scholarly journals A Concise Review and Required Precautions for COVID-19 Outbreak in Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Ali Kord ◽  
Behnam Rabiee ◽  
Siwen Wang ◽  
Sara Rostami ◽  
Ron C. Gaba ◽  
...  

A global outbreak of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pneumonia began in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The rapid rise in the case numbers and mortality led to the saturation of hospitals in many countries. COVID-19 patients usually present with fever, fatigue, dry cough, and dyspnea. Given the shortage of diagnostic kits in many countries and very high sensitivity of computed tomography (CT) for diagnosis of COVID-19 in clinically suspicious patients, the chest CT has been implemented among the primary initial methods of diagnosis before the confirmatory laboratory tests. This puts radiologists and radiology staff on the front line of this alarming pandemic. This report summarizes chest CT findings of COVID-19 patients to facilitate diagnosis and reviews a list of necessary precautions and safety measures for diagnostic and interventional radiology personnel. These precautionary plans are extremely important to avoid contamination of the health-care providers, as well as cross-contamination between patients.

Author(s):  
Zahid Hussain Khan ◽  
Ahmed Maki AL-Dulaimi ◽  
Hesam Aldin Varpaei ◽  
Parsa Mohammadi ◽  
Mostafa Mohammadi

Background: The novel coronavirus 2019 is the cause of the 2020 pandemic that was announced by the world health organization in March 2020. The coronavirus attacks the respiratory system and causes mild to severe hypoxemia. Therefore, a fraction of COVID-19 patients may need intubation and mechanical ventilation. Methods: We conducted a narrative review by searching for articles that mentioned the time of intubation for COVID-19 patients and intubation techniques in PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, the Web of scenic, the Cochrane library, and Embase, as well as manual searching. All the selected reviews and studies were limited to humans and the English language. Results: The first data from China shows that 5% of patients require intubation and mechanical ventilation (MV), and there has been considerable debate about the timing of intubation for patients with acute respiratory failure and the technique of intubation. At first, the specialists recommended early intubation. Although we are more familiar with the pathophysiology of coronavirus, the drawbacks and the benefits of early intubation are still controversial. In addition, the intubation process itself is an aerosol-generating procedure and carries a high risk for patients and health care providers. In this review, we aim to review the previous studies and guidelines recommendations related to the time of intubation and intubation technique for COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: Previous research has suggested that early tracheal intubation should be prioritized in severe COVID-19 patients, whereas other studies advocate late intubation due to poor intubation outcomes and weaning difficulties. However, intubation timing should be based on personalized medicine and case-by-case decision making to ensure the best care and benefit of patients. And relying only on theoretical justification may not have good consequences.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Fifi Dwijayanti ◽  
Hendi Setiadi ◽  
Martya Rahmaniati Makful

At the end of 2019, the novel coronavirus (CoV) of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), named SARS- CoV-2 was approved as a microbial agent that causes viral pneumonia in patients who are linked epidemiologically to the seafood market in Wuhan (Wuhan) Hubei province, China [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated the coronavirus or COVID-19 as a pandemic because it has spread globally in the world since March 11, 2020 [2]. There have been more than 8 million cases reported with more than 450 thousand deaths around the world until June 19, 2020 [3]. Indonesia reported the first cases of COVID-19 in early March 2020 and currently 43,803 cases with 2,373 deaths [4]. Indonesia has the highest cases of COVID-19 in Southeast Asia [5]. WHO stated that according to the current evidence, coronavirus is transmitted among people through respiratory droplets and contact routes [6-8]. Droplet transmission is different from airborne disease. Droplet transmission occurs when a person closely contacted (within 1 m) with someone who has respiratory symptoms (e.g. coughing or sneezing,) and was therefore at risk of having his/her mucosae (mouth and nose) or conjunctiva (eyes) exposed to potentially infective respiratory droplets. Droplet transmission may also occur through fomites in the immediate environment around the infected person [9]. Increasing cases occur continuously become alert for our institution as health care providers.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lachezar L. Balabanski

ABSTRACTBackground and objectivesSince the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of imminent concern in March 2020, the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and its related disease (COVID-19) has become a topic of much needed research. This study primarily focused on what effect smoking had on hospitalization; however, asymptomaticity, and severity were discussed.DataData was collected through searches on databases including PubMed and Google Scholar. Eligibility criteria included being RT-PCR verified and including smoking data.DiscussionThis study found that smokers were significantly underrepresented in COVID-19 hospitalization on a purely epidemiological level in some areas, including China and Manhattan, but not others: Seattle, Greater New York City Area, and Italy. Furthermore, smokers were equally represented in asymptomatic populations, but smokers will likely experience a more severe manifestation of the disease if they are symptomatic. Further inquiry into possible mechanisms by which the observed epidemiological effect is necessary, as it has implications for recommendations on loosening restrictions on social distancing measures.Conclusions and RecommendationsThis study recommends that smokers consider themselves to be at higher risk for COVID-19, as they may experience a more severe manifestation of the disease. Health care providers and policy makers should consider smokers at higher risk as well, as there is evidence to claim that smokers may contract a more severe form of COVID-19.


2021 ◽  
pp. 106648072110524
Author(s):  
Maria Sajan ◽  
Kriti Kakar ◽  
Umair Majid

The effects of suicide are both widespread and long-lasting in the lives of those closest to the deceased. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide is the third leading cause of death in adolescents. Some research has shown that families who lose someone to suicide are at a higher risk of complicated grief compared to those bereaving from other types of losses. These risks may be emphasized given the socio-cultural context surrounding suicide that may problematize the grieving process. In this review, we analyzed 58 qualitative studies describing the experiences of family who lost someone to suicide. We discuss how negative social interactions due to cultural views towards suicide impacted their grieving process. We provide an integrative interpretation of the experiences of family who lost someone to suicide across the following themes: social withdrawal, family communication approaches, role change, cultural attitudes, the role of professional support, interactions with health care providers, and interactions with religious institutions. We examine these findings using the Assumptive World Theory which proposes that humans seek preservation of their reality by using their perceptions of the past to establish expectations for the future. We find that suicide loss is an experience that challenges people's assumptive worlds; suicide loss can be an unexpected trauma that can have a “shock effect” on the assumptive worlds of the bereaved. The assumptive worlds of relatives grieving suicide loss face unique challenges compared to other forms of bereavement because of ambiguity in social norms surrounding suicide that influence interactions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vijayan Sharmila ◽  
Thirunavukkarasu Arun Babu

: Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak was first reported from China in December 2019, and World Health Organization declared the outbreak as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. The number of confirmed cases is rising alarmingly in most countries across all continents over the past few months. The current COVID-19 pandemic has an immense impact on Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) with disruptions in regular provision of Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services such as maternal care, safe abortion services, contraception, prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Other aspects that merit attention include probable increase in domestic violence, sexual abuse, and effects of stigma associated with coronavirus infection on SRH clients and health care providers. Furthermore, as the coronavirus infection is relatively new, only minimal data is available to understand the impact of this disease on SRH, including coronavirus infection complicating pregnancies, and in people with STI/HIV-related immunosuppression. There is a serious necessity for the medical fraternity to generate psycho-social and clinico-epidemiological correlations between coronavirus disease and SRHR outcomes. The article reviews the hidden impact of coronavirus pandemic on sexual and reproductive health and rights of women, particularly in India


2007 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Winslade ◽  
N Winslade ◽  
R Chou ◽  
S Burbine ◽  
B Hawkins ◽  
...  

In 2001 the Canadian Examiners of Optometry mandated the Competence Committee to describe the competencies required of Canadian Optometrists to provide safe and effective optometric care. The goal of this work was to provide a framework for revision of the Canadian Standard Assessment in Optometry so that questions on this exam could be directly linked to the practise-requirements of Canadian Optometrists. Work from the World Health Organization (WHO) provided an excellent foundation for the Competence Committee’s deliberations, emphasizing that Optometrists have professional responsibilities beyond providing eye and vision care. The Competence Committee followed WHO’s framework and identified four critical roles of Optometrists. These roles relate to: i. providing eye and vision care; ii. collaborating with and referring to other health care providers; iii. managing their practice, and; iv. educating within their profession. A second set of general attributes was also identified. These general attributes are needed to successfully perform the majority of the professional competencies. The Competence Committee identified five underlying general attributes: knowledge, reasoning and skills; planning and implementation; communication; values and ethics; and, selfdirected learning. The next article in this four part series provides the detailed descriptions of these professional competencies and underlying general attributes required of Canadian Optometrists.


Author(s):  
Roshni Kumari ◽  
Kumari Pragati Nanda ◽  
Hena Firdaus ◽  
Soumen Dey

The outbreak of coronavirus disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is declared pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO) keeping in view its infection rate and toxicity level. The entire world is struggling hard to survive the prevailing health emergency. The authors realise the urgent need of contributing an overview of the present scenario to the researchers who are breathlessly trying to combat this pandemic situation. This review aimed at binding all the scattered data and research available till now on COVID-19 disease starting from its origin to transmission and spread through environmental factors till treatment and the safety measures that should be implemented. This article would possibly help the readers by providing an outlook of current scenario on various perspectives of COVID-19 disease at a single glance. The types, origin and toxicity caused are discussed in brief. The role of contaminated aerosols (viral-laden smoke from tobacco, cigarettes), wastewater, fomites, human and faecal matter are important in spreading the novel coronavirus in the environment. There is no specific treatment till date but clinical trials and diagnosis on several known drugs are on-going. The precaution and safety measures could hopefully reduce number of infections and mortality. The number of infected cases confirmed till 2 August 2020 was 17660523 with 680894 deaths in the world. We tried in this review article to summarize the scattered data available on biochemistry of SARS-CoV-2, environmental spread of virus and the safety measures to combat COVID-19 pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (36) ◽  
pp. 3188-3191
Author(s):  
Rajasbala Pradeep Dhande ◽  
Suresh Vasant Phatak ◽  
Gaurav Ved Prakash Mishra ◽  
Vaishali Patil Dhawan ◽  
Soumya Jain

On January 30, 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), formerly known as the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), was declared as a global health emergency by the World Health Organization. Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Imaging plays an essential role in the evaluation of Covid-19, with chest computed tomography (CT) being the major modality in diagnosing and managing Covid-19 pneumonia. Common signs of Covid-19 pneumonia on chest CT scan are ground-glass opacities, consolidation, nodules, and linear opacities, halo and reverse halo signs. It can be accompanied by a “crazy-paving” pattern, air bronchograms, pleural hypertrophy, and pleural effusion. Cavitations are known to occur but are rare presentations. There are cases reported in the literature of the development of pulmonary cavity after bacterial infection in the late recovery stage in SARS patients. We present a case report of this rare entity in Covid-19 infection in a previously stable patient


2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2 (Supp)) ◽  
pp. 264-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Praveen Kulkarni ◽  
Sudhir Prabhu ◽  
Sunil Kumar ◽  
Balaji Ramraj

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a humanitarian emergency. World Health Organization (WHO) and National Governments are making their best efforts to prevent the spread of disease. But a global epidemic of misinformation which is rapidly spreading through social media platforms and other outlets is posing serious problem to the public health interventions. This rapid spread of all sorts of information pertaining to the epidemic which makes its solution difficult is termed as infodemic. Infodemic creates fear, confusion and stigmatization among people and makes them more vulnerable to practice the measures which are not evidence based and scientifically sound. Hence there is an urgent need to identify the source of misinformation and prevent them from further spreading. WHO and the government of India have taken several steps in controlling this problem but there is a need for active involvement of social media companies, professional bodies, health care providers and general public in identification of misinformation and combating its spread.


Author(s):  
David C. Currow ◽  
Stein Kaasa

Hospice and palliative care services have developed in very different ways around the world. Most have been built on the momentum of visionary clinicians and funders who have responded to perceived needs from health-care providers, patients, families, and communities rather than in response to well-formed national policies with an adequately funded planning and development phase. This chapter describes the work that is being done at pan-national, national, and sub-national levels to create effective policies that can further the key work of hospice/palliative care, often after a large number of apparently unconnected local services have been well established. The chapter highlights that there are particular challenges in forming public policy on hospice/palliative care, especially the end-of-life component, and notes the importance of ‘patients’ voices’-the voice of the community which helps to inform health policies including end-of-life care. The chapter ends by describing a variety of country-specific and World Health Organization policy documents and legislation.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document