Dear colleagues and friends,
It is a great honor and pleasure to present to you the first issue of our very own Serbian Journal of the Medical Chamber in year 2022. In the time that we work and live in, we have behind us many accomplishments, but also challenges, throughout which we have shown, as a profession, our true strength, unity and success, in all the areas of our professional and scientific work.
It is in this spirit that we continue our activity and efforts. Therefore, just like it has been our custom thus far, in this professional and scientific journal belonging to all of us, we aim to present to you an array of quality professional and research papers. In this issue, the Journal offers you a wide spectrum of current information presented in the papers written by our colleagues. We hope that the content of these papers will prove worthy of your attention and offer information useful in your everyday professional work.
We would first like to present the article written by Milena Šantrić Milićević, dealing with the mortality of health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article expresses concern for the health of health and care workers and emphasizes the importance of the precise identification of mortality, but also of stimulating investment into the safety and sustainability of the healthcare system, in the context of high-risk emergency situations.
In their original paper, Marijana Juga and Marijana Virijević have analyzed the prognostic risk factors for early death in patients with acute myeloid leukemia, occurring within 28 days of the initiation of induction chemotherapy. They define the risk factors and demonstrate that, in their study, the most common cause of early death in patients aged 40 – 65 years was sepsis, while in patients older than 65 years it was respiratory failure.
The cross-sectional study by Dejan Mihajlović et al. analyzes the factors connected to the subjective feeling of fatigue, three months after COVID-19. The study emphasizes the importance of the timely identification and appropriate treatment of this health problem, as well as its significance in public health.
In their original paper, Dunja Stankić and Predrag Miljić investigate the relation between antiphospholipid antibody type and titer and the clinical manifestations of antiphospholipid syndrome. Their study did not demonstrate a correlation between the titer of antiphospholipid antibodies and the clinical manifestations of antiphospholipid syndrome. Symptomatic and asymptomatic patients did not significantly differ with regards to the type and frequency of elevated antibodies. These results indicate that the presence of other factors, which are as yet little-known, is necessary for the clinical manifestations of antiphospholipid syndrome.
The authors of the original paper, Stefan Stanković and Irena Đunić describe the profile of bacterial infections in patients in allogenic stem cell transplantation programs. Bacterial infections were present in more than a quarter of the studied patients, while the most common pathogens causing the infections were Gram-negative bacteria. Hospital-acquired and endogenous opportunistic infections were present the most, which is why the necessity of preventive measures against hospital-acquired infections is emphasized in this study.
In their paper, Uroš Dabetić et al. present the importance of timely hip fracture surgery for final treatment outcomes. The authors emphasize that patients should be operated on within 24 hours of hospital
admission, unless there is an acute medical condition preventing the operation. If the condition can be
corrected, this window is prolonged to 48 hours, but the waiting time for surgical treatment should not
be longer than 4 days.
The review article by Marija Milenković et al. presents current knowledge on the application of anticoagulants and corticosteroids in treating the COVID-19 infection. Stating the indications, in keeping
with the National Protocol for Treating COVID-19, this article also points out the importance of individual assessment of risks and benefits in including these drugs in the treatment regimen.
The Editors’ choice is the review article written by Olivera Marković et al., which shows the clinical
characteristics of COVID-19 and the efficacy of vaccination in patients with hematological malignancies.
This article provides an overview of relevant studies analyzing the characteristics, morbidity and mortality of patients with hematologic malignancies and COVID-19, as well as the role of vaccination in these
patients.
In their review article evaluating thrombocytopenia in COVID-19, Mirjana Mitrović and Nikola Pantić
point out that the frequency of its occurrence is 35%. In this paper, all causes of thrombocytopenia and the
modalities of its treatment within the infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus have been reported on.
Jovana Grupković et al. present the clinical characteristics and the methods of treatment of talar
neck fracture. This paper highlights the necessity of the knowledge of surgical techniques for the selection of an adequate method of treatment, in order to prevent unwanted consequences for the patient,
which in the case of suboptimal treatment can be severe.
In their case report, Ksenija Mijović et al. stress the importance of the radiological finding of pneumomediastinum as a rare complication of emphysematous pyelonephritis, as well as of the unequivocal
need for immediate response. They also emphasize the significance of imaging findings, which are somewhat unusual, but which raise suspicion of serious retroperitoneal infection.
Eleonora Gvozdenović presents the case of a female patient, following a cat-bite, with erysipelas
caused by Pasteurella multocida. The paper stresses that this is an easily recognized clinical entity, which
may be caused by other microorganisms, besides streptococcus, which is very important to consider
in order to make an accurate etiological diagnosis as well as to prescribe the appropriate therapy, in a
timely manner.
We believe that this issue has proven worthy of our joint belief in the quality of the Serbian Journal
of the Medical Chamber, which is, as has always been its tradition, yet again presenting high-quality
professional and research papers, whereby it has earned the right to be categorized in the near future.
It would be our great pleasure and honor if you were to join us with your submissions in one of the
next issues of the Journal
