A narrative review was conducted to examine the current state of the utilisation of telemedicine amid the current COVID-19 pandemic and to evaluate the benefits of continuing telemedicine usage in the future. A literature review was performed for articles related to telemedicine. Databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library and Ovid MEDLINE were searched. Three reviewers independently performed article selection based on relevance to our topic. We included all articles between 1990 and 2020 related to telemedicine using the following keywords: ‘telemedicine’, ‘telehealth’, ‘policy’, ‘COVID-19’, ‘regulation’, ‘rural’, ‘physical examination’, ‘future’. A total of 60 articles were identified, and through careful selection we narrowed the final number of articles to 42 based on relevance to our topic. Telemedicine has been rapidly evolving over the past several decades. Issues with regulation and reimbursement have prevented its full immersion into the healthcare system. During the current pandemic, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services have expanded access to telemedicine services. The advantages of telemedicine moving forward include its cost-effectiveness, ability to extend access to specialty services and its potential to help mitigate the looming physician shortage. Disadvantages include lack of available technological resources in certain parts of the country, issues with security of patient data, and challenges in performing the traditional patient examination. It is critically important that changes are made to fully immerse telemedicine services into the healthcare landscape in order to be prepared for future pandemics as well as to reap the benefits of this service in the future.

One uncommon type of ischemic stroke is occlusion of the artery of Percheron (AOP) leading to infarction of the paramedian thalami and mesencephalon. There are several variants of thalamic blood supply, and identifying the potential presence and infarction of an AOP is important in diagnosis and treatment of ischemic strokes affecting the thalami and mesencephalon, especially because of the unusual and variable presentation of these forms of ischemic strokes. This short review includes and discusses the case of a 58-year-old woman with an AOP infarct and indicates the importance of recognizing an AOP infarct early despite its clinical variations in order to treat the stroke in a timely fashion. This short review also includes a discussion of imaging modalities in such cases and clinical differential diagnoses to consider with management strategies.

Background Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common cause for hospitalization associated with significant mortality and morbidity. Disorders of calcium metabolism are a frequently encountered medical problem. The effect of hypocalcemia is not well defined on the outcomes of patients with PE. We aimed to identify the prognostic value of hypocalcemia in hospitalized PE patients utilizing the 2017 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS). Methods In this retrospective study, we selected patients with a primary diagnosis of Acute PE using ICD 10 codes. They were further stratified based on the presence of hypocalcemia. We primarily aimed to compare in-hospital mortality for PE patients with and without hypocalcemia. We performed multivariate logistic regression analysis to adjust for potential confounders. We also used propensity‐matched cohort of patients to compare mortality. Results In the 2017 NIS, 187,989 patients had a principal diagnosis of acute PE. Among the above study group, 1565 (0.8%) had an additional diagnosis of hypocalcemia. 12.4% of PE patients with hypocalcemia died in the hospital in comparison to 2.95% without hypocalcemia. On multivariate regression analysis, PE and hypocalcemia patients had 4 times higher odds (aOR-4.03, 95% CI 2.78–5.84, p < 0.001) of in-hospital mortality compared to those with only PE. We observed a similarly high odds of mortality (aOR = 4.4) on 1:1 propensity-matched analysis. The incidence of acute kidney injury (aOR = 2.62, CI 1.95–3.52, p < 0.001), acute respiratory failure (a0R = 1.84, CI 1.42–2.38, p < 0.001), sepsis (aOR = 4.99, CI 3.08–8.11, p < 0.001) and arrhythmias (aOR = 2.63, CI 1.99–3.48, p < 0.001) were also higher for PE patients with hypocalcemia. Conclusion PE patients with hypocalcemia have higher in-hospital mortality than those without hypocalcemia. The in-hospital complications were also higher, along with longer length of stay.

Background: There is a paucity of contemporary national estimates for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) hospitalizations by age group, sex, and region in the US population. Also, there is lack of contemporary national statistics on CDI hospitalizations with comorbidities. Methods:We analyzed the 2017 National Inpatient Sample (NIS) to determine the population-based rates of CDI hospitalizations, characteristics of hospitalizations with CDI, and the rates of comorbidities associated with CDI hospitalizations.Results: There were 329,460 CDI-related hospitalizations in 2017 (almost 1% of all hospitalizations). The average age for patients admitted with CDI as a principal or secondary diagnosis was 64.7 years (almost 20 years older when compared with all other hospitalizations). Patients 85 years and older had the highest rate of CDI hospitalizations (716 per 100,000 hospitalizations), and patients less than 18 years of age had the lowest rate (12 per 100,000 hospitalizations). There was a progressive increase in the CDI hospitalization rates with each successive age group. The hospitalization rates were higher in females (114 per 100,000 hospitalizations) than males (88 per 100,000 hospitalizations). The CDI hospitalization rate was highest in the Northeast (109 per 100,000 hospitalizations) and lowest in the West (84 per 100,000 hospitalizations). Fluid and electrolyte disturbance (63.3%) and renal failure (33.4%) were the two most common comorbidities associated with CDI hospitalizations. When CDI is a secondary diagnosis, major loss of function, extreme likelihood of dying, septicemia, and septic shock were more common in comparison to CDI as a principal diagnosis.Conclusions: CDI hospitalization rates were highest in the elderly over 85 years old and declined with successive decreases in age. Women had higher CDI hospitalization rates than men, and fluid and electrolyte disturbances and renal failure were the most common comorbid conditions. The presence of CDI as a comorbid condition at the time of hospitalization for other principal diagnoses or development of CDI during a hospitalization for other principal diagnoses significantly increases the risk of in-hospital morbidity and mortality.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19) pandemic has placed a tremendous burden on healthcare systems globally. Therapeutics for treatment of the virus are extremely inconsistent due to the lack of time evaluating drug efficacy in clinical trials. Currently, there is a deficiency of published literature that comprehensively discusses all therapeutics being considered for the treatment of COVID-19. A review of the literature was performed for articles related to therapeutics and clinical trials in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic. We used PubMed, Google Scholar, and Clinicaltrials.gov to search for articles relative to the topic of interest. We used the following keywords: “COVID-19”, “therapeutics”, “clinical trials”, “treatment”, “FDA”, “ICU”, “mortality”, and “management”. In addition, searches through the references of retrieved articles was also performed. In this paper, we have elaborated on the therapeutic strategies that have been hypothesized or trialed to-date, the mechanism of action of each therapeutic, the clinical trials finished or in-process that support the use of each therapeutic, and the adverse effects associated with each therapeutic. Currently, there is no treatment that has been proven to provide significant benefit in reducing morbidity and mortality. There are many clinical trials for numerous different therapeutic agents currently underway. By looking back and measuring successful strategies from previous pandemics in addition to carrying out ongoing research, we provide ourselves with the greatest opportunity to find treatments that are beneficial.