Clinical and economic impact of extracardiac lesions on coronary CT angiography.

OBJECTIVE: When reporting coronary CT angiography (CCTA), extracardiac structures are routinely assessed, usually on a wide field-of-view (FOV) reconstruction. We performed a retrospective observational cross-sectional study to investigate the impact of incidental extracardiac abnormalities on resource utilisation and treatment, and cost-effectiveness. METHODS: All patients undergoing CCTA at a single institution between January 2012 and March 2020 were identified. The indication for CCTA was chest pain or dyspnoea in >90%. Patients with ≥1 significant extracardiac findings were selected. Clinical follow-up, investigations and treatment were documented, and costs were calculated. RESULTS: 4340 patients underwent CCTA; 717 extracardiac abnormalities were identified in 687 individuals (15.8%; age 62±12 years; male 336, 49%). The abnormality was already known in 162 (23.6%). Lung nodules and cysts were the most common abnormalities (296, 43.1%). Clinical and/or imaging follow-up was pursued in 292 patients (42.5%). Treatment was required by 14 patients (0.3% of the entire population), including lung resection for adenocarcinoma in six (0.1%). All but two abnormalities (both adenocarcinomas) were identifiable on the limited cardiac FOV. The cost of reporting (£20) and follow-up (£33) of extracardiac abnormalities was £53 per patient. The cost per discounted quality-adjusted life year was £23 930, increasing to £46 674 for reporting the wide FOV rather than the cardiac FOV alone. CONCLUSIONS: Extracardiac abnormalities are common on CCTA, but identification and follow-up are costly. The few requiring treatment are usually identifiable without review of the wide FOV. The way in which CCTAs are scrutinised for extracardiac abnormalities in a resource-limited healthcare system should be questioned.

Experiences, challenges and lessons learnt in medical staff redeployment during response to COVID-19.

Background: The response to the COVID-19 pandemic required redeployment of large numbers of staff to avoid acute services being overwhelmed. This unprecedented, previously unplanned redeployment occurred in a rapidly changing environment. This paper describes the process of redeployment at a teaching hospital and assessment of this by the redeployed doctors and redeployment team. Objective: Identify key lessons from the redeployment process to inform resilience and future planning for further COVID-19 peaks. Methods: Redeployment team experiences and challenges were documented in real time and formal structured feedback obtained. All redeployed doctors were asked for quantitative and qualitative feedback regarding their experiences in two distinct acute areas with different approaches to staffing. Results: 63 redeployed staff and five members of the redeployment team completed feedback questionnaires. Most redeployed doctors (76%) were satisfied and had adequate support and training. Redeployment was associated with self-reported stress and anxiety in 95% with 59% describing this as moderate or greater. This was reduced by adequate communication, supervision and a sense of belonging to a firm with access to simple information making a significant difference. Awareness of and satisfaction with well-being support services was also high (71%).The redeployment team identified having a well-mixed team who met daily, an online portal and engagement with leads as the key factors for being successful. Conclusion: Redeployment in response to COVID-19 was associated with reported stress and anxiety in most redeployed doctors. Communication, local induction and feeling valued and being part of a team helped reduce this.

Successful awake proning is associated with improved clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19: single-centre high-dependency unit experience.

The SARS-CoV-2 can lead to severe illness with COVID-19. Outcomes of patients requiring mechanical ventilation are poor. Awake proning in COVID-19 improves oxygenation, but on data clinical outcomes is limited. This single-centre retrospective study aimed to assess whether successful awake proning of patients with COVID-19, requiring respiratory support (continuous positive airways pressure (CPAP) or high-flow nasal oxygen (HFNO)) on a respiratory high-dependency unit (HDU), is associated with improved outcomes. HDU care included awake proning by respiratory physiotherapists. Of 565 patients admitted with COVID-19, 71 (12.6%) were managed on the respiratory HDU, with 48 of these (67.6%) requiring respiratory support. Patients managed with CPAP alone 22/48 (45.8%) were significantly less likely to die than patients who required transfer onto HFNO 26/48 (54.2%): CPAP mortality 36.4%; HFNO mortality 69.2%, (p=0.023); however, multivariate analysis demonstrated that increasing age and the inability to awake prone were the only independent predictors of COVID-19 mortality. The mortality of patients with COVID-19 requiring respiratory support is considerable. Data from our cohort managed on HDU show that CPAP and awake proning are possible in a selected population of COVID-19, and may be useful. Further prospective studies are required.

Reexpansion pulmonary edema following local anesthetic thoracoscopy: correlation and evolution of radiographic and ultrasonographic findings.

Local anesthetic (medical) thoracoscopy is used with increasing frequency by pulmonologists worldwide for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, notably in comorbid patients who may not be physiologically robust enough for general anesthesia. Understanding the complications that can arise and how to manage them is crucial for any physician performing this procedure. Reexpansion pulmonary edema is a rare but recognized complication of draining pleural effusions and pneumothoraces that has not been described previously in association with physician-led thoracoscopy. This case provides an opportunity for an overview of what is known about this unusual but potentially fatal condition. Data correlating ultrasonographic, radiographic, and clinical progression are also presented to highlight the potential usefulness of ultrasonography in identifying lung parenchymal abnormalities such as extravascular lung water.

ESX1-dependent fractalkine mediates chemotaxis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in humans.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis-induced cellular aggregation is essential for granuloma formation and may assist establishment and early spread of M. tuberculosis infection. The M. tuberculosis ESX1 mutant, which has a non-functional type VII secretion system, induced significantly less production of the host macrophage-derived chemokine fractalkine (CX3CL1). Upon infection of human macrophages ESX1-dependent fractalkine production mediated selective recruitment of CD11b+ monocytic cells and increased infection of neighbouring cells consistent with early local spread of infection. Fractalkine levels were raised in vivo at tuberculous disease sites in humans and were significantly associated with increased CD11b+ monocytic cellular recruitment and extent of granulomatous disease. These findings suggest a novel fractalkine-dependent ESX1-mediated mechanism in early tuberculous disease pathogenesis in humans. Modulation of M. tuberculosis-mediated fractalkine induction may represent a potential treatment option in the future, perhaps allowing us to switch off a key mechanism required by the pathogen to spread between cells.