Chest radiography (CXR) is most likely to be the utilized modality for diagnosing COVID-19 and following up on any lung-associated abnormalities. This review provides a meta-analysis of the current literature on CXR imaging findings with to determine the most common appearances of lung abnormalities in COVID-19 patients to equip medical researchers and healthcare professionals in their efforts to combat this pandemic. Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. The inclusion criteria consisted of: (1) published in English literature; (2) original research study; (3) sample size of at least 5 patients; (4) reporting clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients as well as CXR imaging features; and (5) noting the number of patients with each corresponding imaging feature. A total of 1948 patients were included in this study. To perform the meta-analysis, a random-effects model calculated the pooled prevalence and 95% confidence intervals of abnormal CXR imaging findings. Seventy-four percent (74%) (95% CI: 51–92%) of patients with COVID-19 had an abnormal CXR at the initial time of diagnosis or sometime during the disease course. While there was no single feature on CXR that was diagnostic of COVID-19 viral pneumonia, a characteristic set of findings were obvious. The most common abnormalities were consolidation (28%, 95% CI: 8–54%) and ground-glass opacities (29%, 95% CI: 10–53%). The distribution was most frequently bilateral (43%, 95% CI: 27–60%), peripheral (51%, 95% CI: 36–66%), and basal zone (56%, 95% CI: 37–74%) predominant. Contrary to parenchymal abnormalities, pneumothorax (1%, 95% CI: 0–3%) and pleural effusions (6%, 95% CI: 1–16%) were rare.
Background: HER2+ tumors make up approximately 20% of MBCs. The survival outcomes for HER2+ MBC patients improved significantly in the last decade due to the development of HER2-targeted therapies. The objective of this SLR was to assess recent evidence on the burden of HER2+ MBC.Methods: A SLR was conducted in MEDLINE and EMBASE databases (2010-2020) and congress abstract repositories (2018)(2019)(2020). The search adhered to Preferred Reporting Item for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A total of 8,115 records were identified, of which 6,549 were retrieved upon deduplication. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts for eligibility. Fulltext review of 571 articles was then carried out.Results: 260 studies met the inclusion criteria. Seven sources of which compared HER2+ mBC patients to the general and BC populations reporting impaired health utility scores and moderate or worse health status. This was assessed using a variety of tools, such as EQ-5D-5L, FACT-B and EORTC QLQ-C30. In addition to lower Quality of Life (QoL), the disease is associated with impairment of work-and daily activity, negative body image perception, and mental disorders. The symptoms, comorbidities and treatment adverse events most frequently reported by HER2+ mBC patients include tiredness, decreased sexual interest, lack of energy, sore muscles, worry, difficulty sleeping and joint pain. Due to the longer treatment duration and high treatment costs of anti-HER2 treatments, HER2+ MBC leads to greater costs than other types of mBC. In Europe, overall-per-patient costs of HER2+ mBC per patient were V235,238-V269,749, of which V37,431-53,950 were annual treatment costs. Costs are primarily driven by treatment and hospitalization costs, and accumulatively increase by line of treatment.Conclusions: With improvements in disease management being made in recent years, the SLR demonstrated that a substantial burden of HER2+ MBC on patients' QoL and on the healthcare systems still exists, highlighting the need for more cost-effective treatment options.
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.