Liver function as a predictor of mortality in COVID-19: A retrospective study.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: In many studies, varying degrees of liver damage have been reported in more than half of the COVID-19 patients. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of liver biochemical parameters abnormality on mortality in critical COVID-19 patients who have been followed in the ICU since the beginning of the pandemic process. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study 533 critical patients who admitted to the ICU due to COVID-19 were included. The patients were divided into three groups according to their ALT, AST, and total bilirubin levels at their admission to the ICU. Group 1 was formed of patients with normal liver biochemical parameters values; Group 2 was formed of patients with liver biochemical parameters abnormality; Group 3 was formed of patients with liver injury. RESULTS: 353 (66.2%) of all patients died. Neutrophil, aPTT, CRP, LDH, CK, ALT, AST, bilirubin, procalcitonin and ferritin values in Group 2 and Group 3 were found to be statistically significantly higher than Group 1. It was detected that the days of stay in ICU of the patients in Group 1 was statistically significantly longer than others group. It was found that the patients in Groups 2 and 3 had higher total, 7-day, and 28-day mortality rates than expected. CONCLUSIONS: The study showed that liver disfunction was associated with higher mortality and shorter ICU occupation time.

Effects of Adding a Combined Infraorbital and Infratrochlear Nerve Block to General Anaesthesia in Septorhinoplasty.

PURPOSE: In this study, we evaluated the hypothesis that preoperative bilateral infraoptic nerve (ION) and infratrochlear nerve (ITN) blocks under general anesthesia with sevoflurane and remifentanil reduced the incidence of emergence agitation (EA), pain scores, and the analgesic consumption after the septorhinoplasty. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Our study was conducted as a prospective randomized, double-sided blind study. Fifty-two patients whose septorhinoplasty operation was planned under general anesthesia were included in the study. Patients were randomly distributed to either the ION and ITN blocks were performed. Group 1: Bilateral ION and ITN blocks were performed; Group 2: ION and ITN blocks were not performed. Duration of the surgery and anesthesia, Riker Sedation-Agitation Scale (RSAS) score, EA presence, duration of postoperative analgesia, numerical rating scale (NRS) scores, and cumulative dexketoprofen consumption were recorded. RESULTS: The RSAS score, NRS score and cumulative dexketoprofen consumption of the patients in Group 1 were statistically significantly lower than the patients in Group 2 (p<0.05). It was also found that patients in Group 1 (n: 8/26) had less EA compared to patients in Group 2 (n: 16/26) and this difference was statistically significant (p: 0.026). Postoperative analgesia duration of patients in Group 1 was found to be statistically significantly higher than patients in Group 2 (p: <0.001). In addition, the number of patients given postoperative dexketoprofen in Group 1 (n: 8/26) was found to be statistically significantly lower than patients in Group 2 (n: 25/26). (p: <0.001). CONCLUSION: Bilateral ION and ITN blocks in septorhinoplasty operation is an effective, reliable and simple technique in the treatment of postoperative pain.