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Introduction: Breast cancer progression involves physiological mechanisms such as metastasis. Delays in diagnosis and treatment increase the risk of mortality and are associated with barriers to healthcare access. In Chile, breast cancer is highly prevalent, and early diagnosis has improved, although disparities in the disease evolution persist. This study characterized diagnostic and staging tests, waiting times, and sociodemographic profiles to identify delays and inequities in care.

Methods: Survey study. Using a non-probabilistic sample, a questionnaire was applied in an encrypted platform with prior informed consent. The instrument collected data on requested tests, associated times, staging, and sociodemographic characteristics. These variables were analyzed using descriptive statistics, tests of association, confidence intervals, and comparison tests using bootstrapping.

Results: A sample of 263 persons was obtained. The most requested tests were biopsy (99.62%) and blood tests (80.23%). The median number of tests requested was six (Q1:4, Q3:8), with a mean of 5.87 (standard deviation: 2.24). No significant differences were observed in the percentage of persons from whom the total number of examinations were requested according to the studied variables. The day-hour-result intervals ranged from 1 to 365 days. The median day-hour-result of the biopsy was 15 days (Q1:10, Q3:30). People between 40 and 49 years old, non-residents of the capital city, belonging to income quintile I, with high school education, from the public health system, with late-stage diagnosis had higher median day-hour-result in biopsy. There was no significant difference in the number of requested tests according to staging (I and II, or III and IV).

Conclusions: Biopsy in Chile is the test of choice for diagnostic confirmation in breast cancer. Other tests are requested regardless of the diagnosis stage, contrary to the recommendations of clinical guidelines. Cancer prognosis is crucial, especially in countries with greater inequalities.

Introduction: Breast cancer survivors often experience pre and post-treatment physical and psychological symptoms, negatively affecting their quality of life. Regular physical exercise is associated with better quality of life and lower recurrence of cancer, and therefore all oncological patients are recommended to practice it in a regular basis. Despite this, breast cancer survivors have low adherence to physical exercise. The purpose of this study is to identify barriers, facilitators and preferences of Chilean breast cancer survivors to practice physical exercise.

Methods: Phenomenological qualitative study of 12 in-depth interviews with adjuvant radiation therapy concluded at least three months ago.

Results: Breast cancer survivors ignored the benefits of physical exercise during and after treatment. The barriers were physical symptoms, psychological barriers, sociocultural barriers, health system barriers, disinformation and sedentary lifestyle. Facilitators were coping with physical symoptoms, psychological issues, having information and active lifestyle. The preferences were painless and familiar exercises. Preferred exercise was walking.

Conclusions: Breast cancer survivors may adhere to physical exercise despite barriers when certain facilitators are present, which may be promoted by the health team when reporting the benefits of the physical exercise, prescribing personalized, safe and painless physical exercise and educating both patient and her family about the role of the physical exercise in cancer recovering process.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of gingival recessions in students of the faculty of odontology at Universidad de Los Andes and the factor associated with its presence.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a randomized stratified sampling was used to select the students. The sample included 311 undergraduate students evaluated between March and December 2022. The year spectrum was from 17 to 29 years old. Two calibrated examiners intra e interoperator completed a clinical evaluation with a periodontal probe, where the purpose was to diagnose gingival recessions and identify if there were any related factors such as smoking, braces, bruxism, marginal insertion frenulum, fine phenotype, and malposition. The total prevalence was described with each trust interval of 95%. The association between categorical variables was analyzed with the chi-square test, and the t-student test of the Mann-Whitney test analyzed the difference between continuous variables and recession prevalence.

Results: 93,56% of the students presented at least one gingival recession. The highest prevalence related to teeth occurred in pieces 1.6, 3.4, 2.6, and 4.1, and the most severe were 3.3, 4.3, and 1.3. The most associated factor related to recessions was orthodontics, with a prevalence of 75,2%. Bruxism showed a positive association with the number of recessions, with a prevalence of 60,7%.

Conclusions: Buccal gingival recessions were very prevalent in undergraduate students at the dental school of Universidad de los Andes during 2022, and they were strongly associated with the history of orthodontics.

Introduction: Fulvestrant demonstrated benefits in overall survival and progression-free survival in patients with advanced breast cancer, who are hormone receptor-positive and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative. The characteristics, evolution, and survival of patients with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer treated with fulvestrant were evaluated according to the national treatment coverage protocols of the National Resources Fund, with the aim of understanding the efficacy of fulvestrant in patients treated in usual clinical practice and comparing our results with those from pivotal studies.

Methods: A database from the National Resources Fund covering the period from 2009 to 2022 was used. Survival curves were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method, and differences were analyzed using the Log-Rank test.

Results: A total of 1085 patients with an average age of 63,66 years were included. Following a follow-up of 14 months, the median overall survival was 16 months, and the median progression-free survival was 6 months. The presence of liver and bone metastases was associated with a shorter overall survival. Patients from the public sector and those with a better performance status experienced longer overall survival.

Conclusions: Our findings provide a valuable perspective for treatment management in a context of limited resources. Overall survival and progression-free survival were somewhat lower than those reported in pivotal clinical trials. The presence of liver and bone metastases was associated with worse prognosis and survival; additionally, patients with worse performance status had shorter overall survival. These findings underscore the need for personalized therapies, opening new lines of future research.

Objective: Cryoballoon ablation for pulmonary vein isolation is a time-efficient procedure that can alleviate stress on electrophysiology lab resources. This analysis modeled the impact of cryoballoon ablation on electrophysiology lab operation using data from Latin America.

Methods: Data from centers in Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile of the were used as inputs for an electrophysiology lab efficiency simulation model. The model used the assumption that either two (today's electrophysiology lab operations) or three (including electrophysiology lab operational changes) cryoballoon ablation procedures could be performed per day. The endpoints were the percentage of days that resulted in 1) overtime and 2) time left for an extra non-ablation electrophysiology procedure.

Results: Data from a total of 232 procedures from six Latin American centers were included in the analysis. The average electrophysiology lab occupancy time for all procedures in Latin America was 132 ± 62 minutes. In the Current Scenario (two procedures per day), 7.4% of simulated days resulted in overtime, and 81.4% had enough time for an extra electrophysiology procedure. In the Enhanced Productivity Scenario (three procedures per day), 16.4% of days used overtime, while 67.4% allowed time for an extra non-ablation electrophysiology procedure.

Conclusions: Using real-world, Latin American-specific data, we found that with operational changes, three ablation procedures could feasibly be performed daily, leaving time for an extra electrophysiology procedure on more than half of days. Thus, use of cryoballoon ablation is an effective tool to enhance electrophysiology lab efficiency in resource-constrained regions such as Latin America.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health of healthcare workers. Studying the care perspective is essential to understanding the causes of specific mental health findings and proposing strategies to address them.

Methods: Cross-sectional study with a thematic analytical approach, derived from the international initiative "The Health Care Workers Study" (HEROES), conducted among healthcare workers in Chile during the second semester of 2022 and the first of 2023 through semi-structured interviews and inductive coding.

Results: A narrative synthesis of 35 interviews in four themes: care at work: the presence of changes in work tasks, concern about becoming infected, collective "mystique", stigma due to being a healthcare worker, conflicts with patients; care at home: multiple ways of arranging household tasks, the relevance of living with others, interrelation with work dynamics, "double burden" among women; relationship with one's own mental health: recognition of mental health impact, the stress associated with change and uncertainty, perception of work overload, feelings of guilt or responsibility for infecting family members; and beliefs and values about the pandemic and its effects: acceptance of psychological impact on healthcare workers, organizational culture as a relevant element in postponing one's own mental health, initial disbelief in the effects of the pandemic, similarities with previous periods of social upheaval, and equality among people in terms of vulnerability to the disease.

Conclusions: Five elements emerge as potential areas for intervention: gender perspective, previous exposure to crisis experiences, self-care spaces, peer support, and institutional response. The care perspective helps study the relationship between some stressors and healthcare workers' mental health in the context of a pandemic.

Introduction: The lungs are most commonly involved in tuberculosis, but infection can also involve other organs through lymphohematogenous dissemination. The clinical presentation of disseminated tuberculosis is variable. Diagnosis is difficult, because clinical manifestations are diverse, more than 50% of patients present late, because microbiological testing relies on invasive procedures for mycobacterial culture and supportive histopathology.

Case report: A 30-year-old male patient, deprived of his liberty, with no co-morbidities, was admitted to the hospital for severe pain in the left wrist, with a previous history of having received systemic glucocorticoids for 7 months. He developed clinical symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis, in the pleura, in the joint of the left wrist and in the left testicle, and tests confirmed the presence of M. tuberculosis. He underwent surgery on the wrist and testicle and was also treated for susceptible tuberculosis. Concomitant sequelae of iatrogenic Cushing's disease, chronic anemia and chronic inactive proctitis were diagnosed.

Conclusions: Diagnosis of disseminated tuberculosis was difficult due to the non-specific clinical picture, limitations of confirmatory diagnostic tools and timely specialized evaluations. Prolonged use of systemic corticosteroids may have played a role in the dissemination of tuberculosis.

The presence of children and adolescents in migratory flows is growing in Latin America and the Caribbean. Little is known about migration's effects on these groups' health. This article aims to investigate the evidence available on the access and use of healthcare services by migrant children and adolescents in Latin America and the Caribbean. We seek to explore the role of social determinants of health at different levels in the health conditions of these groups. Also, to identify potential recommendations for healthcare systems and public policy to address them. For this purpose, a narrative review of 52 publications was carried out based on a search of scientific literature in the Web of Science and Google Scholar databases. Five relevant topics were identified: use of emergency care associated with lack of healthcare access, preventive services, and other social determinants of health; exposure to preventable infectious diseases; mental health; sexual and reproductive health; and vaccinations and dental health. We conclude that the evidence shows the need to address the inequities and disadvantages faced by migrant children from a perspective of social determinants of health and policies that consider health as a human right regardless of the migratory status of children and adolescents, as well as that of their parents or primary caregivers.