Articles By Jack Cush, MD
ICYMI: Faith
For Jessica, an ICU nurse, 12-hour shifts were usually fast paced, challenging and productive. But the cadence and demands of work abruptly changed mid-March when COVID-19 came. Amongst her many ICU admissions she took care of Larry, who was instantly interesting and forever memorable. He had contracted the coronavirus less than a week before. He was a 60-ish yr. old man who tried to be humorous, but who was clearly distressed and worried. He was febrile, anxious, breathing hard and on the verge of being unstable.
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ICYMI: Preventing COVID - Masks, Meters and Eyewear
A Lancet systematic review and meta-analysis provides the basis for physical distancing and the value of making as measures to prevent infection with coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or COVID-19. The analysis included 172 observational studies, no randomised controlled trials and 44 relevant comparative studies involving 25 697 patients.
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ICYMI: COVID-19 and Thrombotic Complications
Severe and fatal outcomes with coronavirus infection are often the result of the downstream damage that follows the viral infection. Rising high on the list of complications are the hematologic and vascular complications seen in severely affected patients, so much so that many centers are routinely anticoagulating hospitalized (but not ambulatory) COVID patients.
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ICYMI: Shutdown and the New Normal
COVID-19 is not going to suddenly end on June 1st. This is a long haul change and you need to be prepared for the aftershocks and fallout. It’s time to be be a Marine and ”Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome”.
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ICYMI: Outcomes of Critically-Ill COVID Patients in NYC
Lancet has reported COVID outcomes from NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals in NYC during March 2020 showing high rates of hospitalization, ICU admission, mechanical ventilation and death. A prospective observational cohort study 2 2 NYC hospitals from March 2 to April 1, 2020, looking at laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and were critically ill with acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure, and collected clinical, biomarker, and treatment data. The primary outcome was in-hospital death.
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RheumNow Podcast – Gout Guidelines (7.3.20)
Dr Jack Cush reviews the journal reports and news from RheumNow this past week. Highlights include:
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2020 ACR Gout Management Guideline
In May, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) released the"2020 Guideline for the Management of Gout"reflecting new clinical evidence since the last guideline published in 2012.
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Coexistent Gout and Rheumatoid Arthritis
While it is often said there is a negative association between gout and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), cases of coexistent disorders are uncommonly seen. A recent VA study describes 121 patients whith both RA and gout.
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CV Risks Raised in Myopathies
Patients with the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) dermatomyositis and polymyositis are at increased risk for cardiovascular events, with risks similar to what has been documented for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), during the first 5 years after diagnosis, U.K. researchers reported.
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Liver Abnormalities in Psoriatic Arthritis
A new report in the Journal of Rheumatology shows that liver abnormalities are common in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and may be associated with obesity, more severe disease and select therapies.
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