BACKGROUNDPulmonary-vein isolation (PVI) is currently used for the treatment of chronic and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and a major risk of PVI is thromboembolism. The purpose of this study was to observe embolic event rate in patients with persistent or paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) undergone PVI.

METHODSCircumferential PVI (CPVI) was performed in 64 consecutive patients with persistent AF (42 men, aged (60.0 +/- 9.1) years) and in 84 consecutive patients with paroxysmal AF (53 men, aged (61.4 +/- 9.3) years). Warfarin was administrated in all patients before ablation for at least 3 weeks ((5.2 +/- 2.6) weeks) and continued for at least 3 months post ablation with international normalized ratio (INR) of 2.0 - 3.0. During CPVI, intravenous heparin was given at a dose of 5000 - 8000 U or 75 - 100 U/kg, followed by 1000 U or 12 U/kg per hour.

RESULTSIn patients with persistent AF, 1 patient developed embolic event during ablation and 3 patients developed embolic events after ablation. In contrast, no thromboembolic event was observed in patients with paroxysmal AF (4/64 vs 0/84, P = 0. 033).

CONCLUSIONThromboembolic event rate related to CPVI is significantly higher in patients with persistent AF than that in patients with paroxysmal AF.

Adult ; Aged ; Atrial Fibrillation ; surgery ; Catheter Ablation ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications ; etiology ; Pulmonary Veins ; surgery ; Thromboembolism ; etiology

BACKGROUNDThe body mass index, airflow obstruction, dyspnea, and exercise capacity (BODE) index was shown at predicting the risk of death, exacerbation and disease severity among patients with COPD, but few studies verified relationship between BODE index and health related quality of life (HRQoL) among Chinese COPD patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between BODE index and HRQoL in cross-sectional and longitudinal association analyses.

METHODSA multi-center prospective cohort study was initially conducted in 491 stable COPD patients in Beijing, China. Health status (HRQoL) was assessed by St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ); the BODE index was calculated for each patient; dyspnea was assessed using the 5-grade Medical Research Council dyspnea scale. Other measurements included socio-demographic, body mass index (BMI), lung function test and 6-minute-walk test (6MWT). Patients were then followed monthly for 12 months.

RESULTSOnly 450 patients completed the 1-year follow up and were enrolled in our present analyses. Mean age was (65.2 +/- 10.6) years, men 309 (68.7%). The BODE index was categorized into 4 subgroups: 0 - 2, 3 - 4, 5 - 6 and 7 - 10. At baseline BODE index was gradually increased with baseline total SGRQ and SGRQ subscales (P trend < 0.001). For individual components of BODE index, with the decrease of airflow limitation, and 6MWD, and with the increase of Medical Research Council (MRC) dyspnea grade, total SGRQ and SGRQ subscales were increased correspondingly, P trend < 0.05, respectively. Similar association patterns were found between baseline BODE index and its individual components and mean SGRQ scores at the end of 1-year follow up. By multiple linear regression analyses, baseline BODE index was not only significantly associated with SGRQ score at baseline but also with SGRQ score at the end of 1-year follow up after adjustment for age, male, current smoking, betas being 0.434 and 0.378, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSBODE index is associated with SGRQ score cross-sectionally and longitudinally among stable COPD patients. BODE index might have potential to be used as a sensitive tool to assess the status of quality of life and to monitor disease progression among stable COPD patients.

Aged ; Body Mass Index ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Dyspnea ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Exercise Tolerance ; physiology ; Female ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Longitudinal Studies ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Quality of Life ; Respiratory Function Tests ; Smoking ; Surveys and Questionnaires

AIM: To analyze the effect of full-femtosecond small incision lenticule extraction(SMILE)on the treatment of high myopia based on propensity score matching.METHODS: A total of 48 cases(48 eyes)of high myopia patients who underwent SMILE surgery in our hospital from May 2019 to May 2021 were selected as the observation group, and 48 cases(48 eyes)of high myopia patients who underwent FS-LASIK surgery were matched using propensity score matching as the control group. Follow up for 6mo after surgery, the changes in cylindrical, central corneal thickness, uncorrected visual acuity(UCVA), corneal endothelial cell related indicators [percentage of hexagonal endothelial cells(6A), coefficient of variation(CV)of endothelial cell area, central corneal endothelial cell density(ECD)] and corneal biomechanical indicators [simulated Goldman intraocular pressure(IOPg), corneal hysteresis(CH), corneal resistance factor(CRF), corneal compensated intraocular pressure(IOPcc)] between the two groups were compared, and the incidence of complications in both groups of patients was recorded.RESULTS: Both groups of patients showed significant improvements in cylindrical and UCVA at 3 and 6mo after surgery, as well as decreased central corneal thickness, corneal endothelial cells, and corneal biomechanics related indicators. The changes in the observation group were more significant(all P<0.05). During the follow-up period, there was no significant difference in the incidence of complications between the observation group and the control group(8% vs. 17%, P>0.05).CONCLUSION: SMILE has a definite effect on patients with high myopia and is helpful to improve visual acuity.

Femoral neck fracture (FNF) in the elderly patients is currently a major health challenge worldwide, with excessive consumption of medical resources, high incidence of complications as well as suboptimal outcome and prognosis. Hip joint arthroplasty (HJA) has been the mainstream treatment for FNF in the elderly, but the conventional surgical approaches and techniques are still confronted with a series of bottlenecks such as dislocation, limp and limb length discrepancy. In recent years, direct anterior approach (DAA) for HJA (DAA-HJA) has been a major new choice in the field of joint replacement, which achieves improved clinical effectiveness of HJA in the treatment of elderly FNF, due to the fact that DAA approach involves the neuromuscular interface and accords with the idea of soft tissue retention and enhanced recovery after surgery. However, there is still a lack of unified understanding of standard technique and procedure of DAA-HJA in the treatment of elderly FNF. Therefore, relevant experts from the Hip Joint Group of Chinese Orthopedics Association of Chinese Medical Association, Youth Arthrology Group of Orthopedic Committee of PLA, Orthopedic Committee of Chongqing Medical Association, Branch of Orthopedic Surgeons of Chongqing Medical Doctor Association and Sport Medicine Committee of Chongqing Medical Association were organized to formulate the " Chinese expert consensus on the technical standard of direct anterior hip arthroplasty for elderly femoral neck fracture ( version 2023)" based on evidence-based medicine. This consensus mainly proposed 13 recommendations covering indications, surgical plans, prosthesis selections, surgical techniques and processes, and postoperative management of DAA-HJA in elderly patients with FNF, aiming to promote standardized, systematic and patient-specific diagnosis and treatment to improve the functional prognosis of the patients.