Utility of hospital frailty risk score in predicting postoperative outcomes of sinonasal malignancies.

KEY POINTS: Hospital frailty risk score (HFRS) correlates with complications, length of stay, and non-routine discharge. HFRS is a better predictor of postsurgical sequelae than age and Elixhauser comorbidity index.

Implications of COVID-19 in Airway and Swallowing Function.

Objective: The acute treatment and complications of the novel COVID-19 virus have been well studied, but the implications of this novel virus for swallowing function continue to be investigated. The goal of this study is to retrospectively assess airway and swallowing outcomes for those patients who required intensive care unit(ICU)-level care for COVID-19 infection. Study Design: Comparison of swallowing outcomes through diet change in COVID-19 patients in the Ochsner-Louisiana State University (LSU) Hospital ICU. Setting: Ochsner-LSU Hospital (Shreveport, Louisiana). Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed from March 2020 to May 2022 to identify patients with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19. Variables analyzed include age, gender, length of intubation, length of ventilation, airway interventions, use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and diet prior to, during, and after hospitalization for COVID-19 infection. Results: Two hundred and seven patients fit the inclusion criteria. There was a significant difference in discharge diet between those patients who were intubated and those who were not (P = .007). Thirty percent of patients were discharged on a different diet than their baseline with patients on a nonregular diet significantly more likely to discharge to a facility (P = .043). Negative vaccine status was associated with prolonged ICU stay, prolonged duration of intubation, and prolonged duration of ventilation. Conclusion: COVID-19 continues to present novel challenges with new implications and outcomes being discovered in the third year of the pandemic. Further research is necessary to determine the most effective treatment approaches with respect to optimized speech and swallow outcomes.

Successful Treatment of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis With Cryotherapy.

Leishmaniasis, a protozoal infection, is a growing health concern with 1.5 million new cases reported annually resulting in a wide spectrum of disease and clinical presentations. The disease is endemic in 98 countries with increasing prevalence in non-endemic areas. There are various treatment approaches that are often individualized based on host and parasite factors. Current treatment guidelines and data are variable and provide limited direction for specific treatment plans. Additionally, current recommended therapies are not benign, and are expensive and unavailable to most patients, especially in low-resource areas where leishmaniasis is most prevalent. Here, we report the diagnosis and successful treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in a 65-year-old male, who recently traveled to Mexico. Initial treatment with topical antifungals and oral antibiotics was ineffective. After successive treatment with local liquid nitrogen, the lesions completely resolved with no adverse effects or recurrence. Given there is limited evidence-based data supporting cryotherapy treatment as a first-line treatment, this report supports the efficacy of cryotherapy as a safe, cost-effective, and accessible treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Proton Pump Inhibitors, Kidney Damage, and Mortality: An Updated Narrative Review.

Since their approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1989, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) have become one of the most highly utilized drugs in the United States, assuming a position as one of the top 10 most prescribed medications in the country. The purpose of PPIs is to limit the amount of gastric acid secreted by the parietal cells via irreversible inhibition of the H+/K+-ATPase pump, therefore maintaining an elevated gastric acid pH of greater than 4 for 15-21 h. Even though PPIs have many clinical uses, they are not without their adverse effects, mimicking achlorhydria. Besides electrolyte abnormalities and vitamin deficiencies, long-term use of PPIs has been linked to acute interstitial nephritis, bone fractures, poor COVID-19 infection outcomes, pneumonia, and possibly an increase in all-cause mortality. The causality between PPI use and increased mortality and disease risk can be questioned since most studies are observational. Confounding variables can greatly affect an observational study and explain the wide-ranging associations with the use of PPIs. Patients on PPIs are generally older, obese, sicker with a higher number of baseline morbidities, and on more medications than the compared PPI non-users. These findings suggest that PPI users are at a higher risk of mortality and complications based on pre-existing conditions. This narrative review aims to update readers on the concerning effects that proton pump inhibitor use can have on patients and give providers a resource to create informed decisions on appropriate PPI use.

Helping Patients Understand Their Dizziness: Assessment of a Three-Dimensional Printed Vestibular Model.

To assess the improvement in patient understanding with use of a three-dimensional printed vestibular model as a teaching tool and to evaluate the effects of educational approach on dizziness-related disabilities. Single center randomized controlled trial set in the Otolaryngology ambulatory care clinic located at a tertiary care, teaching institution in Shreveport, Louisiana. Patients with a current or suspected diagnosis of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo who met inclusion criteria were randomized to either the three-dimensional model group or the control group. Each group received the same education session about dizziness, with the three-dimensional model being used as a visual aid in the experimental group. The control group received only verbal education. Outcome measures included patient understanding of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo etiology, comfort level with symptom prevention, anxiety related to vertigo symptoms, and how likely the patient was to recommend the teaching session to another individual suffering from vertigo. Pre-session and post-session surveys were administered to all patients to assess outcome measures. Eight patients were enrolled in the experimental group, and eight patients were enrolled in the control group. On post-survey data, the experimental group reported increased understanding of symptom etiology (p = 0.0289), increased comfort level with preventing symptoms (p = 0.2999), a larger decrease in symptom related anxiety (p = 0.0453) and were more likely to recommend the education session (p = 0.2807) compared to the control group. Three-dimensional printed vestibular model demonstrates promise for patient education and reducing related anxiety. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12070-022-03325-5.