Optic Nerve Sheath Diameter Detects Intracranial Hypertension in Acute Malignant Middle Cerebral Artery Infarction.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate optic nerve sheath diameter in the acute phase of patients with malignant ischemic middle cerebral artery stroke submitted or not to decompressive craniectomy surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty patients participated in the study and were evaluated bilaterally by ultrasound on admission and at 24h, 48h and 72 h after admission. Optic nerve sheath diameter values were correlated with tomographic and/or clinical criteria compatible with severe intracranial hypertension. RESULTS: A Receiver Operating Characteristic curve was drawn for each eye, determining a cut-off value for severe intracranial hypertension in the right eye of 5.4 mm (sensitivity: 62%; specificity: 100%; AUC: 0.82) and in the left eye 5.4 mm (sensitivity: 76%; specificity: 84%; AUC: 0.77). In patients undergoing craniectomy, there was a decrease in the mean value of 1.04mm in the right eye (pre: 5.84 ± 0.47 mm; post: 4.80 ± 0.84 mm; p = 0.001), while in the left, it decreased around 0.86mm (pre: 5.59 ± 0.69 mm; post: 4.73 ± 0.74 mm; p = 0.003). Patients with fatal outcome showed a persistent high mean ocular nerve sheath diameter. CONCLUSIONS: Monitoring optic nerve sheath by ultrasound can be considered a reliable method for identifying severe intracranial hypertension in patients with large vessel occlusion, as well as for monitoring patients undergoing craniectomy. Additional studies will be necessary to include this parameter in craniectomy indication algorithms in the future.

Enteral nutritional support for patients hospitalized with COVID-19: Results from the first wave in a public hospital.

OBJECTIVES: Nutrition has become an important component in treating individuals during the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which is increasingly affecting the world population and causing a collapse in health services. Prolonged hospitalization, including immobilization and catabolism, induces a decrease in body weight and muscle mass that may result in sarcopenia, a condition that impairs respiratory and cardiac function and worsens the prognosis. The present study aimed to analyze enteral nutritional support and the clinical evolution of patients admitted with COVID-19 in Brazil. METHODS: This was a retrospective study, conducted from March to May 2020, of patients admitted to a referral hospital in cardiology and pulmonology in Fortaleza-Ce/Brazil. Two hundred patients infected with COVID-19 were selected for the study. Sociodemographic, clinical, and nutritional data were collected from electronic medical records, and associations between outcomes and the use of the prone body position with nutritional variables were analyzed by linear regression. Odds ratio and 95% confidence interval estimates for the death outcome were analyzed by logistic regression. RESULTS: Of the 112 patients who were fed by enterally, the majority were male (n = 61; 54.5%), elderly (n = 88; 78.6%), and with no current smoking habit (n = 81; 72.3%). The median hospital stay was 14 d, mostly in intensive care units (median: 9 d). Prone body positioning impacted the nutritional therapy. In general, patients who maintained a prone body position tested lower for kcal/kg of body weight, protein/kg of body weight, percentage of diet adequacy, and total caloric value. In addition, patients who died had a lower mean maximum kcal/kg body weight, protein/kg body weight, percentage of diet adequacy, and total caloric value compared with surviving patients. CONCLUSIONS: An association between inadequacies in protein and energy supply with mortality was confirmed, suggesting that nutritional support optimization should be prescribed in such situations.