MERS-Co Virus Resource Center

Satatistics from Saudi Arabia: http://www.moh.gov.sa/en/CCC/PressReleases/Pages/default.aspx


Health Staff Guidelines : http://www.moh.gov.sa/en/CCC/StaffRegulations/Corona/Pages/StaffRegulations.aspx


PubMed Publications  : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=mers-cov

Pulmonary , Critical Care and Sleep Medicine from the American College of Chest Physicians

This is a rich online and free source for education and would suggest for our trainees to avail of it

http://www.chestnet.org/Publications/CME-Publications/PCCSU

The current volume is PCCSU Volume 25: (below are some of the topics covered)

 

Volume 25, Lesson 32: TB and Pregnancy

Volume 25, Lesson 30: ECMO: An Update

Volume 25, Lesson 27: Severe Asthma: Recognition and Management

Volume 25, Lesson 25: Referral Considerations for Lung Transplantation in the Era of the Lung Allocation System

Volume 25, Lesson 24: Excessive Sleepiness: Evaluation and Management

Volume 25, Lesson 23: Imaging and Differential Diagnosis of Cystic Lung Disease

Volume 25, Lesson 21: Nonspecific Interstitial Pneumonia

Volume 25, Lesson 19: Acid-Base Disorders

Volume 25, Lesson 18: Non-Cystic Fibrosis Bronchiectasis

Volume 25, Lesson 8: The Value of Bronchoalveolar Lavage in the Diagnosis and Management of Interstitial Lung Disease

Volume 25, Lesson 6: Biological Therapy for Asthma

Volume 25, Lesson 5: Fixed Airflow Limitation in Asthma

Can you be part of the ILDER ( Interstitial Lung Disease -Eastern Region) 

Despite being a common clinical problem in Saudi Arabia , the interstitial lung diseases remain confused and confusion to many physicians and the assessment and treatment is heterogenous and doesn't conform to the guidelines.
We lack the epidemiology in Saudi Arabia to make informed decisions about the conditions.
Most of the work related to the ILD remains to be collection of case reports and reviews. Dr AlHammad in King Saud University has written some papers which are more informative but can't not be generalised to the wider population . of note is the recent publication from the group in the west of Saudi Arabia ( Madina and Jeddah ) reporting on some aspects of the ILD.
As a group practising in the eastern region , where the ILD would be common and reflect the combination of genetic susceptibility and environmental interplay, we need to study the prevalence of ILD in our region .Followed by more structured studies to look at aetiology and prognosis .

I suggest the establishment of the ILDER group to reflect the group attending the STS-ERCC and the aim is to do a cross sectional study to assess the patterns of ILD and the demographics and patients characteristics.
I have already discussed with Dr Nawal and we are willing to take suggestions and share plans to establish the group.

It will be helpful if each hospital nominated one person to be member of the committee starting up this project
contact me at: abella@uod.eu.sa

Case of the Month : April 2015

67 years old saudi male who is known to have hypertension and type II DM had suffered recueent cerebrovascular accidents with difficulty in swallowing .

He was discharged from another facility 3 weeks ago after presenting with a ischemic stroke.

He has left side weakness  and on respiratory examination was found to have coarse crackles on the right base

This is his CXR

What does this CXR show ?

What is your likely diagnosis?

How will you further investigate this patient ?

Give a differential diagnosis for the condistions associted with same radiological pattern .


 

Case of the Month: March 2015

A 40-year-old Saudi female complaints of dry cough, shortness of breath which is mostly exertional, and. There is no history of asthma or any other chronic lung disease. She never smoked. On examination: No clubbing , she had trachea mildly shifted to the right side, normal breath sound with no added sounds.

 

Describe the abnormalities

 

What is the radiological sign shown here?

 

What is the diagnosis?

 

How will you further manage this patient ?

 

 

Let us share the knowledge

Dear colleagues , we have already managed to keep the STS-ERCC running regularly .
We need to share more of our experiences and plan for better future of our patients and junior doctors.
We need to prepare for next years's schedule , add more challenging cases and collaborate in research
We understand the information Tsunami which drowns every body BUT we feel having a blog may be better than limiting our communications to the whatsapp platform



Abdelhaleem