events in hospital settings for all Australian patients. It acknowledges that adults with intellectual disability require reasonable adjustments to the application of the standards to optimise the impact of the quality and safety measures for this group. ⋯ Second, the adjustments are broken down into categories of alterations to usual knowledge, process, content and organisation involved in compliance with the chosen aspect of the standard. Third, the categories of reasonable adjustments are simultaneously influenced and shaped by aspects of living with intellectual disability, disability supports and a health-disability sectoral interface.
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Internal medicine journal · Mar 2024
ReviewImpact of the COVID-19 pandemic on provision of interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery services in Australia: a review of Medicare claims data.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly impacted healthcare service provision worldwide. There is limited information on changes in invasive cardiovascular services during the pandemic, particularly in Australia. ⋯ The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in reductions in the use of interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery services, with cardiac surgery most affected. However, an increase in uptake of transcatheter aortic valve implantation has been observed during the pandemic. This may have implications for future planning and resource allocation in the aftermath of the pandemic.
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Internal medicine journal · Mar 2024
The impact of coronavirus-19 vaccination on anti-nuclear cytoplasmic antibody vasculitis hospitalisations in a Sydney health network.
There have been reports of COVID-19 vaccination triggering anti-nuclear cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV), but no robust studies have examined the link. This retrospective cohort study assessed the impact of COVID vaccination on the rate of denovo and relapsed AAV in a Sydney Local Health District from 2018 to 2022. Despite more than 95% of the population receiving vaccination, the case rate of AAV was stable. These findings do not support a relationship between COVID vaccination and AAV.
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Internal medicine journal · Mar 2024
Case ReportsDRESS syndrome with multiorgan involvement and HHV-6 reactivation in the absence of a drug trigger.
Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) is a severe drug reaction where patients present with fever, morbilliform rash and multiorgan manifestations, which may include acute renal failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome and eosinophilic myocarditis. We present a case of a 60-year-old woman with acute heart failure, DRESS syndrome features and human herpesvirus 6 reactivation in the absence of a drug trigger. She was diagnosed with eosinophilic myocarditis and successfully treated with corticosteroid therapy.