Clinical Medicine最新文献

Background: Contemporary observations indicate insufficient quality in the reporting of statistical data. Despite the publication of the SAMPL guidelines in 2015, they have not been widely adopted. The aim of this article is to highlight the incorporation of SAMPL Guidelines in the statistical reviews of articles related to clinical medicine, as well as the changes implemented by authors in revised manuscripts as a result of such guidance. An additional objective is to provide recommendations for biomedical journals regarding the necessity of integrating SAMPL Guidelines into their daily practices.

Methods: The study incorporated 100 selected statistical reviews of original clinical medicine articles from 8 biomedical journals, conducted between 2016 and 2023. Each of these reviews suggested specific SAMPL Guidelines to be implemented in the revised manuscript. It was evaluated which specific SAMPL Guidelines were most frequently enforced and what changes resulted from their implementation.

Results: Seventy-five percent of the manuscripts in question garnered acceptance following a solitary round of statistical evaluation. Among the most frequently recommended and subsequently implemented SAMPL Guidelines by the authors are a more thorough description of the purpose of the applied statistical tests (65%), indication of the practical significance of the obtained results, including calculation of relevant effect size measures (64%), analysis of assumptions necessary for the application of specific statistical tests (58%), and consideration of the impact of outlier values on the obtained results (34%).

Conclusion: To improve the quality of statistical reporting in biomedical journals, greater emphasis should be placed on implementing SAMPL Guidelines.

Pancytopenia is an uncommon abnormality detected on a full blood count. Features of presentation tend to be non-specific, and are due to impaired functions of the cell lines involved. These can include fatigue, infection and bleeding. However, the aetiology of pancytopenia is extensive. This narrative review aims to provide a minimally invasive diagnostic algorithm for generalist clinicians to approach pancytopenia, including investigations into the underlying aetiology, and when a referral to the haematologist is warranted for further investigations such as bone marrow aspiration and trephine biopsy.

Measles is a highly contagious but vaccine-preventable airborne-transmitted viral infection of which there has been a recent resurgence of cases worldwide over the past year, including in countries such as the UK, which had previously successfully achieved endemic measles elimination through vaccination programmes. Measles is typically a self-limiting illness, but can rarely cause severe, life-threatening disease, particularly when complicated by respiratory or neurological involvement. These severe complications are not typically seen in the absence of immunosuppression. We describe a rare case of severe measles with pneumonitis in an immunocompetent adult necessitating admission to an intensive care unit (ICU).

For patients who may lack capacity, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 requires capacity to be assessed for each decision at the time that treatment is offered, but this is not practical for every element of basic care and intervention delivered to patients undergoing rehabilitation following acquired brain injury, especially if their needs are changing. In this quality improvement project, we introduced a system for screening Mental Capacity and documentation to identify patients with a) largely intact cognition for whom capacity may be reasonably be presumed, and b) those in prolonged disorders of consciousness who clearly lacked capacity for all decisions. This enabled the multidisciplinary team to concentrate on evaluation of capacity in the third group who had more nuanced ability and required detailed assessment or support for decision-making. Two rounds of audit demonstrated that implementation improved the consistency of assessment and documentation. Multicentre roll-out of this approach is now required.

The protracted form of COVID-19 known as 'long covid' was first described in 2020. Its symptoms, course and prognosis vary widely; some patients have a multi-system, disabling and prolonged illness. In 2021, ring-fenced funding was provided to establish 90 long covid clinics in England; some clinics were also established in Scotland and Wales. The NIHR-funded LOCOMOTION project implemented a UK-wide quality improvement collaborative involving ten of these clinics, which ran from 2021 to 2023. At regular online meetings held approximately 8-weekly, participants prioritised topics, discussed research evidence and guidelines, and presented exemplar case histories and clinic audits. A patient advisory group also held a priority-setting exercise, participated in quality meetings and undertook a service evaluation audit. The goal of successive quality improvement cycles aimed at changing practice to align with evidence was sometimes hard to achieve because definitive evidence did not yet exist in this new condition; many patients had comorbidities; and clinics were practically constrained in various ways. Nevertheless, much progress was made and a series of 'best practice' guides was produced, covering general assessment and management; breathing difficulties; orthostatic tachycardia and other autonomic symptoms; fatigue and cognitive impairment; and vocational rehabilitation. This paper summarises key findings with the frontline clinician in mind.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects over 10% of the global population. One crucial complication of CKD is secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT), marked by elevated parathyroid hormone levels due to hyperphosphataemia, hypocalcaemia, and low active vitamin D from impaired renal function. SHPT increases risks of bone deformities, vascular calcification, cardiovascular events and mortality. This review examines SHPT treatment strategies in patients with CKD. First-line treatments include phosphate binders, vitamin D receptor activators and calcimimetics. When these fail, invasive options like parathyroidectomy (PTX) and thermal ablation are considered. PTX effectively reduces symptoms and improves radiological outcomes, outperforming medical treatment alone in reducing cardiovascular risk and mortality. Thermal ablation techniques, such as microwave, radiofrequency, laser or high-intensity focused ultrasound, offer less invasive alternatives with promising results. Future research should explore the molecular mechanisms of parathyroid gland hyperplasia and evaluate various treatments' impacts.

Primary brain tumours are rare but carry a significant morbidity and mortality burden. Malignant gliomas are the most common subtype and their incidence is increasing within our ageing population. The diagnosis and treatment of gliomas involves substantial interplay between multiple specialties, including general medical physicians, radiologists, pathologists, surgeons, oncologists and allied health professionals. At any point along this pathway, patients can present to acute medicine with complications of their cancer or anti-cancer therapy. Increasing the awareness of malignant gliomas among general physicians is paramount to delivering prompt radiological and histopathological diagnoses, facilitating access to earlier and individualised treatment options and allows for effective recognition and management of anticipated complications. This article discusses evidence-based real-world practice for malignant gliomas, encompassing patient presentation, diagnostic pathways, treatments and their complications, and prognosis to guide management outside of specialist centres.

Reproducible and standardised neurological assessment scales are important in quantifying research outcomes. These scales are often performed by non-neurologists and/or non-clinicians and must be robust, quantifiable, reproducible and comparable to a neurologist's assessment. COVID-CNS is a multi-centre study which utilised the Neurological Impairment Scale (NIS) as a core assessment tool in studying neurological outcomes following COVID-19 infection. We investigated the strengths and weaknesses of the NIS when used by non-neurology clinicians and non-clinicians, and compared performance to a structured neurological examination performed by a neurology clinician. Through our findings, we provide practical advice on how non-clinicians can be readily trained in conducting reproducible and standardised neurological assessments in a multi-centre study, as well as illustrating potential pitfalls of these tools.

We report a case series of two patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who developed erythropoietin-induced pure red cell aplasia following a change in erythropoietin preparation. Both patients responded well to immunosuppressive treatments, but unfortunately developed severe infections as a result of being immunosuppressed.