Hospital Chronicles

Cardiology News / Literature Review / 2022

Antonios G. Chalapas — 2023-05-10

Cough in Children and Antitussive Drugs in the Office and in Practice

Katerina Salavoura — 2023-05-10

Acute cough is a frequent complaint in pediatric practice. However, there is no acceptable treatment with current knowledge and parents’ common practice is to ask advice from not professional personnel and to use over the counter regimes. This is also a common practice in chronic cough, although the disease has more complex investigation. There are provided data according the etiology and treatment of acute and chronic cough as well as recent literature for anti-tussive medications.

Open Lobectomies and Cardiac Biomarkers

Anna Panagiotou — 2023-05-10

Objective: Troponin is a sensitive biomarker for cardiovascular injury. In lobectomies, perioperative analgesia can be performed with either a combination of thoracic epidural anesthesia and general anesthesia or general anesthesia alone. We wish to demonstrate that patients who receive the former tend to have lower levels of troponin.

Method: In this prospective observational study, we included patients who underwent open lobectomy. Cardiovascular markers were recorded postoperatively, in order to correlate the fluctuation of these markers with the application or not of thoracic epidural anesthesia.

Results: Forty eight (48) patients were enrolled, 15 (31.3%) received a combination of thoracic epidural anesthesia with general anesthesia, while 33 (68.7%) received general anesthesia alone. Patients with epidural anesthesia were found to have significantly lower levels of troponin 12-24 hours after surgery (8.9±4.1 versus 16.8±10.5, p <0.05), while 48 to 72 hours postoperatively, the troponin values of the two groups did not appear to differ (10.7±6.9 vs. 14.8±8.3, p 0.103). Age, sex and body mass index were not found to be significantly associated with the fluctuation of troponin values in this setting.

Conclusion: Patients who undergo open lobectomy receiving a combination of general and thoracic epidural anesthesia appear to maintain lower troponin levels in the immediate postoperative period than patients receiving general anesthesia alone.

A Retrospective Study of 120 Patients with Eczema in Greece

Katerina Salavoura — 2023-05-10

Object ives: Eczema is a common chronic and troublesome disease for the patients and the parents. The knowledge of the process of disease and management of treatment and comorbidities is important.
Methods: This is a retrospective study of 120 patients.
Results : A significant number of patients had sensitization of no clinical importance.
Most of them responded well to hydration treatment and they did not need more sophisticated drugs.
Conclusions: Eczema is a chronic disease with exacerbations and remissions. However,
environmental factors rather than foods and aeroallergens contribute to exacerbations.
Educating parents and patients properly about the hydration of epidermis and the use of anti-inflammatory drugs could help in long term remissions.

Hartmann’s Procedure for Left Side Large Bowel Emergencies

Christos Bartsokas — 2023-05-10

Background: Colonic emergency situations which need an intervention in emergency are quite common, especially in the left side of the abdomen. The aim of this study is to investigate the importance of Hartmann’s procedure, which has been used for years in such cases.

Method: One hundred and fifty-six cases which underwent Hartmann’s procedure due to a left side emergency, either malignant or benign, during over a 15-year period.

Results: One hundred and fifty-six patients met the inclusion criteria in the final analysis. Fifty one point nine percent were operated due to malignancy, most of them at an advanced stage (65,4%). Half of them were treated for colonic perforation.

Conclusion: Left sided large bowel emergencies are mainly caused by complicated cancer and diverticulitis of the left colon. Hartmann’s procedure remains a safe, simple and fast operation with an acceptable percentage of morbidity and mortality. Also, it continues to play a vital role in elderly and severely ill patients.

The Role of Levocarnitine in the Management of Valproic Acid Intoxication: A Case-Based Review

Fotis Panagopoulos — 2023-05-10

The administration of L-carnitine to patients with VPA intoxication and CNS depression with normal ammonia concentrations has a rationale, on the grounds that it is a safe compound with no severe adverse effects reported. Herein, we present a case of valproate poisoning with normal ammonia levels and discuss about the therapeutic as well as the prophylactic potential of L-carnitine administration in such cases.