May 22, 2020 - a podcast by COVID19LST

Your daily COVID-19 LST Report:

— Climate:  A letter to the editor exploring the ethics of the fast-tracked review process of COVID-19 papers currently being utilized by many scientific journals during the pandemic. The authors argue that faster publication of COVID-19-related data does not outweigh the risks of publishing possibly erroneous and lower quality papers. The authors call for a return to the normal review process to uphold publication ethics.

— Epidemiology: 

- The authors report the results of a two-center cross sectional study in Wuhan, China, that revealed high rates of lower extremity deep venous thrombosis (DVT) (41 of n = 48) in critically ill COVID-19-positive ICU patients. Incidence of DVT was not significantly associated with mortality.

- Analysis of over 43 million person-weeks of hospitalization data from the Kaiser Permanente Northern California system found that the weekly rates of hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction declined by up to 48% during the COVID-19 period when compared to both pre-COVID-19 months in 2020 and the same time period in 2019.

— Understanding the Pathology:  The Respiratory Translational Research Group at the University of Tasmania responds to a recent finding that nicotine induces an increase in angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) expression in human bronchial epithelial cells. The authors posit all electronic nicotine-delivery systems may increase the risk of infection, transmission, and progression of COVID-19. They urge the World Health Organization and all countries take action to reduce smoking, vaping and water pipe use until more research is done.

— Management:  A 59 y/o female was found unresponsive and brought to the ED where ECG showed ST-elevations and chest CT showed diffuse bilateral infiltrates concerning an infectious etiology. Given unknown COVID-19  status, risk of catheterization laboratory staff exposure, and risk of deferring evaluation of her coronary artery disease to a later time, a CorPath robotic intervention arm was used to perform a percutaneous coronary intervention and minimize potential COVID-19 transmission. The patient was successfully discharged 5 days later.

— Guidelines  and Recommendations:  End of life comfort care, organ donation, and tracheostomy protocol. 

— Visit COVID19LST.org for our full report with links to the articles.

— Reach out to us at: contact@covid19lst.org

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