Background and objectives A flare-up in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases threatens the health of people, and though there is no proven pharmacological treatment, many analytical studies have suggested that interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels are elevated in cases of severe COVID-19 and that the anti-IL-6 biologic agent tocilizumab may be beneficial. This is a critical review of studies aiming to assess the safety and efficacy of tocilizumab as compared to the standard regimen in patients with COVID-19. Materials and methods Online databases (PubMed and Cochrane) were searched until June 29, 2020, for original articles investigating the immunological response in COVID-19 and its treatment with tocilizumab. Data on multiple baseline characteristics and pre-specified endpoints were extracted and pooled using a random effect model. We used Review Manager version 5.3 (The Nordic Cochrane Centre, The Cochrane Collaboration, 2014, Denmark) and Stata 11.0 (Stata Corporation LP, College Station, TX) for all analyses. Risk ratios (RR) and the weighted mean difference (WMD) with the corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Results From a total of 1,246 identified articles, 13 studies were included after duplicate removal and narrowing based on title and abstract. Of the 13 included studies, seven case-control studies were shortlisted for metaanalysis (quantitative) and six-single arm studies were used in the discussion (qualitative). These studies had 766 patients (351 in the tocilizumab arm and 414 in the control arm). Their pooled analysis demonstrated that mortality was significantly lower in the tocilizumab group (RR=0.56 [0.34, 0.92]; p=0.02; I 2 =76%), as was the need for artificial invasive ventilation (RR=0.34 [0.12, 0.99]; p=0.05; I 2 =0%) as compared to the control group. No significant differences were observed between tocilizumab and control group in intensive care unit admissions (RR=0.73 [0.15, 3.59]; p=0.70; I 2 =60%) and risks of post-drug infection (RR=1.29 [0.41, 4.04]; p=0.66; I 2 =88%). In terms of efficacy outcome, improved oxygen saturation (RR=1.13 [1.04, 1.65]; p=0.02; I 2 =0%) was reported to be markedly significant in tocilizumab patients when compared with the standard care group. Conclusions Our results based on pooled studies show tocilizumab to be safe and efficacious in reducing mortality among critically ill COVID-19 patients. However, due to the limited number of observational studies, the positive findings should be viewed cautiously and warrant further investigation.
Background
As the population of patients with Fontan palliation grows, so does the number of patients with Fontan failure, necessitating heart transplantation. However, due to mainly small-sized studies, outcomes after heart transplantation in these patients remain unclear. The objective of this study was to review the available literature and conduct a meta-analysis to provide well-powered and generalizable estimates of outcomes after heart transplantation in patients with a failing Fontan.
Main text
PubMed, Embase, and MEDLINE databases were searched for original studies of patients with a failing Fontan who underwent heart transplantation. The outcomes included were 1-year and 5-year survival, acute rejection, renal dysfunction, sepsis, and multi-organ failure. Proportions were pooled using random effects models to derive pooled proportions (PPs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Meta-regression analysis was done to study the effects of age and gender on key outcomes. Sixteen retrospective single-center cohort studies with 426 Fontan patients undergoing heart transplantation were included in this meta-analysis. Pooled analysis of this study further revealed that 1-year survival after heart transplantation was 79.9% ([75.8%, 83.7%]; I2 = 1.92%), and 5-year survival rate was 72.5% ([62.1%, 81.9%]; I2 = 72.12%). Secondary outcomes after heart transplantation of failed Fontan procedure were acute rejection (PP 20% [7.4%, 36.8%]; I2 = 72.48%), renal dysfunction (PP 31.3% [10.5%, 57.2%]; I2 = 75.42%), multi-organ failure (PP 18.6% [2.8 to 43.9%]; I2= 69.60%), and sepsis (PP 21.1% [9%, 36.8%]; I2 = 61.19%).
Conclusion
Cardiac transplantation in patients with a failing Fontan is associated with acceptable interventional success and improved survival rates.
Dear Editor, We read with great interest the article entitled, "Papillary muscle intervention versus mitral ring annuloplasty in ischemic mitral regurgitation" by Micali LR et al. 1 published in issue 3, vol. 35 of the Journal of Cardiac Surgery.
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