Continuing medical and student education in dermatology during the coronavirus pandemic - a major challenge.

Continuing medical education (CME) is the essential basis for student teaching and for training and further development of physicians. Without it, modern and adequate patient care is unthinkable. Recently, the coronavirus pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV2), forced the entire medical community to change its usual habits of advanced medical training, teaching and learning. As a result, digital training and teaching via social media, online medical encyclopedias, web-based learning platforms and educational podcasts moved to the fore. Here, we give an overview on current concepts for online medical education, with special consideration of dermatology.

Kontinuierliche medizinische Fortbildung in der Dermatologie für Ärzte und Studierende während der Coronavirus­Pandemie ­ eine große Herausforderung.

Kontinuierliche medizinische Fortbildung (Continuing Medical Education, CME) ist die wesentliche Grundlage der studentischen Lehre sowie der Aus- und Weiterbildung von Ärzten. Eine moderne und adäquate Patientenversorgung ist ohne sie nicht denkbar. Vor kurzem zwang die durch das schwere akute respiratorische Syndrom-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) verursachte Pandemie die gesamte medizinische Gemeinschaft, ihre Gewohnheiten bezüglich der medizinischen Fortbildung und Lehre sowie des Lernens in der Medizin zu ändern. Infolgedessen rückten über soziale Medien (Social Media) verbreitete digitale Aus-, Fortbildungs- und Lehrformate, medizinische Online-Enzyklopädien, webbasierte medizinische Lernportale und medizinische Podcasts in den Vordergrund. In diesem Beitrag geben wir einen Überblick zu aktuelle Konzepten in der medizinischen Online-Fortbildung, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Dermatologie.

Occurrence of Malignant Tumours in the Acute Hepatic Porphyrias.

The porphyrias are a group of inherited metabolic diseases resulting from enzymatic deficiencies of specific haem biosynthetic enzymes. They can be classified as primarily acute and non-acute types. Clinically, the acute hepatic porphyrias (AHPs) are characterised by acute neurovisceral attacks. Patients with AHP may be at increased risk for development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, systematic studies on the occurrence of other malignancies in patients with the AHPs have not been performed to date. Here, we studied the development of HCC and distinct malignant tumours in patients with the AHPs registered in a single European porphyria specialist centre. A questionnaire was designed and sent to all individuals (n = 122) diagnosed between 1970 and 2012 of whom a valid address was available (n = 82), requesting information on their personal and family history of cancer. Statistical analysis was performed to calculate incidence, prevalence and relative risk of HCC. To calculate confidence intervals, a Poisson distribution was assumed. Forty-nine patients (59.8%) returned a completed questionnaire. Overall, HCC was diagnosed in one female (2.1%), and the remaining patients reported on six distinct malignancies. We were able to confirm that HCC is an important complication in AHP. The patients in our cohort had an approximately 35-fold increased risk of developing HCC, similar to observations in other European countries. In addition, we detected colon, breast, uterine and thyroid cancer as well as lymphoma and a liver metastasis in patients with AHP. However, considering the small number of tumours and patients studied here, the data should be interpreted with caution, and further studies on cancer occurrence in AHP patients will require a multicentre setting.