RESUMEN
Central nervous system (CNS) actinomycosis is a rare, serious, life-threatening, suppurative infection caused by Actinomyces species. Actinomyces are anaerobic Gram-positive bacteria, which can be normally isolated from the polymicrobial flora of the gastrointestinal- and genital tracts. They are considered very low virulent bacteria to humans. However, they can lead to several types of local or disseminated infections, if certain pathologic states or immunodeficiency occur. Intracranial abscesses caused by Actinomyces meyeri are rarely reported in adults. In this case report, we describe a 66-year-old woman who presented to the emergency department due to progressive complaints of altered sensorium and low-grade fever, due to an A. meyeri-related brain abscess. The only risk factor was represented by immunodeficiency due to the therapy with Methotrexate and steroids.
RESUMEN
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), typically affects the respiratory system but can also present with neurological manifestations. Although some cases of hydrocephalus related to COVID-19 infection have been reported, a clear association between these two entities is not universally recognized yet. Here, we report another interesting case of hydrocephalus in a 60-year-old man with a previous aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage (aSAH) who tested positive for COVID-19. Secondly, we illustrate a systematic overview of the previously reported cases of hydrocephalus related to COVID-19 infection. Finally, in light of the literature, we discuss the supposed underlying mechanisms that could make the association between COVID-19 infection and hydrocephalus plausible.
RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: Age, preoperative creatinine value, and ejection fraction are easily arranged in the age, creatinine, ejection fraction score to predict operative mortality in elective cardiac operations, as recently shown. We validate the age, creatinine, ejection fraction score in a large multicentric study. METHODS: We analyzed 29,659 consecutive patients who underwent elective cardiac operations in 14 Italian institutions during the period from 2004 to 2009. The operative (30-day) mortality rate was recorded for the entire population and for subgroups of patients based on the risk distribution. The predicted mortality was assessed using the additive and logistic European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluations, and the age, creatinine, ejection fraction score. Accuracy and clinical performance of the different models were tested. RESULTS: The observed mortality rate was 2.77% (95% confidence interval, 2.59-2.96). The predicted mortality rate was 2.84% (95% confidence interval, 2.79-2.88) for the age, creatinine, ejection fraction score (not significantly different from the observed rate), 6.26% for the additive European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation, and 9.67% for the logistic European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (both significantly overestimated). For all deciles of risk distribution, the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation significantly overestimated mortality risk; the age, creatinine, ejection fraction score slightly overestimated the mortality risk in very low-risk patients and significantly underestimated the mortality risk in very high-risk patients, correctly estimating the risk in 7 of 10 deciles. The accuracy of the age, creatinine, ejection fraction score was acceptable (area under the curve of 0.702). In a separate analysis, this value increased to 0.74 by excluding centers that reported no operative mortality. These values were similar or worse for the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: The age, creatinine, ejection fraction score provides an accuracy level comparable to that of the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation, with far superior clinical performance.