Here are the stories our MDedge editors across specialties think you need to know about today:
Lung ultrasound works well in children with COVID-19
Lung ultrasound has “high concordance” with radiologic findings in children with COVID-19 and offers benefits over other imaging techniques, such as CT. “First, it may reduce the number of radiologic examinations, lowering the radiation exposure of the patients,” wrote Marco Denina, MD, and colleagues from the pediatric infectious diseases unit at Regina Margherita Children’s Hospital in Turin, Italy. “Secondly, when performed at the bedside, [lung ultrasound] allows for the reduction of the patient’s movement within the hospital; thus, it lowers the number of health care workers and medical devices exposed to [SARS-CoV-2].” The findings of the small, observational study were published in Pediatrics. Read more.
New hypertension definitions reveal preclampsia risk
Using the new clinical definitions of hypertension, pregnant women with even modest elevations in blood pressure are at increased risk for preeclampsia, according to results from a large retrospective cohort study. Elizabeth F. Sutton, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh and colleagues looked at records from 18,162 women who had given birth to a single baby. The authors found preeclampsia risk increased with increasing blood pressure elevation. Among women with normal blood pressure before 20 weeks’ gestation, 5% had preeclampsia, while 7% of those with elevated blood pressure did, as did 12% of women with stage 1 hypertension and 30% of women with stage 2 hypertension. The increase in risk of preeclampsia was because of preterm preeclampsia in the women with elevated blood pressure. Preeclampsia researcher Mark Santillan, MD, PhD, of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, said in an interview that the results “open the door to considering these new blood pressure categories as a prognosticator” for preeclampsia. “This paper furthers the field by applying these new categories to hypertensive diseases in pregnancy, which are not well studied” in comparison to nonpregnant hypertensive states. Read more.
Face mask type matters when sterilizing
When sterilizing face masks, the type of mask and the method of sterilization have a bearing on subsequent filtration efficiency, according to new research published in JAMA Network Open. The greatest reduction in filtration efficiency after sterilization occurred with surgical face masks. With plasma vapor hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) sterilization, filtration efficiency of N95 and KN95 masks was maintained at more than 95%, but for surgical face masks, filtration efficiency was reduced to less than 95%. With chlorine dioxide (ClO2) sterilization, on the other hand, filtration efficiency was maintained at above 95% for N95 masks, but for KN95 and surgical face masks, filtration efficiency was reduced to less than 80%. Read more.
FDA approves first treatment for adult-onset Still’s disease
The Food and Drug Administration has expanded the indications for canakinumab (Ilaris) to include all patients with active Still’s disease older than 2 years, adding adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) to a previous approval for juvenile-onset Still’s disease, also known as systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA). That makes Ilaris the first approved treatment for AOSD. The results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 36 patients with AOSD aged 22-70 years showed that the efficacy and safety data in AOSD were generally consistent with the results of a pooled analysis of sJIA patients, according to Novartis, which markets canakinumab. Read more.
Intranasal DHE shows promise in migraine
An intranasal form of dihydroergotamine (DHE) targeting the upper nasal region is safe and effective for the treatment of migraine, according to results from a phase 3 clinical trial. The new formulation could offer patients an at-home alternative to intramuscular infusions or intravenous injections currently used to deliver DHE. The STOP 301 phase 3 open-label safety and tolerability trial treated over 5,650 migraine attacks in 354 patients who self-administered INP104 for up to 52 weeks. They were provided up to three doses per week (1.45 mg in a dose of two puffs, one per nostril). A total of 66.3% of participants reported pain relief by 2 hours following a dose, and 38% had freedom from pain. Read more.
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