Successful Use of Percutaneous Dissolvable Sutures During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Retrospective Review.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has had dramatic effects on all fields of medicine, including an effort to limit in-person visits. Within dermatologic surgery, one strategy is to close surgical incisions using percutaneous absorbable sutures. To the authors' knowledge, there are no large studies comparing changes in suture preferences and subsequent outcomes during the pandemic. OBJECTIVE: To assess changes in suture preference and frequency of post-operative complications for percutaneous absorbable and non-absorbable sutures during the pandemic. METHODS: A retrospective review of 1358 Mohs surgeries completed at the Cleveland Clinic during a 2-month period prior to COVID-19 and a matched 2-month period during the pandemic. RESULTS: Sutures were used to close 1103 cases. Significantly more closures were performed with percutaneous absorbable sutures during COVID-19 (87.6%, 39.6%; P < .0001). There was no significant difference in the frequency of post-operative complications between suture materials (P = .48). The use of absorbable sutures were associated with a significantly higher frequency of suture hypersensitivity reaction (P = .020) but significantly lower frequency of infection (P = .021) and wound dehiscence (P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Suture preference shifted towards absorbable sutures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Percutaneous absorbable sutures offered a formidable alternative to non-absorbable sutures and could reduce in-person follow-up visits without increasing post-operative complications.

Retinal artery occlusion does not portend an increased risk of stroke.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the subsequent risk of stroke after a diagnosis of retinal artery occlusion (RAO). We hypothesized that the risk would be low and comparable to that of the general population. RAO is relatively rare and often incorrectly diagnosed. We believe our institution is in a unique position to investigate this relationship with both a high-volume eye center and vascular laboratory. METHODS: This was a retrospective, single-institution review of 221 patients diagnosed with RAO from 2004 to 2018, confirmed with fluorescein angiography. Demographics, comorbidities, imaging of the carotid arteries, and prospective events, such as stroke, myocardial infarction (MI), and death, were recorded. Time to first stroke, first MI, and death was estimated using Kaplan-Meier estimation separately and as a composite end point. RESULTS: There were 221 patients identified with a confirmed diagnosis of RAO. The mean age in the cohort was 66.1 years; 53% of patients were male, and 29% were diabetic. Median length of follow-up was 2.2 years. Five patients (2.3%) had a documented stroke; four of the five strokes occurred at the time of RAO, with one that was contralateral occurring at 1.2 years. There were eight MIs (3.6%) in the cohort, two of which resulted in death. Twenty-two patients (10%) experienced a stroke, MI, or death. There were 141 (63.8%) patients who had carotid imaging performed, of whom 20 (14.2%) were found to have >50% stenosis. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of stroke in patients with confirmed RAO was 2.3%; however, excluding concurrent ischemic events, the risk was <1%. The incidence of carotid artery stenosis >50% was 14.2%. The authors conclude that the risk of stroke after confirmed RAO is lower than previously reported and comparable to prior population-based studies of all at-risk adults.

Abnormal thrombosis and neutrophil activation increase hospital-acquired sacral pressure injuries and morbidity in COVID-19 patients.

Hospitalized patients have an increased risk of developing hospital-acquired sacral pressure injury (HASPI). However, it is unknown whether SARS-CoV-2 infection affects HASPI development. To explore the role of SARS-CoV-2 infection in HASPI development, we conducted a single institution, multi-hospital, retrospective study of all patients hospitalized for ≥5 days from March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020. Patient demographics, hospitalization information, ulcer characteristics, and 30-day-related morbidity were collected for all patients with HASPIs, and intact skin was collected from HASPI borders in a patient subset. We determined the incidence, disease course, and short-term morbidity of HASPIs in COVID-19(+) patients, and characterized the skin histopathology and tissue gene signatures associated with HASPIs in COVID-19 disease. COVID-19(+) patients had a 63% increased HASPI incidence rate, HASPIs of more severe ulcer stage (OR 2.0, p<0.001), and HASPIs more likely to require debridement (OR 3.1, p=0.04) compared to COVID-19(-) patients. Furthermore, COVID-19(+) patients with HASPIs had 2.2x increased odds of a more severe hospitalization course compared to COVID-19(+) patients without HASPIs. HASPI skin histology from COVID-19(+) patients predominantly showed thrombotic vasculopathy, with the number of thrombosed vessels being significantly greater than HASPIs from COVID-19(-) patients. Transcriptional signatures of a COVID-19(+) sample subset were enriched for innate immune responses, thrombosis, and neutrophil activation genes. Overall, our results suggest that immunologic dysregulation secondary to SARS-CoV-2 infection, including neutrophil dysfunction and abnormal thrombosis, may play a pathogenic role in development of HASPIs in patients with severe COVID-19.