Optimize the management of urological tube-related emergencies during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic

BackgroundTo introduce and determine the value of optimized strategies for the management of urological tube-related emergencies with increased incidence, complexity and operational risk during the global spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).MethodsAll emergent urological patients at Tongji Hospital, Wuhan, during the period of January 23 (the beginning of lockdown in Wuhan) to March 23, 2020, and the corresponding period in 2019 were recruited to form this study’s COVID-19 group and control group, respectively. Tongji Hospital has the most concentrated and strongest Chinese medical teams to treat the largest number of severe COVID-19 patients. Patients in the control group were routinely treated, while patients in the COVID-19 group were managed following the optimized principles and strategies. The case incidence for each type of tube-related emergency was recorded. Baseline characteristics and management outcomes (surgery time, secondary complex operation rate, readmission rate, COVID-19 infection rate) were analyzed and compared across the control and COVID-19 periods.ResultsThe total emergent urological patients during the COVID-19 period was 42, whereas during the control period, it was 124. The incidence of tube-related emergencies increased from 53% to 88% (P<0.001) during the COVID-19 period. In particular, the incidence of nephrostomy tube-related (31% vs. 15%, P=0.027) and single-J stent-related problems (19% vs. 6%, P=0.009) increased significantly. The mean surgery times across the two periods were comparable. The number of secondary complex operations increased from 12 (18%) to 14 (38%) (P=0.028) during the COVID 19-period. The number of 2-week postoperative readmission decreased from 10 (15%) to 1 (3%) (P=0.049). No participants contracted during the COVID-19 period.ConclusionsUrological tube-related emergencies have been found to have a higher incidence and require more complicated and dangerous operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the optimized management strategies introduced in this study are efficient, and safe for both urologists and patients.     

Caring for patients with pain during the COVID-19 pandemic: consensus recommendations from an international expert panel

Chronic pain causes significant suffering, limitation of daily activities and reduced quality of life. Infection from COVID-19 is responsible for an ongoing pandemic that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, leading to systemic complications and death. Led by the World Health Organization, healthcare systems across the world are engaged in limiting the spread of infection. As a result, all elective surgical procedures, outpatient procedures and patient visits, including pain management services, have been postponed or cancelled. This has affected the care of chronic pain patients. Most are elderly with multiple comorbidities, which puts them at risk of COVID-19 infection. Important considerations that need to be recognised during this pandemic for chronic pain patients include: ensuring continuity of care and pain medications, especially opioids; use of telemedicine; maintaining biopsychosocial management; use of anti-inflammatory drugs; use of steroids; and prioritising necessary procedural visits. There are no guidelines to inform physicians and healthcare providers engaged in caring for patients with pain during this period of crisis. We assembled an expert panel of pain physicians, psychologists and researchers from North America and Europe to formulate recommendations to guide practice. As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve rapidly, these recommendations are based on the best available evidence and expert opinion at this present time and may need adapting to local workplace policies.     

A protocol for wide awake local anaesthetic no tourniquet (WALANT) hand surgery in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic

There are new and unique challenges to emergency surgery service provision posed by the Coronavirus disease 2019 global pandemic. It is in the best interests of patients for care providers to streamline services where possible to maximise the number of cases that can be performed by limited surgical and anaesthetic teams, as well as minimising patient interactions and admission times to reduce potential spread of the virus.There is evidence that wide awake local anaesthetic no tourniquet (WALANT) hand and upper limb surgery can meet this need in a number of ways, including reduced pre-operative work up, the lack of a need for an anaesthetist or ventilator, shorter inpatient stays and improved cost efficiencies.Though updated national guidelines exist that advocate increased use of WALANT surgery in response to the pandemic there are not yet clear protocols to facilitate this.We outline a protocol being developed at one UK Major Trauma Centre tailored to the expansion of WALANT hand and upper limb emergency surgery with particular emphasis on facilitating timely surgical care while minimising healthcare encounters pre and post-operatively. This will serve to reduce potential transmission of the virus and create cost efficiencies to free funding for COVID-19 related care.Our protocol is easily replicable and may be of benefit to other centres dealing with emergency upper limb surgery in the new climate of COVID-19.     

Management of the airway and lung isolation for thoracic surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic

Intra-operative aerosol-generating procedures are arguably unavoidable in the routine provision of thoracic anaesthesia. Airway management for such patients during the COVID-19 pandemic including tracheal intubation, lung isolation, one-lung ventilation and flexible bronchoscopy may pose a significant risk to healthcare professionals and patients. That said, there remains a need for timely thoracic surgery for patients with lung cancer or thoracic trauma. The thoracic anaesthetic community has been confronted with the need to modify existing techniques to maximise safety for patients and healthcare professionals. With appropriate modification, aerosol generation may be mitigated against in most circumstances. We developed a set of practice-based recommendations for airway management in thoracic surgical patients, which have been endorsed by the Association for Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia and Critical Care and the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain and Ireland.     

瑞金医院新型冠状病毒感染病人营养治疗建议（2023版）

营养支持是新型冠状病毒感染病人,尤其是危重症病人救治的综合治疗措施之一。营养治疗遵循营养风险筛查→评估→干预→监测的规范流程,遵循“五阶梯”营养治疗原则。通过合理膳食、规范的营养支持能改善病人的营养状况,增强免疫功能,改善临床结局。     

Management of penile cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic: An eUROGEN accelerated Delphi consensus study

ObjectivesTo develop an international consensus on managing penile cancer patients during the COVID-19 acute waves. A major concern for patients with penile cancer during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is how the enforced safety measures will affect their disease management. Delays in diagnosis and treatment initiation may have an impact on the extent of the primary lesion as well as the cancer-specific survival because of the development and progression of inguinal lymph node metastases.Materials and methodsA review of the COVID-19 literature was conducted in conjunction with analysis of current international guidelines on the management of penile cancer. Results were presented to an international panel of experts on penile cancer and infection control by a virtual accelerated Delphi process using 4 survey rounds. Consensus opinion was defined as an agreement of ≥80%, which was used to reconfigure management pathways for penile cancer.ResultsLimited evidence is available for delaying penile cancer management. The consensus rate of agreement was 100% that penile cancer pathways should be reconfigured, and measures should be developed to prevent perioperative nosocomial transmission of COVID-19. The panel also reached a consensus on several statements aimed at reconfiguring the management of penile cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.ConclusionsThe international consensus panel proposed a framework for the diagnostic and invasive therapeutic procedures for penile cancer within a low-risk environment for COVID-19.     

Coping profiles and differences in well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: A latent profile analysis

During the current COVID-19 pandemic, people need to cope with multiple stressors which may affect their well-being. This study aimed (1) to identify latent coping profiles in the German general population, and (2) to investigate differences between these profiles in well-being. In total, N = 2326 German participants were recruited as part of the European Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS) ADJUST study from June to September 2020 using an online survey. Coping strategies were assessed using the Brief-COPE and the Pandemic Coping Scale; well-being was assessed using the WHO-5 Well-Being Index. Coping profiles were identified using latent profile analysis; differences between profiles were examined using the automatic BCH method and multiple group analyses. Five coping profiles were identified that included different types and numbers of coping strategies: (1) High functional coping (17.84%), (2) Moderate functional coping (40.63%), (3) High functional and religious coping (9.07%), (4) Low functional coping (22.06%), (5) Moderate functional and dysfunctional coping (10.40%). The identified profiles significantly differed in well-being (χ² = 503.68, p <0.001). Coping profiles indicating high functional coping were associated with greater well-being compared to coping profiles indicating low (χ² = 82.21, p <0.001) or primarily dysfunctional (χ² = 354.33, p <0.001) coping. These results provide insight into how people differ in their coping strategies when dealing with stressors in an early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study indicates higher levels of well-being in coping profiles with more frequent use of functional strategies. To promote well-being in the general population, it might be beneficial to train functional coping strategies in appropriate interventions that are associated with increased well-being.     

Heart transplantation in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic: A single-center case series

The infectious disease coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. The impact of COVID-19 on solid organ transplantations, including heart transplantation, is currently unclear. Many transplant programs have been forced to swiftly re-evaluate and adapt their practices, leading to a marked decrease in transplants performed. This trend has been due to various factors, including increased donor COVID-19 screening scrutiny and recipient waiting list management in anticipation of COVID-19 critical care surge capacity planning. In the face of these unknown variables, determining when and how to proceed with transplantation in our population of patients with end-stage cardiomyopathies is challenging. Here, we describe our center's experience with orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT) in one of the country's pandemic epicenters, where we performed eight OHTs in the first 2 months after community spread began in late February 2020.     

成都379例新型冠状病毒肺炎的临床分析

目的分析新型冠状病毒肺炎(COVID-19)患者的临床特征及预后。方法纳入成都市公共卫生临床医疗中心2020年1月16日至11月30日收治的379例COVID-19确诊病例,按照年龄分为老年组(42例,年龄≥60岁)和非老年组(337例,年龄<60岁),比较两组患者的流行病学、临床特征、实验室检查、治疗及预后。结果379例患者年龄2个月至87岁,平均41.2岁,其中男286例(75.5%),女93例。老年组平均年龄为69.5岁,女性更多见(占61.9%),大多为武汉输入和本土续发(占73.8%),以普通型和危重型为主(88.1%)。非老年组的平均年龄为37.8岁,男性更多见(80.1%),主要来自境外输入(75.7%),以轻型和普通型为主(95.0%)。179例患者(47.2%)合并一种或多种基础疾病,老年组以高血压病(15例,35.7%)及糖尿病(11例,26.2%)多见,而非老年组则以非酒精性脂肪性肝炎(132例,39.2%)多见。最常见的临床表现是发热(138例,36.4%)和咳嗽(129例,34.0%),但老年组的发热、咳嗽、呼吸困难及乏力等症状较非老年组更多见(P<0.05)。与非老年组相比,老年组的总淋巴细胞计数、CD4⁺及CD8⁺T淋巴细胞计数更低,而心肌损伤标志物及炎症指标更高(P<0.05)。139例患者(36.7%)的心脏彩色超声心动图异常,主要为左室舒张功能降低(22.7%)及心脏瓣膜反流(14.0%),且老年组患者的心脏彩色超声心动图异常率明显高于非老年组(85.7%vs.30.6%,P<0.05)。经治疗后,除老年组死亡3例外,其余均已治愈出院;但老年组的住院时间较非老年组更长(22.1 d vs.18.8 d,P=0.033)。结论成都老年COVID19患者主要来自武汉输入和本地续发,以普通型和危重型为主,常合并高血压或糖尿病等基础疾病;成都非老年COVID-19患者主要来自境外输入,以轻型和普通型为主,常合并非酒精性脂肪性肝炎;经治疗后,患者大多预后良好。     

新型冠状病毒肺炎定点医院医务人员的三级防控管理

目的探讨新型冠状病毒肺炎定点医院医务人员的防控管理方法及效果。方法成立医院感染三级防控委员会,开展多元化培训,全程严格防控与督导,落实各项制度和后勤保障。结果共收治新型冠状病毒肺炎患者2 454例,治愈出院525例;未发生医务人员新型冠状病毒感染。结论医院感染三级防控机制的建立与实施,可有效保障医务人员安全,提高患者救治效率。