Search

Objectives: An unprecedented wave of patients with acute respiratory failure due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) disease 2019 (COVID-19) hit emergency departments (EDs) in Lombardy, starting in the second half of February 2020. This study describes the direct and indirect impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak on an urban major-hospital ED. Methods: Data regarding all patients diagnosed with COVID-19 presenting from February 1 to March 31, 2020, were prospectively collected, while data regarding non-COVID patients presenting within the same period in 2019 were retrospectively retrieved. Results: ED attendance dropped by 37% in 2020. Two-thirds of this reduction occurred early after the identification of the first autochthonous COVID-19 case in Lombardy, before lockdown measures were enforced. Hospital admissions of non-COVID patients fell by 26%. During the peak of COVID-19 attendance, the ED faced an extraordinary increase in: patients needing oxygen (+239%) or noninvasive ventilation (+725%), transfers to the intensive care unit (+57%), and in-hospital mortality (+309%), compared with the same period in 2019. Conclusions: The COVID-19 outbreak determined an unprecedented upsurge in respiratory failure cases and mortality. Fear of contagion triggered a spontaneous, marked reduction of ED attendance, and, presumably, some as yet unknown quantity of missed or delayed diagnoses for conditions other than COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Gonadotroph adenomas are pituitary adenomas with inefficient and variable secretory characteristics, that is why they are usually considered as a subgroup of nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas (NFPA) and are recognized only at immunohistochemistry. When gonadotroph adenomas secrete active hormones, they may cause spontaneous ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) in premenopausal women. Aim of our study is to describe three women with OHSS diagnosed before the removal of the adenoma and to calculate the prevalence of OHSS in premenopausal women with a clinical diagnosis of NFPA. Methods: We reviewed clinical records of premenopausal women that underwent neurosurgery for NFPA at our centre between 1993 and 2014. OHSS was diagnosed in patients with high levels of FSH, suppressed LH, hyperestrogenism, abdominal symptoms, polymenorrhea, enlarged ovaries with cysts or previous surgery for ovarian cysts. Results: 171 women were included into the study; 62 (36.6%) had a gonadotroph adenoma diagnosed at immunohistochemistry. Two patients were retrospectively diagnosed as having OHSS due to gonadotroph adenoma and three had OHSS diagnosed before neurosurgery. The prevalence of OHSS was 2.9% in the overall group of patients with NFPA and 8.1% among patients with a gonadotroph adenoma detected at immunohistochemistry. Conclusions: Frequency of OHSS due to a gonadotroph adenoma is not negligible. Increased awareness of the characteristic clinical and hormonal picture should permit an early detection of this condition in premenopausal women with a pituitary adenoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]