Keyword: comorbidities

Negative-pressure wound therapy – advantages and disadvantages

The applications of negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) have achieved remarkable diversification. Initially used in the therapy of soft tissue wounds related to open fractures, this technique led to the understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying it. This paper aims to analyze the evolutionary scenarios of a group of patients with heterogeneous lesions under negative pressure aspiration treatment. We aimed to identify and analyze various associated pathologies that have the potential to negatively influence the healing process under negative pressure treatment and implicitly analyze the particularities of representative cases for the group whose evolution under treatment proved to be unfavorable. Retrospective, observational study, type series of cases focused on a group of 17 hospitalized patients, who received treatment by negative aspiration, between 2015-2019 in the Surgery Department of the University Emergency Hospital Bucharest. Regarding the obtained results, diabetes mellitus, obliterating arteriopathy, and anemia had a prevalent distribution in the group with unfavorable evolution. The glycemic value can predict 17% of the evolutionary scenario of a patient (favorable/unfavorable) being necessary an integrative therapeutic conduct. Concluding, although an extremely promising therapeutic option, NPWT can prove to be disappointing given its impact in the background of suboptimally managed comorbidities.

Etiology of Chronic Kidney Disease and Comorbidities in Chronic Hemodialysis Patients

As general population tends to have increasing life expectancy, the risk associated with developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) with multiple incapacitating concequences, also increases. Method: For the present study, we registered the data from the observation files of 37 patients diagnosed with CKD undergoing treatment by chronic hemodialysis and noted the CKD associated diagnoses included in the notion of comorbidities. We monitored their statistical incidence both in the whole group and separately, in women and men using TTEST and CORREL. Results: The median age of the subjects was 55.86 (± 12.00) years. The study population mean weight was 74.90 (± 14.44) kg, with a mean weight of 69.33 kg for female subjects, and 77.92 kg for males, respectively. Diabetes was identified in 35.13% of patients, whilst heart failure was present in 16.21% of patients. Conclusions: Following the analysis of the information about the patients with CKD in the dialysis program, which we included in the study group, we observed the existence of variations that occur with age, significant correlations between age and weight and between albuminemia and weight. The most common comorbidity is high blood pressure followed by anemia.

Correlations between Etiopathogenic Factors and Persistence on Anti-IL-17 Therapies in Patients with Psoriasis Vulgaris

With recent advances in the understanding of psoriatic disease, it is increasingly considered a systemic inflammatory condition rather than limited to the skin and joints. A variety of biologics are available today for the treatment of psoriasis, but with them, characteristics such as rapidity of onset, long-term efficacy, safety profile, and effects on comorbidities differ. We designed an observational, non-interventional, retrospective study of patients with severe psoriasis receiving biologic treatment with IL-17 inhibitors and aimed to investigate the correlations between etiopathogenic factors and the efficacy and persistence of these therapies in a group of psoriasis patients from Romania. Study results show that patients treated with ixekizumab had better persistence and high adherence compared to those treated with secukinumab. In this study, ixekizumab demonstrated lower risks of non-persistence, discontinuation, and switching and a higher likelihood of high adherence compared with secukinumab. This study contributes to the understanding of the persistence of anti-IL17 biologic therapies in psoriasis and the factors that may influence it.