Enhanced External Counterpulsation (EECP) is a non-invasive FDA approved therapy for patients with refractory angina pectoris. The EECP mechanism of action is similar to that of an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) by administering a vigorous pressure pulse via external blood pressure cuffs during the diastole. The benefit of EECP includes improvement in angina severity, angina stability, maximal walking capacity and generalized improvement in overall health. Seatle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) is a valid, reliable and sensitive measure of healthrelated quality of life. It is also a sensitive and reproducible evaluation tool to measure the response to an intervention. We did a pre-test post-test designed prospective study to evaluate the effect of EECP on the quality of life in patients with CAD. There was a significant difference between SAQ-7 health-related quality of life between the pre-EECP and post-EECP groups (P value= <0.01). Moreover, a positive correlation was reported between the New York Heart Association (NYHA) Functional Classification before treatment and post-EECP SAQ-7 healthrelated quality of life (P value=0.015).
COVID-19 is a novel virus which causes a variety of clinical manifestations in the body some of which are still yet to be discovered. The main aim of our study is to highlight the neurological manifestations of COVID-19 as it is still new to the medical world and to emphasize the fact that the physicians have to be vary of the possibility that patients affected with COVID-19 can present with encephalitis. Only a few studies are available so far regarding the neurological manifestations of this novel virus which highlights the need of this study. We present a case series of four patients who were found to have COVID-19 encephalitis. There is still no disease defining test for diagnosis so the mainstay of diagnosis is exclusion of all the common causes of encephalitis. Brain MRI and CSF analysis performs an ancillary in the diagnostic tools. Our study also supports the use of IV Tocilizumab (4-8 mg/kg) and IV methylprednisolone (0.5-2 mg/kg) as possible treatment options with good results as the patients described in our case series responded well to these medications.
We present a case series of 5 patients who were found to have COVID-19
encephalitis. There is still no disease defining test for diagnosis so
the mainstay of diagnosis is the exclusion of all common causes of
encephalitis. Brain MRI and CSF analysis perform an ancillary in the
diagnostic tools.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.