Coronavirus disease 2019 crisis in Paris: A differential psychological impact between regular intensive care unit staff members and reinforcement workers

BackgroundIntensive care unit (ICU) healthcare workers (HCWs) are at the forefront of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. To overcome the lack of human resources during this crisis, some ICUs had to mobilise staff from a reinforcement pool, with no or outdated ICU experience. This study aimed to investigate and to compare the psychological impact of the pandemic on regular ICU staff members and reinforcement workers.Material and methodsSelf-assessment questionnaires were completed by HCWs who worked from March 1 to April 30, 2020, in our 16-bed neurological ICU at La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, France, which was converted to a COVID ICU. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5, McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire-Revised, and 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale were used to assess anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, quality of life, and resilience, respectively.ResultsSixty-nine ICU HCWs completed the survey (37 from the team of regular staff members, i.e., from the public health service, and 32 from a reinforcement pool, either from non-ICU public health service or from private healthcare interim employment agencies). Prevalence of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms was high, at 19%, 9%, and 16%, respectively, with limited impairment in quality of life or resilience scores. Depression symptoms were observed more in regular staff members than in welcomed reinforcement workers, at 16% and 0%, respectively.ConclusionsThese results revealed that during the pandemic, HCWs from the team of regular staff members were at greater risk of developing psychological disorder compared with reinforcement workers, with higher levels of depressive symptoms.     

Prise en charge de l’état de mal tonicoclonique généralisé : stratégies thérapeutiques

Increasing duration of generalized tonic-clonic status epilepticus increases the risk of neuronal damage and systemic complications. It is also a recognized contributing factor to drug resistance. The most indispensable quality an anticonvulsive medication is expected to have in this situation is therefore a rapid therapeutic effect, achieved without severe depressive, neurological, cardiovascular or respiratory side effects. The anticonvulsive strategy proposed here takes into account these prerequisites, as well as previously published research findings which remain limited on a number of aspects. The duration of the convulsions before medication must be taken into account when deciding on the initial treatment. If this is less than 30 min, a single drug regimen with benzodiazepine would be appropriate and sufficient initially. If lorazepam, which is unavailable in France, cannot be used, the pharmacokinetically similar clonazepam should be preferred. Beyond 30 min, a combination of benzodiazepine and an anticonvulsive with long-lasting effects —phenobarbital or fosphenytoin— is indicated. The choice between these two latter drugs depends on their respective contraindications and the circumstances surrounding the occurrence of the status epilepticus. The persistence of seizures beyond 20 min after beginning the phenobarbital infusion or 30 min after starting fosphenytoin signals a failure of the initial treatment and requires the immediate introduction of a second line of therapy. This may be an anticonvulsive with long-lasting effects providing the convulsions have been present for less than an hour, there is no suspicion of an acute cerebral lesion and there is no associated systemic factor of cerebral aggression. If not, the employment of anesthetic medication is immediately required.     

A new treatment regimen with high-dose and fractioned immunoglobulin in a special subgroup of severe and dependent CIDP patients

Background: Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is treated with intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIg), corticosteroids or plasma exchange (PE). IVIg dosage is not universal and markers for treatment management are needed. Methods: We report the response to high-dose and fractioned IVIg in a subgroup of definite CIDP patients, resistant to corticosteroids and PE, responders to IVIg but with an efficacy window <15 d. Results: Four patients were included with similar predominantly clinical motor form and conduction abnormalities. Treatment management consisted of fractioning IVIg and increasing the monthly cumulated dose (mean: 3 g/kg/month). Serum IgG concentration was measured and correlated to the clinical state. Monitoring of serum IgG helped to guide IVIg administration dosage and frequency. A mean of 10 months was required to improve symptoms; therapy was then switched to subcutaneous (SC) route (maintenance dose: 3.5 g/kg/month). The mean Overall Neuropathy Limitations Scale was improved from 11 to 3.2 and the mean Medical Research Council scale from 26 to 90. Conclusion: It is important to distinguish patients with short IVIg efficacy window from those with classical resistance since the former may benefit from fractioning and increasing the IVIg dose. The monitoring of serum IgG level and its correlation to the clinical response could be of help in monitoring each individual's dosage.     

Neuropsychiatric disturbances in presumed late-onset cobalamin C disease

BACKGROUND: Combined methylmalonic aciduria and homocystinuria cobalamin C type (cobalamin C disease) is an inborn metabolic disorder consisting of an impaired intracellular synthesis of the 2 active forms of vitamin B12 (cobalamin), namely, adenosylcobalamin and methylcobalamin, that results in increased levels of methylmalonic acid and homocysteine in the blood and urine. Most patients present in the first year of life with systemic, hematological, and neurological abnormalities. Late-onset forms are rare and had not been comprehensively characterized. They could be easily misdiagnosed. OBJECTIVE: To describe clinical and biochemical features of the disease in 2 siblings affected with presumed late-onset cobalamin C disease. DESIGN: Case report and review of the literature. SETTING: Neurological intensive care unit of a university hospital. OBSERVATION: We describe 2 patients with neurological deterioration due to presumed cobalamin C disease. A 16-year-old girl was initially seen with psychosis and severe progressive neuropathy requiring mechanical ventilatory support and her 24-year-old sister had a 2-year disease course of subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord. A metabolic workup displayed increased methylmalonic acid levels, severe hyperhomocysteinemia, and low plasma methionine levels. The diagnosis was then confirmed by demonstration of impaired synthesis of adenosylcobalamin and methylcobalamin in cultured skin fibroblasts and Epstein-Barr virus-infected lymphocytes. Under specific treatment the younger sister's condition dramatically improved. CONCLUSIONS: Although complementation studies have not been conducted, it is most likely these patients had cobalamin C disease. This study emphasizes the possibility of late-onset disease with purely neurological manifestations. Left untreated, this treatable condition can lead to death or irreversible damage to the nervous system. Screening for intracellular vitamin B12 dysmetabolism should, therefore, be considered in the investigation of adults with unexplained neurological disease, particularly when they are initially seen with a clinical picture suggestive of vitamin B12 deficiency.     

Levodopa-induced dyskinesias in Parkinson's disease: is sensitization reversible?

Levodopa-induced dyskinesias (LIDs) in patients with Parkinson's disease are considered to result from the severity of dopaminergic denervation in the striatum, which is an irrevocable phenomenon, and sensitization induced by long-term intermittent administration of levodopa. Taking advantage of the 64% reduction of levodopa treatment allowed in 12 Parkinson's disease patients by continuous high-frequency stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus, we evaluated the severity of parkinsonian motor disability and LIDs during two levodopa challenges performed before the surgical implantation of the stimulation electrodes and after 8.8 months of continuous bilateral subthalamic nucleus stimulation that was interrupted 2 hours before the levodopa test. Motor disability during the "off" and "on" drug periods was unchanged. The severity of LIDs during the "on" period and dystonia during the "off" period decreased by 54% and 62%, respectively. The reduced severity of LIDs in the absence of subthalamic nucleus stimulation demonstrates that the sensitization phenomenon resulting from long-term intermittent levodopa administration is partially reversible.     

Distinct cytokine profiles associated with COVID-19 severity and mortality

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Orbitofrontal involvement in a neuroCOVID-19 patient

Neurological manifestations of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) such as encephalitis and seizures have been reported increasingly, but our understanding of COVID-19-related brain injury is still limited. Herein we describe prefrontal involvement in a patient with COVID-19 who presented prior anosmia, raising the question of a potential trans-olfactory bulb brain invasion.