Executive summary of the consensus document for the training and development of clinical ultrasound in Internal Medicine: Recommendations from the Clinical Ultrasound Working Group of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (GTECO-SEMI).

INTRODUCTION: Given the increasing adoption of clinical ultrasound in medicine, it is essential to standardize its application, training, and research. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: The purpose of this document is to provide consensus recommendations to address questions about the practice and operation of clinical ultrasound units. Nineteen experts and leaders from advanced clinical ultrasound units participated. A modified Delphi consensus method was used. RESULTS: A total of 137 consensus statements, based on evidence and expert opinion, were considered. The statements were distributed across 10 areas, and 99 recommendations achieved consensus. CONCLUSIONS: This consensus defines the most important aspects of clinical ultrasound in the field of Internal Medicine, with the aim of standardizing and promoting this healthcare advancement in its various aspects. The document has been prepared by the Clinical Ultrasound Working Group and endorsed by the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine.

A Dalbavancin for Successful Treatment of Infective Endocarditis Caused by Enterococcus faecalis.

Infective endocarditis is a relatively uncommon infection that requires a high index of suspicion, which can sometimes delay its diagnosis. It requires several weeks of intravenous antibiotics, which traditionally requires long hospital stays. Dalbavancin is a novel antibiotic with high activity against several Gram-positive pathogens. Its weekly administration allows the outpatient management of complicated infections requiring parenteral treatment, but only a few cases of Enterococcus faecalis endocarditis treated with dalbavancin have been reported in the literature. We here report a case of successful treatment with dalbavancin of an infectious endocarditis caused by E. faecalis. LEARNING POINTS: Infective endocarditis is a relatively uncommon infection that requires a high index of suspicion and its diagnosis can sometimes be challenging.Endovascular infections require long-term parenteral treatment, so outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy (OPAT) is an option for stable patients in order to avoid prolonged hospital stays.Dalbavancin is a novel antibiotic with high activity against Gram-positive pathogens and can be administered weekly.There is growing experience in the ambulatory treatment of Gram-positive cocci endovascular infections.

Does timing matter on tocilizumab administration? Clinical, analytical and radiological outcomes in COVID-19.

INTRODUCTION: While there are no pharmacological treatments with proven efficacy for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), tocilizumab has emerged as a candidate therapy. Some aspects of this therapy are still unknown, including the optimal timing of administration. OBJECTIVE: This observational study aimed to compare the 90-day mortality in two cohorts of patients when the drug was administered within the first 10 days from onset of symptoms or after day 11. METHODS: Patients hospitalised with severe COVID-19 pneumonia who had received tocilizumab were divided into two groups according to when the medication was administered. The primary outcome was 90-day mortality. Secondary outcomes were 30-day mortality, clinical improvement on a 6-item scale by day 6, biomarker improvement by day 6, radiological image improvement by day 10 and SaO2 quotient by day 6. The results in the two groups were compared. Additionally, adverse events relating to tocilizumab were recorded. RESULTS: A total of 112 patients were analysed. Both groups were epidemiologically comparable. The results obtained in the primary efficacy variable of the study (90-day mortality) showed a statistically significant difference in the subgroups according to the time of administration of tocilizumab (18.6% vs 5.0%, p=0.048). There was clinical improvement in 24.1% of patients at 6 days, with similar behaviour in both subgroups. No statistically significant differences were found in the percentage of patients who achieved radiological improvement at 10 days or in the other inflammatory parameters, with the exception of significant reductions in lactate dehydrogenase and C-reactive protein. Administration of tocilizumab was not associated with relevant adverse events. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first report of data regarding the timing of administration of tocilizumab in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. A strategy involving tocilizumab administration after 10 days from onset of symptoms may decrease mortality. Further randomised controlled trials are needed to confirm this emerging hypothesis.

Comparison of Lung Ultrasound versus Chest X-ray for Detection of Pulmonary Infiltrates in COVID-19.

Point-of-care lung ultrasound (LUS) is an attractive alternative to chest X-ray (CXR), but its diagnostic accuracy compared to CXR has not been well studied in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. We conducted a prospective observational study to assess the correlation between LUS and CXR findings in COVID-19 patients. Ninety-six patients with a clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 underwent an LUS exam and CXR upon presentation. Physicians blinded to the CXR findings performed all LUS exams. Detection of pulmonary infiltrates by CXR versus LUS was compared between patients categorized as suspected or confirmed COVID-19 based on reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Sensitivities and correlation by Kappa statistic were calculated between LUS and CXR. LUS detected pulmonary infiltrates more often than CXR in both suspected and confirmed COVID-19 subjects. The most common LUS abnormalities were discrete B-lines, confluent B-lines, and small subpleural consolidations. Most important, LUS detected unilateral or bilateral pulmonary infiltrates in 55% of subjects with a normal CXR. Substantial agreement was demonstrated between LUS and CXR for normal, unilateral or bilateral findings (Κ = 0.48 (95% CI 0.34 to 0.63)). In patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, LUS detected pulmonary infiltrates more often than CXR, including more than half of the patients with a normal CXR.

The Prognostic Value of Eosinophil Recovery in COVID-19: A Multicentre, Retrospective Cohort Study on Patients Hospitalised in Spanish Hospitals.

OBJECTIVES: A decrease in blood cell counts, especially lymphocytes and eosinophils, has been described in patients with serious Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but there is no knowledge of their potential role of the recovery in these patients' prognosis. This article aims to analyse the effect of blood cell depletion and blood cell recovery on mortality due to COVID-19. DESIGN: This work was a retrospective, multicentre cohort study of 9644 hospitalised patients with confirmed COVID-19 from the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine's SEMI-COVID-19 Registry. SETTING: This study examined patients hospitalised in 147 hospitals throughout Spain. PARTICIPANTS: This work analysed 9644 patients (57.12% male) out of a cohort of 12,826 patients ≥18 years of age hospitalised with COVID-19 in Spain included in the SEMI-COVID-19 Registry as of 29 May 2020. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome measure of this work is the effect of blood cell depletion and blood cell recovery on mortality due to COVID-19. Univariate analysis was performed to determine possible predictors of death, and then multivariate analysis was carried out to control for potential confounders. RESULTS: An increase in the eosinophil count on the seventh day of hospitalisation was associated with a better prognosis, including lower mortality rates (5.2% vs. 22.6% in non-recoverers, OR 0.234; 95% CI, 0.154 to 0.354) and lower complication rates, especially regarding the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (8% vs. 20.1%, p = 0.000) and ICU admission (5.4% vs. 10.8%, p = 0.000). Lymphocyte recovery was found to have no effect on prognosis. Treatment with inhaled or systemic glucocorticoids was not found to be a confounding factor. CONCLUSION: Eosinophil recovery in patients with COVID-19 who required hospitalisation had an independent prognostic value for all-cause mortality and a milder course.

Neuropsychiatric symptoms and intelligence quotient in autosomal dominant Segawa disease.

Segawa disease is a rare dystonia due to autosomal dominant guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase I (adGTPCH) deficiency, affecting dopamine and serotonin biosynthesis. Recently, the clinical phenotype was expanded to include psychiatric manifestations, such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and sleep disturbances. Although cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms may be attributable to dopamine deficiency in the prefrontal cortex and frontostriatal circuitry, intelligence is considered normal in Segawa disease. Our aim was to investigate neuropsychiatric symptoms and intelligence quotients (IQ) in a series of individuals with adGTPCH deficiency. The assessment included a structured clinical interview following the DSM-IV-TR's guidelines, Beck's Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Questionnaire, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11), the Oviedo Sleep Questionnaire, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition. Equivalent tests were applied to pediatric patients as appropriate for their age group. Fourteen patients with adGTPCH deficiency were evaluated (seven adult and seven pediatric patients). Depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms were not more common than expected in the general population. However, the seven adults showed impulsivity in the BIS-11; nine individuals had an IQ in the range of borderline intellectual functioning to mild mental retardation, and sleep disturbances were found in four individuals. We found no differences between these results and the motor impairment. In conclusion, our findings would suggest that cognitive impairment, and impulsivity in adults, may be associated with Segawa disease.

Segawa syndrome due to mutation Q89X in the GCH1 gene: a possible founder effect in Córdoba (southern Spain).

Autosomal dominant guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase I deficiency is an inborn error of neurotransmitter metabolism, with a prevalence of 0.5 per million, caused by mutations/deletions in the GCH1 gene. The finding of the mutation Q89X in the GCH1 gene in 23 patients from two pedigrees in an area inhabited by a population of 800,000 prompted us to consider that our cohort may have descended from a single founder. Twelve Q89X mutation-positive cases belonging to two families and 100 unrelated control subjects from the same geographical region were studied. Six microsatellite markers located near GCH1 were analyzed to validate a possible mutation-related founder haplotype. Haplotype analysis revealed two different haplotypes for six microsatellite markers that segregated with the Q89X mutation. A common haplotype in 10 out of 12 mutation carriers studied was identified. Two subjects carried a second haplotype, most probably because of a recombination event. However, at least 186 different haplotypes were established in the control subjects. In contrast with the frequencies of 83.3% and 16.7%, respectively, found for both mutation-segregating haplotypes, the frequency of none of the control haplotypes exceeded 1.5%. Dystonia was the most frequent symptom in our series, and parkinsonism was present in five patients. The large number of Q89X mutation carriers in our community is because of a founder effect. The same mutation in GCH1 causes a wide phenotypic spectrum of clinical variability occurring in this population of affected patients.