Articles: cations.
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Abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) is hypothesized to lead to ischemic pain of the lower back. This retrospective study aims to identify the relationship between AAC and lower back pain (LBP) in patients with degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis. Lower back pain was assessed preoperatively and 2 years after surgery using the numeric analogue scale. ⋯ Both moderate and severe AAC were associated with reduced improvement in LBP after surgery (moderate AAC: OR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.22-0.85, P = 0.016; severe AAC: OR = 0.41, 95% CI: 0.2-0.82, P = 0.012). This study demonstrates an independent association between AAC and LBP and reduced improvement after surgery. Evaluation of AAC could play a role in patient education and might be considered part of the differential diagnosis for LBP, although further prospective studies are needed.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Feb 2024
ReviewDepth of Anesthesia and Nociception Monitoring: Current State and Vision For 2050.
Anesthesia objectives have evolved into combining hypnosis, amnesia, analgesia, paralysis, and suppression of the sympathetic autonomic nervous system. Technological improvements have led to new monitoring strategies, aimed at translating a qualitative physiological state into quantitative metrics, but the optimal strategies for depth of anesthesia (DoA) and analgesia monitoring continue to stimulate debate. Historically, DoA monitoring used patient's movement as a surrogate of awareness. ⋯ Generally, nociceptive monitors outperform basic clinical vital sign monitoring in reducing perioperative opioid use. This manuscript describes pupillometry, surgical pleth index, analgesia nociception index, and nociception level index, and suggest how future developments could impact their use. The final section of this review explores the profound implications of future monitoring technologies on anesthesiology practice and envisages 3 transformative scenarios: helping in creation of an optimal analgesic drug, the advent of bidirectional neuron-microelectronic interfaces, and the synergistic combination of hypnosis and virtual reality.
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Critical care medicine · Feb 2024
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Pneumonia in Critically Ill Patients: A Cluster Analysis According to Baseline Characteristics, Biological Features, and Chest CT Scan on Admission.
Inconsistent results from COVID-19 studies raise the issue of patient heterogeneity. ⋯ Three clusters with distinct characteristics and outcomes were identified. Such clusters could facilitate the identification of targeted populations for the next trials.
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The aim of this study was to determine the genuine prognostic relevance of primary tumor sidedness (PTS) in patients with early-stage colorectal cancer (CRC). ⋯ PTS had no impact on the risk of recurrence for stage II/III CRC. Treatment stratification based on PTS is unnecessary for early-stage CRC.
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Semin Respir Crit Care Med · Feb 2024
ReviewChronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis as a Considerable Complication in Post-Tuberculosis Lung Disease.
Post-tuberculosis lung disease (PTLD) has only recently been put in the spotlight as a medical entity. Recent data suggest that up to 50% of tuberculosis (TB) patients are left with PTLD-related impairment after completion of TB treatment. ⋯ Diagnosis of CPA is based on four criteria including a typical radiological pattern, evidence of Aspergillus species, exclusion of alternative diagnosis, and a chronic course of disease. In this manuscript, we provide a narrative review on CPA as a serious complication for patients with PTLD.