Serum testosterone level and semen quality in male patients with sickle cell disease in outpatient department of Chhattisgarh: a case-control study.

INTRODUCTION: Infertility issues in men with sickle cell disease (SCD) have been studied more frequently than those in women. Semen analysis of men with SCD often shows sperm abnormalities in up to 91%. No such study has been conducted in India so far, and Chhattisgarh being a state with a high incidence of male infertility as well as SCD, this study holds significance. OBJECTIVES: 1. To identify whether male patients attending All India Institute of Medical Sciences Outpatient Department with SCD have abnormal testosterone and/or poor semen quality. 2. Counseling of infertile male patients with SCD regarding future childbearing, prognosis, fertility preservation, and management options. METHODS: This study was an age-matched case-control study; 58 participants of age between 18-45 years were assigned in each group. RESULTS: The sperm count was higher in HbSS, while volume and pH were greater in HbAA. However, no significant difference (P>0.05) was found in total motility or progressive motility. A highly significant difference (P<0.001) was observed in pH, sperm count, total motility, and normal morphology. There was a significant difference (P=0.005) in volume. The values of the HbSS subjects were higher than the standard reference values. The values of the HbAA subjects were higher than the standard reference value. However, no significant difference (P>0.05) was found in sperm count or vitality. CONCLUSION: Men in Chhattisgarh with SCD do not suffer from any reproductive disorders such as delayed sexual maturity, low serum testosterone, poor semen quality, or hypogonadism.

Asymptomatic bacteriuria persisting after catheter removal: are we missing the true catheter associated urinary tract infection burden?

INTRODUCTION: Catheter Associated Asymptomatic Bacteriuria persisting beyond 48 hours after catheter removal predisposes to the development of catheter associated urinary tract infections, necessitating treatment. Current surveillance strategies do not screen for infection detection after catheter removal, missing most of the clinically significant catheter associated urinary tract infection cases. METHODOLOGY: The study reports findings of a pilot, short-term, cross-sectional study conducted on patients who underwent indwelling urinary catheterization for any of the recognized indications. Surveillance for catheter associated urinary tract infections was done as per Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, National health and safety network protocols starting from two days onwards until the entire period of catheterization. Patients who remained asymptomatic during the period of catheterization were further screened for catheter associated asymptomatic bacteriuria at 48 hours after catheter removal and followed up for development of signs and symptoms suggestive of urinary tract infections. Catheter associated urinary tract infection rates were calculated with and without inclusion of catheter associated asymptomatic bacteriuria and compared. RESULTS: Screening for catheter associated asymptomatic bacteriuria at 48 hours of catheter removal significantly (p = 0.00021) improved the catheter associated urinary tract infection rates from 2.67 to 8.01 per 1,000 catheter days. Approximately 75% of patients with catheter associated asymptomatic bacteriuria after catheter removal became symptomatic for UTIs on follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnosing catheter associated asymptomatic bacteriuria at 48 hours after catheter removal can improve the surveillance process and identify impending urinary tract infections early in the course of the disease.

Usefulness of STOPP/START criteria and Beers criteria for prescribing in geriatric patients in a tertiary health care center, Raipur, Central India.

Background: Polypharmacy and inappropriate prescribing are risk factors for adverse clinical outcomes in older people. Screening tools can identify potential medicine-related patient safety incidents for the elderly on multiple medicines and with chronic diseases. Methods: In this prospective observational study, details of demography, diagnosis, history of constipation/peptic ulcer disease, over-the-counter medications, and clinical and laboratory findings were noted. Information obtained was reviewed and analyzed with the help of STOPP/START and Beers 2019 criteria. At 1 month follow-up, improvement was assessed with the help of a structured questionnaire. Results: As per the criteria, modification in drugs was recommended for 213 drugs; it was actually performed for 27.73% and 48.71% drugs as per Beers and STOPP/START criteria, respectively. Glimepiride was replaced with short-acting sulfonylureas because of hypoglycemia, and angiotensin receptor blockers were stopped because of hyperkalemia as per Beers criteria. Statins were started in 19 patients by START criteria. Overall general health improvement was observed at 1 month, but an increase in anxiety, tension, worry, depressed feel, and insomnia was observed in initial days of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Conclusions: In view of polypharmacy in the prescriptions, the combination of prescribing criteria need to be considered while prescribing medications to the elderly to get optimum therapeutic benefits and improvement in the quality of life. The quality of primary care of the elderly can also be improved by use of screening tools such as STOPP/START and Beers criteria by a primary/family physician. Prescription evaluation by a trained pharmacologist/physician for possible drug/food/disease interactions and for therapy modification can be incorporated for routine geriatric care at a tertiary care center. Clinical trial registry of India registration number: CTRI/2020/01/022852.

Use of Shockwave Lithoplasty for a Patient With Recurrent Angina.

Current calcium modification treatments only address the burden of intimal calcium with varying degrees of success and result in an increased risk for adverse events. Here, we describe the use of shockwave intravascular lithoplasty (S-IVL) to effectively treat a severely calcified coronary artery lesion. A 59-year-old male with a history of coronary artery disease with stents presented to our hospital with angina. Diagnostic coronary angiography revealed a mid-right coronary artery (mRCA) stent with severe in-stent restenosis due to under expansion of stent with severe calcification. Due to these factors, the decision was made to reduce the calcium burden with the use of S-IVL. This is a promising technique in plaque modification of severely calcified coronary lesions with less risk of myocardial injury and mechanical vascular trauma. It is important to customize the choice of therapy based on the patient and the characteristics of the coronary lesion.

Outcomes in Patients With COVID-19 Disease and High Oxygen Requirements.

BACKGROUND: Approximately 19% of people infected with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) progress to severe or critical stages of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with a mortality rate exceeding 50%. We aimed to examine the characteristics, mortality rates, intubation rate, and length of stay (LOS) of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 disease with high oxygen requirements (critically ill). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis in a single center in Brooklyn, New York. Adult hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 disease and high oxygen requirements were included. We performed multivariate logistic regression analyses for statistically significant variables to reduce any confounding. RESULTS: A total of 398 patients were identified between March 19th and April 25th, 2020 who met the inclusion criteria, of which 247 (62.1%) required intubation. The overall mortality rate in our study was 57.3% (n = 228). The mean hospital LOS was 19.1 ± 17.4 days. Patients who survived to hospital discharge had a longer mean LOS compared to those who died during hospitalization (25.4 ± 22.03 days versus10.7 ± 1.74 days). In the multivariate analysis, increased age, intubation and increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were each independently associated with increased odds of mortality. Diarrhea was associated with decreased mortality (OR 0.4; CI 0.16, 0.99). Obesity and use of vasopressors were each independently associated with increased intubation. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with COVID-19 disease and high oxygen requirements, advanced age, intubation, and higher LDH levels were associated with increased mortality, while diarrhea was associated with decreased mortality. Gender, diabetes, and hypertension did not have any association with mortality or length of hospital stay.

Percutaneous Intervention of Iatrogenic Iliac Artery Vascular Complication.

The mortality of patients from a retroperitoneal hematoma remains high if treatment is delayed or inappropriate. Percutaneous endovascular repair of iatrogenic vascular complications is quickly becoming the treatment of choice. Here, we report a case of a 76-year-old female with a non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction, whose cardiac catheterization revealed a 70% distal left main coronary artery (LMCA) stenosis. She underwent successful rotational atherectomy and deployment of drug-eluting stents of the distal LMCA. Following percutaneous coronary intervention, she suffered acute profound hypotension and was found to have a retroperitoneal hematoma. Given the high cardiac risk for vascular surgery due to recent intervention and overall comorbidities, she was immediately taken to the cardiac catheterization laboratory and had a diagnostic angiogram, which revealed a right external iliac artery perforation that was treated with a covered stent. She tolerated the procedure well. This case highlights the importance of early diagnosis of retroperitoneal bleed, the prompt decision to take the patient to the cardiac catheterization laboratory, and potential use of intravascular interventions to ensure a successful outcome.

A Rare Case of Partial Aortic Mechanical Valve Thrombosis With Intact Mitral Mechanical Valve Presenting With ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction Patients.

The incidence of mechanical valve thrombosis (MVT) is around 0.4 per 100 patient-years. Mitral valve thrombosis has a higher incidence than aortic valve thrombosis with a nearly 5-fold increase. Various factors contribute to MVT. The most common cause of valve thrombosis is poor adherence/disruption of anticoagulation therapy. Low cardiac output is known to increase the risk of prosthetic valve thrombosis. Other factors such as diabetes, hypertension, and other patient comorbidities might also play a role. Decreased flow promotes hypercoagulability. Lower pressure in the left atrium (and higher velocities in the left ventricle) can partially contribute to the higher incidence of mitral MVT versus aortic MVT. The presenting symptoms usually depend on the severity of the valve thrombosis; nonobstructive valve thrombosis patients have progressive dyspnea, signs of heart failure, and systemic embolization with strokes being the most common complication. In this article, we present a case of a middle-aged woman with a history of mitral and aortic mechanical prosthesis who presented with an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and pulmonary edema due to mechanical aortic valve prosthesis thrombosis. She had an isolated mechanical aortic valve prosthesis thrombosis with intact mitral valve, which, to the best of our knowledge, has not yet been described. We performed a literature review by searching PubMed and Embase using the keywords "mechanical valve," "thrombosis," "aortic," and "mitral," our search did not show similar cases.

Protected Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) of Cabrol Type Anastomosis of Saphenous Vein Graft (SVG) to the Left Main Coronary Artery (LMCA).

The use of percutaneous left ventricular assist devices (VAD) may minimize the risk of hemodynamic compromise during such high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and allow complete revascularization, thus improving outcomes. A good understanding of cardiac hemodynamics is essential in making informed decisions during such cases. A 61-year-old male with an extensive surgical cardiac history including a modified Cabrol type anastomosis with saphenous vein (SVG) conduits to two coronary arteries presented to our hospital with severe substernal chest discomfort and was noted to have diffuse ST depressions along with subtle ST elevations in lead aVR suggestive of diffuse sub-endocardial ischemia. Diagnostic coronary angiography revealed significant stenosis in the Cabrol type SVG grafts and we opted for a protected PCI using Impella (Abiomed, Danvers, MA) support. A significant drop in the blood pressure was noted and despite trouble-shooting, the Impella arterial line tracing remained minimally pulsatile.​ A comprehensive understanding of circulatory support physiology was ultimately crucial in making an informed decision for a successful PCI outcome.

Isolated Diffuse Supravalvular Aortic Stenosis with Severe Aortic Narrowing in a 41-Year-Old Man.

Isolated supravalvular aortic stenosis in adults is a rare form of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. We describe a case in a 41-year-old man in whom the supravalvular aorta had narrowed to approximately the size of the left anterior descending coronary artery. The patient underwent aortic surgery with replacement of the ascending aorta and repair of supravalvular aortic stenosis with a pantaloon graft. A postoperative echocardiogram showed substantial improvement: the mean gradient across the aorta had fallen from 48 to 8 mmHg. Surgery is the definitive treatment in symptomatic patients with supravalvular aortic stenosis.

Saddle pulmonary embolism: right ventricular strain an indicator for early surgical approach.

Current mainstay treatment for pulmonary embolism (PE) includes oral anticoagulation, thrombolytic therapy, catheter embolectomy and acute surgical embolectomy. Surgical embolectomy is reserved for hemodynamically unstable patients (cardiogenic shock, cardiac arrest) and contraindication to thrombolytic therapy. We report a case of saddle PE in a young female with echocardiographic signs of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction who underwent early acute surgical embolectomy with a positive outcome. It would be beneficial to use bedside echocardiography even in hemodynamically stable patients to determine RV strain as this could act as an early indicator suggesting the escalation of therapy.

Recurrent Lower Gastrointestinal Bleeding: Ileal GIST Diagnosed by Video Capsule Endoscopy-A Case Report and Literature Review.

Introduction. Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) in the ileum is an extremely rare cause of recurrent lower gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB). Case Report. An 89-year-old man was admitted with melana. He had extensive PMH of CAD post-CABG/AICD, AAA repair, chronic anemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, lung cancer after resection, and recurrent GIB. Prior EGDs, colonoscopies, and upper device-assisted enteroscopy showed duodenal ulcer, A-V malformation s/p cauterization, and angioectasia. On admission, Hb was 6.0 g/dL. An endoscopic capsule study showed an ulcerated tumor in the ileum. CT showed no distant metastasis. The lesion was resected successfully and confirmed as a high-grade GIST. The patient was discharged with no further bleeding. Discussion. Early diagnosis for patients with ileal GIST is often challenging. Video capsule endoscopy and double balloon enteroscopy could be useful diagnostic tools. Surgical removal is the first line for a resectable GIST. Imatinib has become the standard therapy. Conclusion. This is a unique case of an ileal GIST in a patient with recurrent GIB which was diagnosed by video capsule. Complicated medical comorbidities often lead to a significant delay in diagnosis. Therefore, we recommend that if GIB does not resolve after appropriate treatments for known causes, the alternative diagnosis for occult GIB must be considered, including malignancy such as GIST.