Congenital pulmonary airway malformation in a 5 month old boy, complicated by pneumonia.

Congenital cystic lesions of the lung are rare. The most common congenital anomaly among them, involving the lower respiratory tract, is congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation (CCAM), currently referred to as congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM). They may be incidentally detected on prenatal or postnatal imaging. They usually present within two years of life, rarely in adults. CPAMs may be asymptomatic at birth. Some may opt for observation alone due to lack of evidence on the incidence of long-term complications. However, rarely has a CPAM remained asymptomatic throughout life and complications eventually develop. Pneumonia is most common, which is not amenable to medical treatment alone. CPAMs are notorious for their known malignant potential and they may also lead to pneumothorax, hemoptysis and hemothorax. Computed Tomography Thorax is the investigation of choice. Surgical resection is known to be safe and is the mainstay of treatment. For patients who are diagnosed prenatally, surgery is recommended at 3 to 6 months, so that compensatory lung growth can occur. A five-month old boy from Bhutan, with cough, intermittent fever, respiratory distress and a history of recurrent lower respiratory tract infections, was diagnosed with CPAM, complicated by pneumonia and underwent surgery at our centre, following optimal medical management viz. antibiotics and supplemental oxygen. The post-operative course was relatively uneventful and he was discharged from hospital in 7 days.

Outcomes of urgent coronary artery bypass grafting in patients who have recently recovered from COVID-19 infection, with a median follow-up period of twelve months: our experience.

BACKGROUND: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a worldwide pandemic in 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO). Certain individuals are at higher risk, (age > 65 years, pre-existing lung or heart conditions, diabetes and obesity) especially those requiring cardiac surgery, including Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG). Here we present a case series of 11 patients, operated between April 2020 and April 2022, all of whom had recently recovered from COVID-19, who presented with unstable angina, and therefore required urgent Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG). Similar cases reported in the past, have had a high morbidity and mortality rate. CASE PRESENTATION: The study included 11 males, and their age varied between 53 and 68 years (median of 65 years). They were either partially or fully vaccinated. All of them had a history of recent mild COVID-19 infection. The European system for cardiac operative risk evaluation, EuroSCORE II in-hospital mortality risk at admission, varied between 1.48% and 5.12%. Six out of 11 patients (54.55%) had a recent Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) which is associated with a higher risk and poor prognosis. All of them underwent urgent CABG (10 of them, 90.91% cases, using the off-pump technique and one patient had to be converted to the on-pump beating heart surgery technique during surgery). Ten of the 11 patients were operated using the off-pump technique, and there was one death (9.09%). All surviving patients made an uneventful recovery and have been followed up with a median follow-up period of 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: Previous studies on a similar group of patients have resulted in high morbidity and mortality. A conscious effort was made to perform all surgeries off-pump, thereby eliminating the inflammatory effects and other hazards of cardiopulmonary bypass in this case series, with only one out of 11 (9.09%) being converted to the on-pump beating heart technique due to the hemodynamic instability faced during surgery. Our findings show a mortality rate of 9.09%, with the surviving patients doing well at a median follow-up period of 12 months, suggesting that it is a safe procedure in this patient subset.

COVID-19 presenting after Elective Off-pump Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting and Lessons Learned.

BACKGROUND: Cases of COVID-19 presenting after elective cardiac surgery are rare. Published literature suggests that such cases have a high morbidity and mortality rate. Here, we report a case of COVID-19 presenting after an elective, isolated off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB). CASE PRESENTATION: A 65-year-old obese, hypertensive, hypothyroid lady, with moderate left ventricular dysfunction, presenting with unstable angina, tested negative for COVID-19 at admission, having undergone thrombolysis for a recent inferior wall myocardial infarction, at an outside centre, and coronary angiography revealing left main triple vessel disease, developed signs and symptoms of COVID-19, four days after OPCAB. She was diagnosed with moderate COVID-19 infection. Subsequent contact tracing revealed that her husband was suffering from mild COVID-19 infection and was managed in home isolation. Isolation and early supportive management with moist oxygen, steroids, intravenous antibiotics, zinc and vitamin C helped the patient recover. She was followed up at one month, six months, one year and at eighteen months and has been doing well. CONCLUSIONS: A strong clinical suspicion and repeat testing for COVID-19 is required as the diagnosis may often be missed with COVID-19 mimicking the signs and symptoms of post-cardiotomy syndrome. Preferentially dealing with such cases off-pump, thereby avoiding cardio pulmonary bypass-related complications, may improve outcomes. Isolation and early supportive management help. Adequate follow-up is required in all such cases as cardiovascular complications are common, alongside known long-term sequelae, like anxiety, depression, cardio-respiratory complications, venous thromboembolism and even postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.

Outcomes of off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting in non-dialysis-dependent patients with stage 2 and stage 3 chronic kidney disease.

PURPOSE: To assess the short-term outcomes in non-dialysis-dependent patients with stage 2 and stage 3 chronic kidney disease (CKD), undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB). To examine whether there was a difference in mortality between stage 2 and stage 3 CKD patients and whether mortality in diabetics was different compared to non-diabetics. Outcomes would be judged on the basis of possible cardiovascular, pulmonary, infective, neurological and renal complications, duration of stay at the intensive therapy unit (ITU), and overall duration of stay at the hospital. A comparative study of outcomes between stage 2 and stage 3 CKD would be undertaken. Also, given the impact of diabetes mellitus in this patient population, a comparative study of outcomes would be made between diabetics and non-diabetics. METHODS: Three hundred fifteen consecutive patients undergoing OPCAB were included in this observational prospective study. Of them, 201 (64%) had stage 3 CKD and 114 (36%) had stage 2 CKD. Nearly half of the study group (49.52%) were diabetics. Data was collected from patients' files, patient observation charts at the ITU, and patient interviews. Continuous variables were expressed as mean ± standard deviation or median (Q1, Q3) as appropriate and qualitative variables presented with the frequency and corresponding percentage. Comparison between diabetic and non-diabetic patients was performed by the Student's t test or chi-square test as appropriate. And when assumptions of parametric test failed, then an appropriate non-parametric test was performed. Repeated measures ANOVA (analysis of variance) was used to see the trend of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) values. Statistical analysis was done by using SPSS version 19.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). All p values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The eGFR was measured pre-operatively, on the day following OPCAB and at the time of discharge and the mean eGFR, remained more or less the same throughout (mean of 55.86 ml/min/1.73 m2 pre-operatively, 58.39 ml/min/1.73 m2 on the day following OPCAB and 58.39 ml/min/1.73 m2 at discharge). One patient with stage 2 CKD (0.9%) required hemodialysis post-operatively while 3 patients (1.5%) required the same in the stage 3 CKD group, which was not statistically significant. Nineteen patients (6.03%) required re-intubation for hypoxia in the post-operative period. Post-operative myocardial infarction developed in 12 patients (3.81%). Twenty patients (6.35%) patients needed an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) insertion in the peri-operative period owing to hemodynamic compromise. Fifteen patients (4.76%) were re-explored for bleeding following surgery and fifteen patients (4.76%) had a deep sternal wound infection in the post-operative period. New-onset atrial fibrillation was found to be present in 42 stage 3 CKD patients (11%) while it occurred in 21 stage 2 CKD patients (9.6%) (p value = 0.014), which was statistically significant. The mean duration of ITU stay was 84 ± 6.22 h in the stage 2 CKD group and 92.9 ± 8.18 h in the stage 3 CKD group (p value = 0.01), which was statistically significant. Mean duration of ITU stay was 94 ± 10.12 h in the diabetic group while it was 86.7 ± 11.08 h in the non-diabetic group (p value = 0.008) which was statistically significant. Duration of post-operative hospital stay was a mean of 8 ±0.08 days in the diabetic group whereas it was 7 ± 0.04 days in the non-diabetic group (p value = 0.012), which was statistically significant. Surgical mortality was 6 out of 315 patients (1.9%). CONCLUSION: OPCAB is a safe and effective revascularization strategy in patients with stage 2 and stage 3 CKD. Short-term outcomes of OPCAB have been good in the patient population in this study, in terms of both surgical morbidity and mortality. Surgical mortality was 1.9%. New-onset atrial fibrillation was found in eleven patients (9.6%) in the stage 2 CKD group and 42 patients (21%) in the stage 3 CKD group (p value =0.014) which was statistically significant. The results of this study reflect the reno-protective nature of OPCAB. The duration of ITU stay and the post-operative duration of stay at the hospital were found to be significantly more in diabetics than in non-diabetics.

Time to Diagnosis and Treatment of Childhood Cancer.

Outcome of childhood cancer in low middle-income countries continues to be poor. One of the proposed reasons for this poor outcome is increased time spent in diagnosis and initiation of treatment. The present study was done to quantify the magnitude and types of time intervals in management of childhood cancer. Parents of 111 children with newly diagnosed cancer were interviewed. Median total time interval for entire cohort was 58 d. The most important contributor to this total interval was Referral interval. Gender and use of alternative medicine significantly affected the total interval. Increased primary care physician sensitization for quicker referral to specialized centers may mitigate the delay and improve outcome.

Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia and its association with adverse outcomes during induction phase of treatment.

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common pediatric malignancy. Vitamin D inadequacy is now an internationally recognized health problem. Some relation has been observed between Vitamin D insufficiency and poor outcome in ALL though evidence is limited. Methods: A prospective observational study was done including children (1-15 years) with newly diagnosed ALL. Vitamin D estimation was performed at baseline and at end of induction chemotherapy. Results: Ninety-three patients were recruited in the study. Majority of them belonged to lower socio-economic status (75.3%), and were from rural background (89.2%). Vitamin D deficiency was found in 84.95% of the study population. Seventy-five children (80.6%) completed induction, 9 (9.7%) abandoned treatment and 9 (9.7%) died during induction. Vitamin D levels were significantly low in children with ALL who died (P = 0.016), who had complications (P = 0.002), females (P = 0.036), and those with high risk ALL (P = 0.001). There was a significant drop in the Vitamin D levels (P < 0.001) from pre to post induction phase of chemotherapy. Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in patients with ALL and is also associated with adverse outcome in these children. Further studies are needed on possible benefits of vitamin D supplementation for preventing complications during treatment of ALL.