Background/Aim: Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak is currently having a huge impact on medical resource allocation. Breast Cancer (BC) patients are concerned both with BC treatment and COVID-19. This study aimed to estimate the impact of anxiety among patients, caused by the spreading of COVID-19. Patients and Methods: Between the 16th of January and the 20th of March 2020, we retrospectively enrolled 160 patients. Eighty-two patients with a suspected breast lesion (SBL) were divided into two groups: PRE-COVID-19-SBL and POST-COVID-19-SBL. Seventy-eight BC patients were divided into PRE-COVID-19-BC and POST-COVID-19-BC. Patient characteristics including age, marital status, SBL/BC diameter, personal and family history of BC, clinical stage and molecular subtype were recorded. Procedure Refusal (PR) and Surgical Refusal (SR) were also recorded with their reason. Results: BC and SBL analysis showed no difference in pre-treatment characteristics (p>0.05). Both POST-COVID-19-SBL and POST-COVID-19-BC groups showed higher rates of PR and SR (p=0.0208, p=0.0065 respectively). Infection risk represented primary reason for refusal among POST-COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: COVID-19-related anxiety could affect patients' decisionmaking process. Since December 2019, the novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) has emerged as a highly contagious human pathogen. On March 20, 2020 more than 234000 cases were confirmed worldwide , with more than 9800 registered deaths (1). Following the initial outbreak in the Chinese Hubei Province on March 11, WHO has labelled the latest coronavirus disease COVID-19 (caused by SARS-COV-2) as a pandemic. The reported fatality rate is 4.2% globally (1, 2). Human to human transmission occurs through direct contact or air droplets (2) placing health care providers at a high risk due to the close proximity to potentially infected patients (3). Preliminary data of nationwide analysis in China demonstrated cancer as a risk factor for developing severe complications/disease course among COVID-19 patients (4, 5). Although further studies are required in order to accurately estimate the risk (6, 7) among patients who underwent chemotherapy or surgery in the months prior to the outbreak, the risk of developing severe conditions seems considerably higher compared to the general population (6). Breast Cancer (BC) is the most common neoplasm worldwide representing the primary cause of death due to neoplasms in Italy (5). A report published in 2017 stated that more than 50% of BC patients were older than 60 years (8). Therefore, due to the higher risk of adverse events in older patients, underlined in the preliminary data (9), it is essential to evaluate the risk of COVID-19 infection among these frail BC patients (10). Furthermore, during the COVID-19 outbreak, hospital resources are reallocated from elective and semi-elective procedures to meet the needs of COVID-19 patients in critical conditions (11). The subsequent scarcity of resources could potentially delay diagnostic evaluations and treatment of BC ...
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The relevance of respiratory syncytial virus infection is due to its widespread, severity of the course in young children with a predominant lesion of the lower respiratory tract with acute respiratory failure and absence of etiotropic therapy with proven efficacy. The risk group for severe course and mortality is made up of premature babies, children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia, hemodynamically significant congenital heart disease. In addition, according to individual indications, by the decision of the council, specific prophylaxis is carried out for newborns and premature infants with severe neuromuscular pathology, CNS injury with impaired respiratory function, patients with congenital anomalies and genetic pathology of the respiratory system, as well as congenital immunodeficiency. The article presents a description and analysis of the severe course of respiratory syncytial infection with the development of obstructive bronchitis with respiratory failure of the 2nd degree in a child aged 1 year 4 months with Charge syndrome – a severe genetic pathology, including combined congenital heart disease, choanal artesia, protein-energy malnutrition, congenital immunodeficiency. The child had bronchopulmonary dysplasia, chronic paralytic laryngeal stenosis. The disease required oxygen support and the patient's stay in the intensive care unit. The described clinical example demonstrates a severe course of respiratory syncytial virus infection with the damage of the lower respiratory tract in a child over one year old from the risk group. Key words: respiratory syncytial virus infection, children, obstructive bronchitis, bronchiolitis
A total of 161 men with at a mean age of 58 (52; 64) years were available for examination. Sixty of them presented with coronary artery disease and confirmed late-onset hypogonadism, 80 had coronary artery disease and normal testosterone, 21 had no coronary artery disease and no hypogonadism. The study included echocardiography, Holter monitoring, heart computed tomography, coronarography and estimation of depression level. We found that low testosterone in patients with coronary artery disease is associated with decreased left ventricular ejection fraction, atypical anginal syndrome and subclinical depression. Men with androgen deficiency and ischemic heart disease have lower heart rate variability, longer time of ST interval depression and greater amount of extrasystoles, than patients with ischemic heart disease and no androgen deficiency. There is a negative correlation between total testosterone and amount of myocardial revascularisation operations in men with normal testosterone. Patients with free testosterone <9pg/ml have more severe coronary artery disease than men with free testosterone >9pg/ml according to coronary angiography.
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