Vol 77, No 1 (2022)

Background. Ovarian endometriosis has the most aggressive effect on the ovarian reserve compared to other types of benign ovarian neoplasms. Laparoscopic cystectomy with pathomorphological verification remains the “gold standard” for the diagnosis of endometriosis in clinical practice. It is the lack of clear criteria for predicting damage to the ovarian reserve after surgical treatment and the future reproductive potential of a woman, as well as the inability to personalize treatment, that determined the purpose and objectives of this study. Aims — to develop a score scale for predicting changes in the ovarian reserve after cystectomy in ovarian endometriosis based on a comprehensive preoperative assessment of basic clinical, ultrasound, and molecular-biochemical parameters. Materials and methods. A single-center observational cohort prospective comparative study was conducted for 5 years. The study included 238 women aged 24.4 ± 3.1 years with pathomorphologically verified ovarian endometriosis, who came to the clinic with complaints of pain of varying intensity. Results. The content of anti-Muller hormone (AMH) less than 1.5 ng / ml was significantly highly correlated with the unfavorable outcome of surgery (r=0.723). The largest diameter of the formation more than 5 cm (r=0.826) and its “main” localization (r=0.743) correlated most strongly with a decrease in HR and intraovarian blood flow after cystectomy. The ROC analysis (receiver operating characteristic) and the evaluation of the area under the curve — the AUC indicator (area under ROC curve) revealed that the determining value of the “cut off” point for serum LDH was 107.35 U/l, for IL-8 — 94.55 pg/ml and IL-6 — 82.4 pg/ml, with an increase in which the probability of reducing AMH increases by more than 50%. Conclusions. The point scale system including preoperative assessment of ultrasound parameters (endometrioma size, localization, and bilaterality) and biochemical markers of toxicity in serum helps to predict changes of ovarian reserve after cystectomy (LDH, IL-6, IL-8).

Background. One of the complications in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 is a secondary bacterial infection. Its frequency can reach 15%, which makes it important to determine the etiology and antimicrobial resistance of the key pathogens responsible for the development of this pathology, in order to further improve the practice of prescribing and increase the effectiveness of antimicrobial chemotherapy. Aims — to assess the etiological structure and antibiotic resistance of the main pathogens of SBIs to improve the practice of antibiotic prescription. Methods. This retrospective study reviewed medical records of the patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the Moscow city hospital No. 4 between April 28 and November 1, 2020. Demographic, clinical outcomes, etiology, and antimicrobial resistance data of the SBIs were collected. Outcomes were also compared between patients who were classified as severe and critical on admission. Results. Among 3180 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, 220 (6.9%) patients had acquired SBIs, and 50.0% of cases were fatal. The mean age was 72.7 ± 13.07 years. A higher mortality rate was observed in the group of critical patients (63%). 560 strains of bacteria isolated from the SBIs (58.8% isolated from lungs, 21% from urine and 20.2% from blood). 330 strains (58.9%) were Gram-negative bacteria. 109 patients had infections with mixed bacteria. 45 of them (20.5% of the total number of patients included in the study) had 2 pathogens, and 64 patients (29.1%) 3 or more strains. The top three bacteria of SBIs were A. baumannii (23.6%; 132/560), K. pneumoniae (22.9%; 128/560), and S. epidermidis (10.4%; 58/560). The isolation rates of carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii were 97%. Cefoperazone/sulbactam was the most active antibiotic against this pathogen with 62.1% sensitivity. Among K. pneumoniae strains, the level of resistance to carbapenems was 77.4% to meropenem and 54% to imipenem. The proportion of resistant strains to tigecycline and to colistin was 4 and 2.3% respectively. Meticillin resistance was present in 38.5% of S. aureus. 50% of E. faecium strains were vancomycin-resistant. Conclusions. Gram-negative bacteria, especially A. baumannii and K. pneumoniae, were the main pathogens, and the resistance rates of the major isolated bacteria were generally high, which indicates that more accurate use of antibacterial agents is necessary for SBIs in patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

Improved laboratory methods for the determination of cardiac troponins (cTnT and cTnI) with increased sensitivity (hs-cTnT and hs-cTnI), recently introduced into clinical practice, have opened up a number of new promising areas for research with the aim of further expanding diagnostic capabilities for the subsequent use of hs-cTnT and hs-cTnI in modern clinical practice. It has been shown that with the use of the highly sensitive methods, even the most insignificant and reversible damage to cardiomyocytes (for example, during physical exertion, psychoemotional stress, and other conditions) is accompanied by diagnostically significant increases in hs-cTnT and hs-cTnI levels. The introduction of highly sensitive immunoassays also changed a number of ideas about the biology of cardiac troponins, for example, they are no longer considered strictly intracellular molecules, since they are determined in all healthy patients and, accordingly, they can be considered as products of normal metabolism of cardiomyocytes when they appear in blood serum in small concentrations (less than 99 percentile). In addition to the accelerated acute myocardial infarction diagnosis, hs-cTnT and hs-cTnI have a high predictive value in a number of pathological conditions that cause non-ischemic cardiomyocytes damage. Currently, the possibility of using hs-Tn in the early stages of pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease or in patients with certain risk factors (for example, arterial hypertension) to assess the risk of possible short-term and long-term adverse cardiovascular events draws an enormous interest. The purpose of this article is to analyze the prognostic significance of highly sensitive cardiospecific troponins in patients suffering from arterial hypertension, to summarize and discuss possible pathophysiological mechanisms of cardiomyocyte damage and increased levels of hs-cTnT and hs-cTnI in these patients.

Background. Medication errors and resultant adverse drug events (ADEs) often occur during transitions of care. Up to 67% of in-patients’ prescriptions have at least one unintentional medication discrepancy with previously prescribed therapy. The proportion of clinically significant medication discrepancies is 11–59%. Studies from the developed countries demonstrated the effectiveness of medication reconciliation in reducing medication errors, ADEs and healthcare resource utilization. There is a necessity to conduct medication reconciliation studies within Russian current clinical practice to develop effective medical care quality and patients’ safety programs. Aims — to evaluate the impact of pharmacologist-led medication reconciliation on the frequency and structure of unintentional medication discrepancies and potential ADEs at hospital admission and discharge. Methods. Standard care was compared to medication reconciliation led by a clinical pharmacologist in a prospective randomized trial of 410 elective surgical patients. Medication discrepancies at hospital admission and discharge were identified and reconciled. Clinical outcomes were evaluated by reviewing electronic health records. Results. In the intervention group the frequency of unintentional discrepancies at hospital admission decreased from 32.68 to 16.86%, the proportion of patients with at least one unintentional discrepancy decreased from 64.9 to 44.9%, the number of discrepancies per patient decreased from 1.5 to 0.66. The incidence of discrepancies at hospital discharge decreased from 82.90 to 43.29%, the proportion of patients with discrepancies decreased from 95.61 to 52.68%, the average number of discrepancies per patient decreased from 2.79 to 1.67. Medication reconciliation led by clinical pharmacologist decreased the frequency of unscheduled out-patient visits after discharge from 7.32 to 2.93%. The determined risk factors for unintentional discrepancies at hospital admission were: prescribing of cardiovascular, endocrine drugs and those affecting the central nervous system. Both at admission and discharge medication reconciliation was the significant factor reducing the risk of unintentional discrepancies. Conclusions. Medication reconciliation at hospital admission and discharge reduces the frequency of unintentional discrepancies in drug prescriptions by 16 and 40%, respectively. The implementation of medication reconciliation into clinical practice reduces unscheduled out-patient visits after hospital discharge.

Background. Systematic research work on the assessment of medicines consumption allows timely identification of effective and problematic aspects of the existing system of preferential medicines provision, allowing to regulate the optimality of its functioning. Aims — to identify regional epidemiological features and key aspects of drug provision for patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in Moscow in dynamics for the period 2017–2020. To identify the trend of changes and their specifics in order to optimize further preferential drug provision (DLO) for patients with AS in Moscow. Materials and methods. The sources of the study were the data of LLO of patients with AS within the outpatient care, registered in Moscow in 2017–2020. The researchers analyzed the number of patients with AS who are entitled to free and preferential drug provision, who received drugs as an outpatient link in the period 2017–2020. The age structure of beneficiaries with AS and their ratio by gender has been determined. A tendency was revealed in the distribution of patients according to the main drug therapy regimens, according to the drugs they received during the reporting period. The structure of LLO of patients with AS was revealed by international non-proprietary names of drugs, their dosage form, quantities, cost minus payment by patients. Results. A retrospective analysis of real-world data showed that the population with AS in Moscow increased by 1.5 times from 2017 to 2020, as well as the cost of expenses for LLO of these patients, excluding patient payments, also increased by 1.5 times. The average age of patients was 50±14 years in 2017, and in 2018, 2019, and 2020. This indicator increased to 51±11 years. The ratio of patients by sex was 2:1 male and female, respectively, in all periods studied. The maximum proportion of patients fell on the age group — 40–59 years, which was about 50% of the entire population of patients with AS during the entire study period. The second place was occupied by the age group 60–79 years, which accounted for 28.10% of all patients with AS in 2017 and by 2020 decreased by 3.38%, already amounting to 24.72% of patients, the third place in the number of patients belongs to the age group 30–39 years, which accounted for about 17–18% of the entire population with AS during the entire study period. The analysis of the polypharmacy indicator indicates a low drug load of most patients since a small proportion of patients — from 1.54% (20 people) to 2.71% (49 people) — had more than 10 items for international nonproprietary names per year. The leading position was occupied by the therapeutic scheme of monotherapy “NSAIDs” in 2017, since 2018 the first place belongs to the scheme of therapy with one “iTNF-α”. Conclusions. The increase in costs for the relief of adverse reactions and the treatment of concomitant diseases indicates a shift in the approach to the treatment of diseases of the musculoskeletal system, as pathologies accompanied by a wide variety of comorbid and polymorbid conditions. Despite the positive changes in the regional system of LLO of Moscow, it is possible to improve the indicators of the provision of patients with AS when evaluating its effectiveness, taking into account clinical indicators and the results of the assessment of the quality of life reported by patients.

February 27, 2022 marks the 80th anniversary of the birth of Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Laureate of the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation, Deputy Academician-Secretary of the Department of Medical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences Valery Vasilyevich Beregovyh.

February 8, 2022 marks the 80th anniversary of the birth of the scientific director of the Federal Research Center for Nutrition, Biotechnology and Food Safety Viktor Aleksandrovich Tutelyan — the largest Russian scientist, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, laureate of the Prize of the Government of the Russian Federation in the field of science and technology.