Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Prolonged mechanical ventilation and the need for tracheal intubation are the main indication of tracheostomy. This procedure can be done, in two ways: surgical tracheostomy or percutaneous tracheostomy. In this study, surgical tracheostomy was compared with percutaneous method in the intensive care unit.
Methods: This clinical trial study was performed on 61 patients admitted to the intensive care unit of Ayatollah Rohani Hospital of Babol University of Medical Sciences from April 14, 2013 to April 14, 2016. In the first group (44 cases), tracheostomy was performed in percutaneous (PDT) and in the second group (17 patients) surgically. The early complications and waiting time (intubation to tracheostomy) for tracheostomy were compared in two groups. All data were analyzed by SPSS software, ver. 22 (Armonk, NY, USA), Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and P values of less than 0.05 were considered significant.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 59.87±8.15 years. The mean age of the male patients was 59.66±6.35 years and the female patients were 60.35±6.41 years. In this study, the average waiting time (time from intubation to tracheostomy) was 14.19 days in the PDT group and 20.69 days in the tracheostomy group, with a significant difference between the two groups (P= 0.001). The incidence of preoperative bleeding after surgery was five cases (8.2%). In the PDT group, two cases (3/3%) and the surgical group was three cases (4.9%) and the two groups did not have a significant difference (P= 0.46). The incidence of wound infection (during the period of admission and up to ten days later) in two groups was two patients (3.3%), one case (1.6%) In the PDT group, and one case (1.6%) in a surgical group and the two groups did not have a significant difference (P= 0.43). Other complications such a subcutaneous emphysema and posterior tracheal wall trauma and rupture was not shown in both groups.
Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that the complications (bleeding and wound infections) did not differ between the two groups. Due to the lower waiting time and the lack of need for patient transfer outside of the intensive care unit, percutaneous tracheostomy can be a safe alternative to the surgical tracheostomy.

Background: The post-dural puncture headache (PDPH) is a common complication in spinal anesthesia. Headache may occure seven days after dural puncture. The headache may be worsened in sitting position and be better in supine position. PDPH is common in younger and tall people. The incidence rate of PDPH related to the size of spinal needle and the number of try and decrease with small, cutting needle and less puncture try. PDPH is a well-known iatrogenic complication of spinal anesthesia, which continues to be a major problem. In this study, we assessed the effect of intravenous aminophylline on prevention of post-spinal anesthesia headache in who were elective for cesarean sections.
Methods: This double-blind randomized clinical trial was conducted on 140 women with 18 to 35 years old and American Society of Anesthesiologists Classification (ASA Class) I and II undergoing spinal anesthesia in elective cesarean section. Patients were randomly divided into two groups called case and control. After umbilical cord clamping 1 mg/kg aminophylline dissolved in 100 cc normal saline was infused to the case group but only 100 cc normal saline was infused for the control group. Patient's blood pressure and heart rate were recorded before spinal anesthesia, immediately after spinal anesthesia, after uterine incision and umbilical cord clamping, after drug injection and then every five minutes. The incidence of headache was assessed at 4, 8, 24, 48 and 72 hours after the surgery.
Results: Although severity and duration of headache in case group was more than in control group, no meaningful difference was found between two groups. The mean changes in systolic blood pressure were greater in control group (P<0.001). The mean changes in heart rate was greater in case group than control group (P<0.001).
Conclusion: This study showed that intravenous aminophylline although, caused hemodynamic changes in some case, but it doesn't have any effect on prevention of incidence and severity of post-spinal anesthesia headache in elective cesarean section.

Background: Information on the coronavirus infection 2019 (COVID-19) which can clinically range from asymptomatic infection to severe pneumonia, in transplant recipients is still low. Infections are a major cause of death in kidney transplant recipients, and kidney transplant recipients, like other organ recipients, appear to be more vulnerable to a variety of infections due to comorbidities and immunosuppressive drugs that predispose them to infection.
Case presentation: In this study, we reviewed 10 transplant recipients with a mean age of 50.3±11.25 years who were admitted to Ayatollah Rouhani Hospital in Babol due to COVID-19 From April 2019 to September 2019. Four patients were female and six ones were male. Fever (100%) and cough (60%) were the most common symptoms in patients. All patients used standard immunosuppressive drugs (tacrolimus, corticosteroids, mycophenolate, and cyclosporine). The mean level of oxygen saturation at the time of admission in these patients was 87.9±11.3 and in two patients with death outcomes of 57% and 95%, it was at the beginning of hospitalization. The mean leukocytes of patients at the beginning of hospitalization was10470±5784.08 per ml and the mean lymphocytes of these patients were 1081.5±516.05. In the studied patients, the mean of previous years of transplantation was 8/05±7.13 and two patients died 20 years and 5 years after their kidney transplantation. Two patients (20%), aged 57 and 50 years, died from progressive respiratory symptoms and the other eight patients recovered and were discharged from the hospital.
We reported COVID-19 infection in ten kidney transplant recipients with different clinical outcomes and periods, which may be a reference for the management of COVID-19 in such patients.
Conclusion: It seems that more information is needed to better understand the effect of anti-transplant immunosuppressive therapy on the outcome of COVID-19 infection in kidney transplant recipients. Long-term follow-up studies and more cases are needed to clarify the diagnosis, outcome, and treatment options for COVID-19 in these patients.

Background: Sporadic lymphangioleiomyomatosis (S-LAM) is a rare disease that generally affects young women and involves the abnormal proliferation of smooth muscle cells (LAM cells) in the lungs (pulmonary LAM). There are two types of LAM, sporadic and LAM with tuberous sclerosis, which is an autosomal dominant genetic disease caused by mutations in the Tsc1 and Tsc2 genes. The most common manifestation of this disease is pneumothorax due to cyst rupture. Median transplant-free survival for pulmonary LAM is 23 years from diagnosis. Factors associated with a poor prognosis are often those associated with a more rapid decline in lung function.
Case Presentation: The patient was a 24-year-old woman who presented with pneumothorax and multiple bullae in both lungs. The patient had no family history of respiratory disease, and the patient herself had no symptoms other than mild shortness of breath following activity from a year ago. A lung CT scan was performed for the patient and multiple bullae were evident in both lungs, which confirmed the diagnosis. There was no evidence of involvement of other organs but the lung. For the patient in the ICU with the diagnosis of left pneumothorax, a chest tube was inserted and she underwent mechanical ventilation. Finally, after 24 days of hospitalization, oxygen therapy of the patient was performed with a normal mask, and she underwent left lung pleurodesis with talcum powder, and a few days later, right lung pleurodesis was performed on the patient. On the 36th day of hospitalization, her general condition improved and she was discharged from the ICU. The patient was discharged in good general condition and had no problem on her four months follow-up.

Conclusion: Fortunately, with the diagnosis of LAM for the patient according to the CT scan of the patient's lung, she was treated with insertion of a chest tube and by performing pleurodesis, the recurrence of pneumothorax was prevented. In a young woman with spontaneous pneumothorax, sporadic LAM is one of the differential diagnoses.

Background: Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) has been used as one of the most promising methods to treat hypoxic respiratory failure in COVID-19.
Methods: In this study, the clinical outcomes of 80 patients with acute respiratory failure caused by COVID-19 were evaluated. The disease was confirmed in two methods: clinical and radiographic confirmation of disease in patients with an acute respiratory infection (highly suspected) or in some cases with a positive PCR test. The rate of discharge from the ICU without the need for intubation was evaluated as the primary outcome and based on that, the patients were divided into two groups: NIV failure and NIV success. Mortality rate, length of stay in ICU, frequency of intubated patients and laboratory factors of patients as secondary outcomes in two groups were compared.
Results: Regarding the outcome of death and discharge, there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups. Therefore, all patients with corona who were admitted to ICU and received NIV and were intubated due to non-responsiveness to NIV died and the patients were discharged from the hospital without intubation. All the patients investigated in this study, had received antiviral, antibiotic, and glucocorticoid treatment during hospitalization. In this study, the patients who were in the NIV success group and were not intubated had a lower mean age compared to the group without NIV success (54 vs. 67 years, respectively). The number of white blood cells in the NIV success group was 3945.28±10011.21 and in the group without NIV success was 9242.38±17296.16, which was statistically significant (P=0.004). The number of blood neutrophils in the successful and unsuccessful NIV groups was 12.19±83.04 and 4.31±89.49, respectively (P=0.034). The mean APACHEII score in patients in the NIV success group (11.07±5.05) was significantly lower than the group without NIV success (20.16±4.96).

Conclusion: Mortality was higher in the intubated group than in the NIV group. The combination of APACHEII score and respiratory rate one hour after receiving NIV can predict success with NIV.