The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it many challenges in the field of healthcare around the world. Managing burn patients has its own challenges as they require a long duration of care and are more susceptible to infection. We conducted a retrospective observational study from January 30 to July 15, 2020 at our center to study the epidemiology of burns treated & patients and healthcare workers affected by COVID-19 during this period. The number of burn admissions showed a 42.6% reduction as compared to last year. A total of 17 patients (3.67%) and 29 health care workers (8.68%) tested positive for COVID-19 in the burns department. Our strategy underwent changes based on the changing dynamics of COVID-19 and changes in government and institutional policies. We have described the various challenges we faced in managing burns during this time. We found that effective screening of patients and healthcare workers, proper segregation of negative and positive/ suspect population and a low threshold for COVID-19 testing were essential to mitigate transmission of infection.

Background: Appendicitis is notorious in its ability to simulate other conditions and accurate diagnosis is imperative for preventing complications of appendicitis on one hand and avoiding negative appendectomy on other. Despite extraordinary advances in modern radiography imaging and diagnostic laboratory investigations, the accurate diagnosis of acute appendicitis remains an enigmatic challenge. Methods: We evaluated 32 patients with features suggestive of acute appendicitis between September 2013 to March 2015. It was a cross-sectional observational study that included modified Alvarado score (MAS) and ultrasound (USG) in predicting appendicitis and correlated both these individually as well as combined, with histopathological findings. Statistical analysis was done by Chi-square test with Yates correction, Fischer's exact test and unpaired Students' t test. Results: Ultrasound was found to be more sensitive (74.19%) and accurate (75.0%) as compared to MAS (41.94% and 43.75% respectively). The specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) were similar in both the parameters (100% each). Also, when both the MAS and Ultrasound were combined in predicting acute appendicitis, the sensitivity, negative predictive value and accuracy increased to 80.64%, 14.29% and 81.25% respectively with specificity and PPV being the same as when MAS and USG were considered individually. Conclusions: It is advised that both modified Alvarado score and ultrasound whenever available should be used to predict acute appendicitis to increase the number of positive cases and reduce negative appendectomy and hence reduce the morbidity and mortality.

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Inferior mesenteric artery aneurysm is very rare and are usually asymptomatic. A high mortality is associated with aneurysmal rupture. The purpose of this paper is to report occurrence of a rare disease and its treatment options. A 64 years old woman presented with complaints of lower abdominal pain radiating to back for 1month, with non-passage of stools for 5days, and had decreased appetite. She had features of Neurofibromatosis type I. On examination, she had tachycardia and had pallor, and abdominal examination showed lumps in right and left iliac fossa which progressively increased in size. Computed tomography scan showed features of leaking inferior mesenteric artery aneurysm with perianeurysmal hematoma. The patient was taken up for surgical exploration wherein after checking the bowel viability, the inferior mesenteric artery was clipped at its origin, ligated and divided followed by hematoma evacuation. Post-operative stay was uneventful, and the patient was discharged on post-operative day 10.