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Gastrointestinal angiodysplasia (GIAD) is the presence of aberrant blood vessels in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract that can lead to GI bleeding. There has been an increase in the incidence of GI angiodysplasia, partly due to the availability of better diagnostic techniques. The cecum is known as the most common site for GIAD; therefore, GIAD is considered a frequent cause of lower GI bleeding. Studies have shown an increasing incidence of GIAD in the upper GI tract and jejunum. No population-based studies exist on inpatient outcomes of GIAD-bleeding (GIADB) in recent years, and no prior studies have compared the inpatient outcomes of upper vs lower GIADB. We identified 321,559 weighted hospitalizations and found a 32% increase in GIADB-related hospitalizations from 2011 to 2020. There were more hospitalizations for upper (57.38%) than lower GIADB (42.62%), indicating GIADB is an important cause of upper GI bleeding as well. No statistically significant difference in mortality was found between upper and lower GIADB cohorts; however, lower GIADB was associated with a 0.2-day longer length of stay (95% confidence interval 0.09–0.30, P

Worsening hiatus hernia (HH) symptoms have been well recognized as a complication of gastric banding, however, it has not yet been explored whether gastric banding plays a role in the development of HH de novo in patients undergoing gastric banding. From the 696 studies identified, five studies met the eligibility criteria and were included. Data was extracted from PubMed, Embase, Medline, HMIC, and Web of Science databases. The pooled complication rate was evaluated along with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). The meta-analysis was performed using the Cochrane RevMan tool (Cochrane, London, UK). Heterogeneity was tested using the I

Background Tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) is a life‐threatening oncologic emergency associated with fatal complications including arrhythmia. The epidemiology and mortality outcomes of arrhythmia in TLS are scarcely studied in the literature. Methods We used the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) to study the prevalence and outcome of arrhythmia in patients hospitalized with TLS (ICD‐9 code 277.88) from 2009 to 2014. Baseline characteristics, burden of arrhythmia, and pertinent outcomes were analyzed. Multivariable regression analysis was performed to identify the impact of underlying malignancy in predicting TLS‐related mortality. Results A total of 9034 cases of arrhythmia among 37 861 TLS patients were identified. More than half of the arrhythmia cases (67%) were found among white old (>65) males admitted to large bed size and urban teaching hospitals. Arrhythmic cohort showed higher frequency of comorbidities such as fluid‐electrolyte disturbances, hypertension, congestive heart failure, renal failure, dyslipidemia, diabetes, pulmonary circulatory disorders, chronic pulmonary disease, coagulopathy, and deficiency anemia. The most common malignancies were leukemia, lymphoma, metastatic tumor, and solid tumor without metastasis. We found significantly higher odds of in‐hospital mortality among patients with TLS compared to general inpatient population on unadjusted (OR 9.69, 95% CI: 9.27‐10.13, P, A total of 23.9% of (n = 9034) encounters with arrhythmia were identified, out of 37 861 TLS‐related hospitalizations. The trends in the prevalence of arrhythmia were stable with rates ranging from 19.8% to 25.8%, with the highest frequency recorded in 2014 (25.8%) (Figure 1A). Atrial fibrillation (13.6%) was the most common arrhythmia followed by ventricular tachycardia in 2.6% of patients (Figure 1B).

To analyze the sex-based differences in the prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors and outcomes in older patients with prediabetes using demographically matched national cohorts of hospitalized patients aged ≥65 years.We queried the 2007-2014 National Inpatient Database to identify older patients (65 years) admitted with prediabetes using ICD-9 Clinical Modification codes. The older patients were then subcategorized based on sex. Comparative analyses of their baseline characteristics, the prevalence of cardiovascular(CV) disease comorbidities, hospitalization outcomes, and mortality rates were performed on propensity-matched cohorts for demographics.A total of 1,197,978 older patients with prediabetes (599,223 males; mean age 75years and 598,755 females; mean age 76years) were identified. Higher admission rates were found commonly among older white males (84.1%) and females (81.7%). Prediabetic older males showed a higher frequency of cardiovascular comorbidities compared to females. Prediabetic older males had higher all-cause in-hospital mortality (4.2% vs. 3.6%, p0.001), acute myocardial infarction (7.0% vs. 4.7%, p0.001), arrhythmia (36.3% vs. 30.5%, p0.001), stroke (4.8% vs. 4.6%, p0.001), venous thromboembolism (3.3% vs. 3.0%, p0.001) and percutaneous coronary intervention (3.1% vs. 1.5%, p0.001) compared to females.Our analysis revealed that among older patients hospitalized with prediabetes, males suffered worse in-hospital CV outcomes and survival rates compared to females.

Patients with COVID-19 present with a myriad of comorbidities. An immunocompromised state like HIV in patients with COVID-19 can be life-threatening. We searched PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science for case reports and case series about COVID-19 in HIV patients. We finally reviewed 20 case reports including cases of 43 patients with HIV and COVID-19. The mean age of 43 adult patients was 51.56 ± 27.56 years (range 24–76 years). Of these, 30 were male (69.77%), 11 were female (25.58%), and 2 were transgender (4.65%). A total of 25 patients (58.14%) were above 50 years of age. The most common cardiovascular comorbidities were hypertension and hyperlipidemia (48.8%), diabetes (20.93%), and morbid obesity (11.63%). Out of 43 HIV patients with COVID-19, 6 resulted in death (13.95%). All the patients who died were elderly above 50 years and required mechanical ventilation. HIV patients infected with COVID-19 had a high mortality rate. A high burden of pre-existing comorbidities and an advanced age in these patients make them prone to disease progression and worse outcomes.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has a myriad of different presentations and various complications. Aortitis is one of the less explored pathologies associated with COVID-19 infections. In this review, we searched PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Scopus for case series and case reports involving adults patients who presented with aortitis and COVID-19. We found and reviewed four published case reports of aortitis in a setting of COVID-19 infection. The mean age of the four adult patients was 69 ± 1.732 years (range = 63-71 years), and all patients were males. Most of the patients (75%) did not have any preexisting comorbidities. All patients were treated conservatively and recovered with excellent outcomes.

Background Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) can be associated with complications, including precipitation of peri-procedural myocardial ischemia. However, data regarding the trends and impact of previous myocardial infarction (MI) and/or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) on ERCP outcomes remains unknown. Methods Using the National Inpatient Sample (2007-2014) and relevant ICD-9-CM codes, we identified adults who underwent ERCP with (Group 1) and without (Group 2) prior history of MI/PCI/CABG, and compared their demographics, comorbidities, and inpatient outcomes. Primary endpoints were inpatient mortality and post-ERCP complications. The secondary endpoints were discharge disposition, the mean length of stay, and total hospital charges. Results Of 1,374,773 ERCP procedures performed, 120,418 (8.8%) were performed in adult patients with a prior history of MI/PCI/CABG with an increasing trend from 2007-2014 (7.5% to 9.5%, ptrend=0.022). Group 1 consisted of older, white, males compared to Group 2. Group 1 demonstrated a higher prevalence of all-cause mortality (1.7% vs. 1.5%, p

Introduction: COVID-19 has been linked to cardiac damage and life-threatening pericardial complication on which data are trivial which incited us to perform this review of published case reports. Methods: PubMed/Medline, Web of Science and SCOPUS were searched until June 2020 for case reports on COVID-19-associated pericarditis, cardiac tamponade or pericardial effusion. Results: We identified 8 articles reporting 11 COVID-19 positive cases [mean age: 51.4±14.3 (34-78 yrs) 5 male/6 female)] with pericardial complications. All (100%) cases were COVID-19 positive at the presentation with ~80% having dyspnea, chest pain and cough. Time interval from first symptom to pericardial effusion was 7±8 (1-26) days. Five patients reported heart failure with reduced EF on echocardiography with mean LVEF 36.25%±8.54%. All patients showed nearly normal Troponin-I without angiographically significant stenosis except one. Out of 8 cases on echocardiography 4 cases reported with diffuse hypokinesia, 2 reported inferior and inferolateral walls hypokinesia and 2 reported signs of pericardial tamponade. Out of 11 patients, cardiovascular risk factors in the form of diabetes or hypertension or obesity were present in 5 patients. Cardiovascular comorbidities such as heart failure with low ejection fraction, non-ischemic cardiomyopathy and prior myocarditis were present in 3 patients. ST-segment elevation in 3, sinus tachycardia in 2, T wave inversion in 1 case were noted. Four patients developed cardiac tamponade, 1 developed takotsubo syndrome and 3 patients died. Conclusions: COVID-19 patients had signs of a high burden of cardiac injury. Pericardial complications (pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade) remain infrequent complications which may require prompt care to avoid mortality.

Introduction: Literature reported cardiac tamponade in patients with influenza virus infection, which incited us to understand patient-level demographics, courses and outcomes. Methods: Systematic literature search was performed until May 2020 to review post-influenza cardiac tamponade cases. Results: Twenty five publications reported 28 patients (M:F::12:15, age range: 4-69 yrs, 9 pediatric) who had post-influenza cardiac tamponade as shown in Table 1 . Nine (32.1%) patients had dyspnea and 7 (25%) had chest pain. Onset of tamponade after flu ranged from 1 day-6 weeks. 22 (78.5%) and 3 (10.7%) were infected with Influenza A and B strains respectively. Troponin-T (n=7) ranged from 0.03 ng/dL-10.50 ng/dL. Twelve (42.8%) patients were treated with influenza therapy; 8 (28.5%) with Pseltamivir, 2 (7.1%) with Oseltamivir followed by Peramivir, 1 (3.5%) with Zanamivir, 1 (3.5%) with Zanamivir followed by Peramivir. Pericardiocentesis was done in 25 (89.2%) patients. Seventeen (57.1%) patients required mechanical circulatory/respiratory support: 13 intubations, 3 ECMO, 2 CPR, 1 external defibrillation and 1 noninvasive ventilation. Twenty-three (82.1%) patients recovered while 4 (14.2%) patients died. Conclusion: This systematic review of patient-level data showed high recovery rate with early diagnosis and timely pericardiocentesis and nearly 14% of mortality rate.

Introduction: Tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) is a life-threatening oncologic emergency. Epidemiology and mortality outcomes of arrhythmia in TLS are scarcely studied in the literature. Methods: We used the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) to study the prevalence and outcome of arrhythmia in patients hospitalized with TLS (ICD-9 code 277.88) from 2009-2014. Multivariable regression was performed to analyze TLS-related mortality. Results: A total of 9034 cases of arrhythmia among 37,861 TLS patients were identified. The trends in the prevalence of arrhythmia were stable with rates ranging from 19.8% to 25.8%, with the highest frequency recorded in 2014 (25.8%) (Fig. 1A). Atrial fibrillation (13.6%) was the most common arrhythmia followed by ventricular tachycardia in 2.6% of the patients (Fig. 1B). Sixty-seven percent of arrhythmias were among white old (>65) males. Arrhythmic cohort showed a higher frequency of comorbidities like fluid-electrolyte disturbances, congestive heart failure, renal failure, pulmonary circulatory disorders, deficiency anemias, etc. The most common malignancies were leukemia and lymphoma. Overall in-hospital mortality (32% vs 21.3%), the median length of stay (11 vs. 9 days) and hospital charges were higher among arrhythmic TLS patients. Conclusions: In this population-based analysis, arrhythmia in TLS was associated with higher odds of mortality and increased resource utilization. Strategies to improve the management of TLS to prevent arrhythmia is of utmost importance.