Search

Copyright of Revista Española de Quimioterapia is the property of Sociedad Espanola de Quimioterapia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: The clinical presentation of COVID‐19 ranges from a mild, self‐limiting disease, to multiple organ failure and death. Most severe COVID‐19 cases present low lymphocytes counts and high leukocytes counts, and accumulated evidence suggests that in a subgroup of patients presenting severe COVID‐19, there may be a hyperinflammatory response driving a severe hypercytokinaemia which may be, at least in part, signalling the presence of an underlying endothelial dysfunction. In this context, available data suggest a prognostic role of neutrophil‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in various inflammatory diseases and oncological processes. Following this rationale, we hypothesized that NLR, as a marker of endothelial dysfunction, may be useful in identifying patients with a poor prognosis in hospitalized COVID‐19 cases. Design: A retrospective observational study performed at Hospital Universitario HM Puerta del Sur, Madrid, Spain, which included 119 patients with COVID‐19 from 1 March to 31 March 2020. Patients were categorized according to WHO R&D Expert Group. Results: Forty‐five (12.1%) patients experienced severe acute respiratory failure requiring respiratory support. Forty‐seven (12.6%) patients died. Those with worse outcomes were older (P =.002) and presented significantly higher NLR at admission (P =.001), greater increase in Peak NLR (P <.001) and higher increasing speed of NLR (P =.003) compared with follow‐up patients. In a multivariable logistic regression, age, cardiovascular disease and C‐reactive protein at admission and Peak NLR were significantly associated with death. Conclusions: NLR is an easily measurable, available, cost‐effective and reliable parameter, which continuous monitoring could be useful for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID‐19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Lumbar puncture (LP) is a frequent procedure during the neonatal period. Correctly performing this technique can avoid many of its complications., Objective: To evaluate the LP procedure in neonates in Spanish hospitals, studying the type of material and the sedation-analgesia used., Material and Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted in Spain gathering data through a survey research distributed by email through the Segurneo-SEN Hospital Network and the Spanish Neonatal Society. Data on the LP technique in neonates were collected., Results: A total of 301 participants were analysed. Most professionals used a trocar needle with a stylet as the first option (89.7%); however, when the LP failed or was blood-stained, 32.2% changed the type of needle. A total of 143 doctors gave their subjective feeling about the type of needle: they only use trocar needles with stylet (41.3%), the technique is easier using scalp-vein needles (32.2%), there is less probability of a blood-stained LP, or failed using scalp-vein needles (7.7%), they choose the type of needle depending on the size of the new-born (10.5%), indifference when using one type or another needle (8.4%). Almost all (99%) of the surveyed doctors used some type of analgesia. The most widely used measures were topical anaesthetics (90.3%) and sucrose (82.2%)., Conclusions: Currently, the LP procedure in the neonatal period is mainly performed with a trocar needle with a stylet and with the widespread use of different analgesic measures., (Copyright © 2020. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U.)