Objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is primarily known as a respiratory illness; however, a wide variety of symptoms and complications of the central nervous system (CNS), such as ischemic cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) have been reported. Hereby, we provide a systematic review and a meta-analysis of the literature, investigating the incidence of ischemic CVA and the mortality due to it in the setting of COVID-19. Materials and Methods: Our search databases included Google Scholar, MEDLINE via PubMed, and Scopus. We searched the databases up to July 22, 2020. The primary outcome was the incidence of ischemic CVA in COVID-19 cases, while the secondary outcomes were the ratio of mortality in these cases. Standard meta-analysis methods used to measure the pooled incidence and mortality rates of ischemic CVA in COVID-19 cases. Results: After excluding studies with reasons, only 20 articles were eligible to be included in our qualitative synthesis, and 17 studies were evaluated quantitatively in our meta-analysis. Included studies reported a pooled average incidence of 1.7% for ischemic CVA, ranging from 1.3% to 2.3%. Mortality in patients of ischemic CVA to all COVID-19 cases was 0.5%, ranging from 0.4% to 0.6%. The mortality rate of patients with CVA to those who suffered from COVID-19 infection and ischemic CVA simultaneously was 29.2% ranging from 21.6% to 38.2%. Overall, the heterogeneity of the studies was high. Conclusions: Our analysis revealed a pooled incidence of 1.7% for ischemic CVA in the setting of COVID-19 infection, with a mortality rate of 29.2% amongst the COVID-19 patients who are suffering ischemic CVA.

Background An orbitocranial injury with a penetrating Intraorbital Foreign Body (IOFB) is listed as a rare cause of penetrating trauma. Since this type of trauma is considered a surgical emergency, taking a thorough history along with careful examination to find out the mechanism and cause of the trauma is crucial towards correct diagnosis and management of the disease. Case presentation A 35-year-old male patient was presented to the ER with an occupational craniofacial injury because of an IOFB. The patient underwent an extra-dural orbitocranial craniotomy procedure to remove the foreign body. Interestingly, a plastic foreign body (a piece of a plastic pipe) was removed from the orbital cavity, which was suspected to be a fractured orbital bone, at first place. Conclusion In this study, we demonstrated that plastics could mimic bone structure in a Computerized Tomography (CT) scan leading to possible initial misdiagnosis. Hence high clinical suspicion is necessary for the correct diagnosis of such cases. However, despite the prompt intervention, our patient ended up with permanent vision loss in his injured eye.

Background Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis (HPS) is one of the most common diseases requiring surgery in infants. Regardless of recruited surgical reconstruction techniques, preoperative evaluation, using proper anesthesia induction, perioperative, and postoperative care are the main determining factors in the outcome of these patients. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the premedication with intravenous fentanyl versus rectal acetaminophen on the anesthesia-related outcome of patients. Methods In this double-blinded randomized clinical trial, 24 infants who were managed to underwent a pyloromyotomy surgery due to the HPS were enrolled. Patients then randomly allocated into two groups of Fentanyl (F) or Acetaminophen (A). Anesthesia procedure was initiated with premedication with midazolam (0.03 mg/kg) co-administrated with fentanyl (1 µg/kg) in group F, and rectal acetaminophen (40 mg/kg) administrated 20 minutes prior to midazolam (0.03 mg/kg) in group A individuals. All patients’ vital signs, the period of each step of anesthesia, and the incidence of apnea were measured and recorded. Results Although the time duration from anesthesia termination till extubation and the recovery time were relatively shorter among the patients of the acetaminophen group, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. Patients in the acetaminophen group showed a lower level of pain in all evaluated timelines than those who were treated with fentanyl (p < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the apnea incidence in two groups. Conclusion The use of rectal acetaminophen in infants who are planning to undergo pyloromyotomy due to HPS offers a better treatment outcome than fentanyl. Trial Registration: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences under the registry code of IR.TBZMED.REC.1397.511. It was also registered in Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT). The trial’s registration number (TRN) is IRCT20180726040601N1 ‘retrospectively registered’

Background To compare the outcomes of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) in comparison to open thoracic surgery in pediatric patients suffering from empyema. Methods A prospective study was carried out in 80 patients referred to the Department of Pediatric Surgery between 2015 and 2018. The patients were randomly divided into thoracotomy and VATS groups (groups I and II, respectively). Forty patients were in the thoracotomy group (16 males [40%], 24 females [60%]; average age, 5.77±4.08 years) and 40 patients were in the VATS group (18 males [45%], 22 females [55%]; average age, 6.27±3.67 years). There were no significant differences in age (p=0.61) or sex (p=0.26). Routine preliminary workups for all patients were ordered, and the patients were followed up for 90 days at regular intervals. Results The average length of hospital stay (16.28±7.83 days vs. 15.83±9.44 days, p=0.04) and the duration of treatment needed for pain relief (10 days vs. 5 days, p=0.004) were longer in the thoracotomy group than in the VATS group. Thoracotomy patients had surgical wound infections in 27.3% of cases, whereas no cases of infection were reported in the VATS group (p=0.04). Conclusion Our results indicate that VATS was not only less invasive than thoracotomy, but also showed promising results, such as an earlier discharge from the hospital and fewer postoperative complications.