Deep venous thrombosis and abortion: an unusual clinical manifestation of severe form of pectus excavatum.

Pectus excavatum is a chest wall malformation with a strong psychological and aesthetic impact. Rarely, pectus excavatum patients can show respiratory or cardiac symptoms occurring mainly during physical exertion. We report a case of a 34-year-old pregnant woman with a severe degree of pectus excavatum who developed serious cardiovascular disease resulting in spontaneous twin abortion at the twenty-first week of gestation. Cardiovascular disease was resolved after open surgical correction of pectus excavatum. This case shows how a tardive diagnosis and a delayed surgical approach for pectus excavatum can lead to severe consequences.

[The hospitalized terminal cancer patient and privacy: patient needs and the perception on the part of the professional nurse]. / Malato oncologico terminale ospedalizzato e privacy: bisogni del paziente e percezione da parte dell'infermiere professionale.

The perception of privacy in a sample of 43 oncology patients admitted to cremona Hospital was evaluated with an ad hoc questionnaire administered by nursing students. The same questionnaire was completed by the nurse responsible for the patient and results were thereafter compared. The questionnaire, of 13 items, explored 4 domains of privacy: environment, physical care, communication with relatives, communication with care providers. Patients and nurses were asked to score each question from 0 (not important) to 3 (very important). Situations which involved modesty-physical care and communication-socialization were perceived as most important for privacy. Areas perceived very important for privacy by the patient received a very high score from the nurses as well.