ObjectiveTo analyze the clinical features of Legionella-associated cavitary pneumonia, and to explore the diagnosis, treatment planning, and clinical management of patients.MethodsThe data of a patient with severe Legionella-associated cavitary pneumonia were collected and analyzed. Databases including PubMed, Ovid, Wanfang, VIP and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure were searched for pertinent literatures, using the keyword "Legionella, lung abscess or cavitary pneumonia" in Chinese and English from Jan. 1990 to Jun. 2019. The related literature was reviewed.ResultsA 60-year-old male patient was admitted to hospital because of fever, cough, and expectoration for five days. On presentation, his temperature was 38.3 °C, and pulmonary auscultation revealed rales on the left side of the lungs. Culture of lower airway secretions obtained by bronchoscopy revealed Legionella pneumophila infection, and serotype 6. Chest computerized tomography showed a consolidation in the left lung and an abscess in the left upper lobe. The patient was discharged from the hospital after three months of anti-Legionella treatment (Mosfloxacin, Azithromycin, etc.). Fifteen manuscripts, including 18 cases, were retrieved from databases. With the addition of our case, a total of 19 cases were analyzed in detail. There were 15 males and four females, aged from 4 months to 73 years old. Most of them (14/19, 73.7%) were accompanied by multiple underlying diseases. Initial empiric antimicrobial therapy failed in 15 (78.9%) cases, and 7 (36.8%) patients required combination therapy. The courses of antimicrobial treatment were from 3 to 49 weeks. All except one patient were fully recovered and discharged from hospital.ConclusionsLegionella pneumonia with pulmonary abscess or cavity is rare and often presents with fever. Pulmonary imaging shows infiltration in the initial, but can be free of cavities or abscesses. Most patients have basic diseases. Severe patients often need to be treated in combination with antibiotics for long periods of time.
Diabetes retinopathy (DR) is listed as one of the chronic diseases that should be focused on in the “14th Five-Year” National Eye Health Plan (2021-2025). Early screening is one of the effective measures to reduce blindness caused by DR. Establishing an efficient and practical community screening model is a powerful guarantee for completing early screening. The Ocular Fundus Diseases Group of the Ophthalmology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association has led the development of Expert consensus on community screening of diabetic retinopathy among DR community screening experts that is suitable for the current national situation, in order to guide and promote the further improvement of DR community screening work in China. This Expert Consensus provides detailed specifications on the current domestic trend of DR, the necessity of screening, the role of artificial intelligence grading, screening process, and quality control. This interpretation further emphasizes the importance of DR community screening, while emphasizing the responsibilities of different departments in the screening process. Finally, recommendations are provided for the sustainability of DR community screening. It is hoped that the screening rate of DR in China can be improved and blindness can be reduced by DR through Expert consensus on community screening of diabetic retinopathy and interpretation of the content.
Objective To highlight the characteristics of acute fibrinous and organizing pneumonia ( AFOP) . Methods The clinical, radiological and pathological data of two patients with AFOP were analyzed, and relevant literature was reviewed. Results Two male patients with the age of 48 years and 43 years presented with fever, cough, dyspnea and chest pain. The chest CT scan revealed multiple, bilateral, patchy consolidation distributing in peripheral areas in one case and consolidation in the middle lobe of the right lung and a little pleural effusion in another case. Two patients were diagnosed initially as community acquired pneumonia, but antibiotic treatment was ineffective. After the transbronchial lung biopsy and computed tomography guided percutaneous lung biopsy, pathological examination revealed there were numerous fibrin and organizing tissue in the alveoli without pulmonary hyaline membrane, which were consistent with AFOP. The patients showed significant clinical and radiological improvement after corticosteroid therapy. One patient was stable and the other one died of respiratory failure because of relapse during dose reduction of corticosteroids. Conclusions Patients of AFOP were misdiagnosed as pneumonia easily. Treatment with corticosteroids could be effective to some patients. If the antibiotic treatment was ineffective to the patient with fever and consolidation in the lungs, AFOP should be considered in the differential diagnosis.
Objective To determine the role of serum cystatin C in evaluating the severity and predicting in-hospital mortality in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Methods The clinical data of 176 patients with CAP treated between January 2015 and October 2016 were collected in a retrospective way. The CURB-65 score was used to assess the severity. The serum levels of cystatin C and C-reactive protein (CRP) on admission were measured. The correlations between cystatin C and CURB-65 score and between cystatin C and CRP were calculated. Receiver operating characteristic curve was used to determine the ability of cystatin C in predicting in-hospital mortality. Results The serum level of cystatin C increased with the increasing CURB-65 score (P<0.001). The serum level of cystatin C was correlated positively with CRP level (rs=0.190, P<0.011). There were 22 patients died in hospital, the mean serum cystatin C level of non-survivor was significantly higher than that of survivors [(1.51±0.56)vs. (1.02±0.29) mg/L, P<0.001]. At a cut-off 1.18 mg/L, the sensitivity and specificity of cystatin C in predicting in-hospital mortality were 68.18% and 81.17%, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.793. The combination of cystatin C and CRP increased the predictive accuracy for in-hospital mortality. Conclusion Cystatin C level increases with the increaseing severity of CAP, and it may be a clinical biomarker to evaluate the severity and prognosis of patients with CAP.
ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical efficacy of low molecular weight heparin on community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). MethodsA total of 78 patients with CAP admitted to hospital between January 2013 and March 2015 were randomly assigned into a conventional treatment group and a heparin treatment group. Both groups received anti-infection and symptomatic treatment, and the patients in heparin treatment group additionally received low molecular weight heparin by abdominal subcutaneous injection once daily for a course with seven days. The age, sex and severity of the disease were recorded. White blood cell (WBC) count and the levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were measured on and during admission. ResultsThe baseline information including age and sex, severity of illness, CRP, ESR and WBC counts on admission and the first treatment day had no difference between two groups (P > 0.05). CRP and ESR on day 3 after treatment and WBC counts on day 7 after treatment in the heparin treatment group were significantly more decreased than those in the conventional treatment group (P < 0.05). For the moderate and severe CAP patients, the level of CRP on day 3 after treatment and WBC counts on day 7 after treatment in the heparin treatment group were significant lower than those in the conventional treatment group (P < 0.05). ConclusionCombination therapy of low molecular weight heparin may improve the clinical efficacy of CAP.
Non-directly affiliated hospitals are an important supplement to directly affiliated hospitals of medical colleges in China. Considering the problems of teaching consciousness, school running form and teachers construction in non-directly affiliated hospitals, this paper takes the medical personnel training of a non-directly affiliated hospital which is subordinate to Shenzhen Luohu Hospital Group as an example, in order to analyze the related exploration methods of non-directly affiliated hospitals under the development of hospital collectivization, and put forward a trinity training mode of general practitioners, which is “medical college-non-directly affiliated hospital-community health center”. This paper further discusses the challenges and possible solutions faced by non-directly affiliated hospitals in the new era.
ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical characteristics and predicting factors for death in critically ill patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). MethodA total of 143 hospitalized patients with severe CAP between January 2009 and December 2012 were included and their clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. According to the clinical outcome, patients were divided into survival group and death group, and their clinical features and laboratory test results were compared, and multivariate regression analysis was conducted to search for predicting factors for death. ResultsIn this study, a total of 118 patients survived and 25 patients died, and the mortality rate was 17.5%. The number of underlying diseases in the two groups were different, and death group had more patients with 3 kinds of diseases than the survival group[76.0% (19/25) vs. 22.8% (13/57), P<0.05]. The intubation rate in the death group was significantly higher than that in the survival group[84.0% (21/25) vs. 33.1% (39/118), P<0.05], and the arterial blood pH value (7.15±0.52 vs. 7.42±0.17, P<0.05), HCO3- concentration[(18.07±6.25) vs. (25.07±5.44) mmol/L, P<0.05], PaO2[(58.92±35.18) vs. (85.92±32.19) mm Hg (1 mm Hg=0.133 kPa), P<0.05] and PaO2/FiO2[(118.23±98.02) vs. (260.17±151.22) mm Hg, P<0.05)] in the death group were significantly lower than those in the survival group. And multivariate regression analysis indicated that the number of underlying diseases[OR=0.202, 95%CI (0.198, 0.421), P=0.003], PaO2[OR=1.203, 95%CI (1.193, 1.294), P=0.011] and PaO2/FiO2[OR=0.956, 95%CI (0.927, 0.971), P=0.008] were independent predictors of death in the patients with severe pneumonia. ConclusionsPatients who died of severe pneumonia often had severe illnesses before admission, and the number of underlying diseases and PaO2 have highly predictive value for death.
ObjectiveTo explore the differential diagnosis value of airspace consolidation in thoracic CT between organizing pneumonia (OP) and acquired community pneumonia (CAP).MethodsA retrospective study was taken by retrieving the patients CT database from October 2010 to August 2016. Fifty-six consecutive patients with OP and 99 consecutive patients with CAP whose CT showed airspace consolidation were enrolled and their clinical characteristics and radiological characteristics were analyzed.ResultsThe percentage of patients whose CT image showed various amount of air bronchogram (ABG) with different shapes is higher in OP group than that in CAP group (87.5% and 72.7% respectively, χ2=4.558, P=0.033). The median and interquartile range amount of ABG in the OP patients were significantly higher than those in CAP group [4 (ranged from 2 to 8) and 2 (ranged from 0 to 4) respectively, z=3.640, P=0.000]. Morphologically, 58.9% of the OP patients showed entire air bronchogram (EABG) on the thoracic CT, significantly higher than that in CAP group (21.2%) (χ2=22.413, P=0.000). Interrupted ABG was found in 26.3% of CAP patients, while 16.1% of OP patients shared same features and the difference was not statistically significant (χ2=2.125, P=0.148). Traction bronchiectasis and ground glass opacity (GGO) were more likely to be found in the OP patients rather than CAP patients with 26.8% and 39.3% respectively, while they were found in 1.0% and 11.1% in the CAP patients (P<0.05). Reversed halo sign was found only 1.0% of the CAP patients, significantly lower than that in OP group, 26.8% (χ2=25.671, P=0.000). Pleural effusion and bronchial wall thickening were more commonly found in the CAP group with 56.6% and 35.4% respectively. By multivariate logistic analysis, EABG (OR=5.526, P=0.000), traction bronchiectasis (OR=21.564, P=0.010), GGO (OR=4.657, P=0.007) and reversed halo sign (OR=13.304, P=0.023) were significantly associated with OP, while pleural effusion (OR=0.380, P=0.049) and bronchial wall thickening (OR=0.073, P=0.008) were significantly associated with CAP. Other features in thoracic CT coexisting with ABG all reach significance statistically between the OP and CAP group (all P<0.05).ConclusionsAirspace consolidation in thoracic CT may be valuable for the differential diagnosis between OP and CAP. EABG is more commonly found in OP patients than in CAP patients. When EABG exists or ABG coexists with traction bronchiectasis, GGO and reversed halo sign, a diagnose of OP should be considered.
Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of nutritional support with different proportion of fat on the prognosis of patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia (SCAP). Methods Ninety SCAP patients with nutritional risk treated between January 2014 and July 2015 were randomized into high, normal, and low-proportion fat groups with 30 patients in each. The patients in different groups underwent nutritional support with different fat proportion besides the same medication. Data of albumin, pre-albumin and transferrin were collected and analyzed before treatment and 10 days after treatment. The mortality rates were compared between groups. Results Albumin, pre-albumin and transferrin were similar in all groups before intervention (P>0.05); albumin, pre-albumin and transferrin increased significantly 10 days after treatment in each group (P<0.05). Patients in the normal-fat group acquired significantly more obvious improvements on each index (P<0.05). A shorter length of stay in hospital was observed in the normal-proportion fat group compared with the high and low-proportion fat groups, but there was no significant differences among groups (P>0.05). On the 10th day, the normal -proportion fat proportion group had a significantly higher cure rate and a significantly lower mortality rate than the other two groups (P<0.05). The improvement rate was similar in all groups (P>0.05). Conclusion Supportive treatment with normal fat proportion has a promising value in the improvement of albumin, pre-albumin and transferrin for SCAP patients with a shorter length of stay in hospital, which is worthy of clinical promotion.
Objective To investigate the relationship between the red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and the severity of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Methods The clinical data of 285 adult patients with CAP admitted from November 2014 to August of 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. The severity of CAP was evaluated by pneumonia severity index (PSI) score. Meanwhile, 60 cases with qualified medical examination were collected as a healthy control group. The distributions of PSI score, RDW, procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP) and neutrophil percentage (NEU%) were described in the patients with different risk degree. The correlation analysis of various indicators were analyzed by Spearman correlation. The threshold of RDW(%) was calculated through the construction of the general linear regression equation. The risk factors of PSI score were analyzed with multiple linear regression. Results The higher the risk stratification, the higher the distribution of PSI scores, RDW, PCT, CRP and NEU% were. RDW was positively correlated with PCT, CRP, and NEU% (r values were 0.417, 0.252, 0.318, respectively, P<0.05). PSI score was positively correlated with RDW, PCT, CRP, and NEU% (r values were 0.537,0.598, 0.557, 0.482, respectively, P<0.05). RDW was positively correlated with PSI score (r=0.537, P<0.05). The thresholds of RDW(%) were 14.514 and 19.041. Multiple linear regression showed that RDW, PCT, CRP and NEU% were all influential factors of PSI scores and explained 46.9% of the total mutation rate. Conclusion RDW is correlated with the severity of CAP, and can predict the severity of CAP.