The Reasons for Admission of Elderly Subjects in Intensive Care at the CHU Ignace Deen

Objective: To determine the reasons for admission of elderly subjects and the prognosis in general intensive care. Patients and Methods: Observational descriptive and analytical study with prospective collection of data over a period of one year from January 1 to December 31, 2021. Patients aged 65 or over were included. Abstract: During the study period, 223 cases were collected out of 587 patients admitted, giving a prevalence of 37.9%. The average age was 74.127.39 ± years with extremes of 65 and 96 years and a male predominance (58.7%). The comorbidities were dominated by arterial hypertension (71.3%). The patients were: transferred from medical and surgical emergencies (75.8%). The average admission time was 48.8 ± 29.8 hours. One hundred and eight patients had a Glasgow score between 3 and 7. The reasons for admission were dominated by vascular causes (51.6%). Strokes of any type accounted for 43.9% of these reasons for admission. The average time for carrying out the biological assessments and imaging was 41.8 ± 27.3 hours with the extremes of 3 and 89 hours, 37.2% had a complete assessment within 24 hours. The average duration of hospitalization was 7.10 ± 8.87 days with extremes of 1 and 72 days. The mortality rate was 71.7%. Conclusion: This study has made it possible to take stock of the reasons for the admission of elderly subjects to intensive care. It appears that vascular causes are the main reasons for admission with heavy comorbidities which results in high mortality.

Benefits of satins in elderly subjects without established cardiovascular disease : A metaanalysis

To assess whether statins reduce all-cause mortality and CV events in elderly people without established CV disease.

Indications and Findings of Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy in Elderly Patients in Parakou, Republic of Benin

Introduction: Elderly people are considered fragile and at greater risk of having malignant gastrointestinal tumors. The objective of this work was to report the reasons for performing gastrointestinal endoscopy and the lesions found during the endoscopy of this target population in Parakou. Patients and Study Methods: This was a descriptive and cross-sectional study with a retrospective collection of data from January 2016 to December 2017, then from January 2020 to December 2021. It took place in the Regional Teaching Hospital of Borgou-Alibori in Parakou and in the private gastrointestinal endoscopy center of Parakou (Northern Gastrointestinal Exploration Center). All patients aged at least 60 years who had undergone an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy during the study period were included. The variables studied were: the sex, age, indications for the examination, endoscopic lesions and data from the anatomo-pathological examination. Results: In total, out of 1540 upper gastrointestinal endoscopies performed during the study period, 249 (16.17%) involved patients aged 60 years and over. The sex ratio was 1.26. The main indication for the examination was epigastric pain (123 cases, i.e. 49.40%) followed by vomiting (53 cases, i.e. 21.29%). In terms of lesions, non-tumorous gastropathy came first in the stomach (206 cases, i.e. 82.73%) while esophageal lesions were dominated by esophageal candidiasis and cardial incompetence (39 cases, i.e. 15.66% in each of the two situations). In the duodenum, ulcer was noted in 30 patients (12.05%). In 38 patients, 12 (31.58%) were tested positive for Helicobacter pylori infection. Cancers of the gastrointestinal tract were confirmed in 11 patients (4.42%). Conclusion: Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy remains an excellent examination for the exploration of the upper gastrointestinal tract. In Parakou, epigastric pain represents the main indication for this examination in subjects over 60 years of age. Inflammatory or ulcerated non-tumorous gastropathy is the most commonly endoscopic lesion. Esophageal and gastric cancers are less common in this population group according to our study.

Profile of Urinary Tract Infections in the Elderly in the Internal Medicine Department of the University Hospital Center of Point G, Bamako, Mali

Introduction: Urinary tract infections (UTI) are frequent and of polymorphous clinical symptomatology in elderly subjects both in and out of hospital. In Mali, to our knowledge, no study concerning UTIs in the elderly has been conducted, hence the interest in this innovative work. Objectives: To determine the prevalence and clinical and paraclinical aspects of urinary tract infections in the elderly. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective descriptive and cross-sectional study from September 1, 2013 to August 31, 2014, i.e. duration of 12 months. All patients aged 65 years and over, hospitalized or ambulatory in the internal medicine department with a documented urinary tract infection were included. Results: We collected and examined 194 patients. The cytobacteriological study of urine (CBSU) was positive in 28 patients, i.e. a prevalence of 14.43%. The male sex represented 59.8% of the cases, the sex ratio was equal to 1.46. The age groups between 65 - 69 and 70 - 74 years were the most affected, respectively 28.57% and 39.28%. The main clinical signs were: asthenia, anorexia, dependence, fever, urinary burning, dysuria. Hospitalization was associated with urinary tract infection with P = 0.01. The group of enterobacteria were incriminated in 75% of cases. Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa represented 39.28%, 14.28% and 10.71% of cases. Urinary tract infections were represented by pyelonephritis, acute prostatitis, orchi-epididymitis and simple cystitis. Conclusion: Urinary tract infection is frequent in the elderly, its clinical presentation is polymorphic and enterobacteria are the most incriminated group of bacteria.

Infectious Pneumonitis Revealing an Anal Imperforation with Recto-Vaginal Fistula: A Case of Late Discovery in a 70-Year-Old Woman

Introduction: Anorectal malformations concern all anomalies of the terminal part of the digestive tract often diagnosed in the perinatal period. We report a clinical case of anorectal malformation discovered incidentally and very late at 70 years, following complications from the infectious syndrome. Observation: 70-year-old female patient, housewife, uneducated was referred to the hospital for acute febrile, cough, and mental confusion associated with chronic pelvic pain. The genito-anal examination showed an anal imperforation associated with a recto-vaginal fistula complicated by cervico-vaginitis. The evolution during hospitalization was favorable, but the patient died at home, 3 weeks after discharge. Conclusion: The discovery of anorectal malformation in adults is rare and exceptional in an elderly subject. This case demonstrates once again the challenges encountered in developing countries on the socio-economic and health levels.

Continuous Spinal Anesthesia in Precarious Patients: An Experience in Lubumbashi DR Congo

Background: Continuous spinal anesthesia (CSA) is an underused technique in modern anesthesia practice. Compared with other techniques of neuraxial anesthesia, CSA allows incremental dosing of an intrathecal local anesthetic for an indefinite duration, whereas traditional single-shot spinal anesthesia (SSA) usually involves larger doses, a finite, unpredictable duration, and greater potential for detrimental hemodynamic effects including hypotension, and epidural anesthesia via a catheter may produce lesser motor block and suboptimal anesthesia in sacral nerve root distributions. It is indicated in elderly patients undergoing lower limbs and sub umbilical surgery. Aim: This work aims to highlight the advantages of CSA on hemodynamic stability and as an alternative to heavy anesthetic procedures in already fragile patients. Case presentation: Our cases were two elderly patients, both of them with past stories of cardiac diseases. Both of them were undergoing amputation indicated for wet gangrene on lower limbs. They had unstable hemodynamics states due to inflammatory state. They were all rated ASA 3. CSA was performed with low doses of local anesthetics and maintenance by reinjections of mixture with the same doses. The interventions took place without major incidents and all patients survived. Conclusion: CSA is an underused technique in modern anesthesia. However, there is renewed interest due to the quality of the blocs and the hemodynamics stability. We report a case series of 2 elderly patients with past stories of cardiac diseases undergoing amputation for dry gangrene that had been operated under CSA.