The University of Kansas Health System is treating a total of 10 COVID patients today, 8 Wednesday. Other significant numbers:
- 6 with the active virus today, 6 Wednesday
- 1 in ICU, 1 Wednesday
- 0 on a ventilator, 0 Wednesday
Key points from today’s guests:
Morning Rounds – Update on Top Headlines
Dr. Adrienne Malik, emergency medicine physician, The University of Kansas Health System
- With heat exhaustion, we see people who have been exposed to heat whether it's through activity outside when it's quite warm, whether it's being left in a hot car or in a house or some area where they don't have access to things to help them stay cool.
- They can start to develop symptoms that are indicative that their body is having a hard time dealing with the temperature. These symptoms are things like nausea, headaches, dizziness, fatigue, and muscle cramps.
- The difference when we categorize this as heatstroke as opposed to heat exhaustion, is that these patients now have altered mental status or are now no longer acting like their normal selves in the setting of being exposed to high degree of heat. When someone is confused or delirious, that is heat stroke.
- First responders can help with heat exhaustion by helping the patient evaporate off some of that heat and work to cool them down with wet cool towels and blowing air. Patients can also be dehydrated, so IV fluids can help turn those patients around.
- If it progresses to heatstroke, the patient typically needs to be sent to the hospital for further medical treatment.
Focus Topic
Priscilla Brittine, had stomach removed to prevent cancer
- When she was 14, her mother died of stomach cancer. She then lost cousins and other extended family members to stomach cancer.
- She had genetic testing done at The University of Kansas Health System, which found she shared a rare genetic mutation with her deceased family members called CDH1.
- This meant she had about an 80 percent chance of developing stomach cancer, so doctors at The University of Kansas Cancer provided options, including completely removing her stomach.
- She has learned to eat differently and change her eating habits to focus on smaller, more frequent meals.
- Priscilla has also become an advocate for stomach cancer awareness, traveling to Washington, D.C. to meet with politicians about research and funding.
Dr. Mazin Al-Kasspooles, surgical oncology, The University of Kansas Health System
- Priscilla could have opted not to have the stomach removal, but that would mean she’d have to get scoped every 3-6 months to get biopsies. But the cancer is not easy to detect, even with those frequent checks.
- Stomach cancer is a very aggressive cancer, so Priscilla was probably a short period away from having a very invasive, metastasizing cancer.
- Genetic testing is everything.
- Be very aware of your body, even as a young person, because we are seeing more cancers in young people.
Dr. Lauren Nye, medical oncologist, The University of Kansas Health System
- With the CDH1 gene, she is also at higher risk of breast cancer, so we monitor her very closely with mammograms and breast MRIs.
- The CDH1 gene is very rare in the general population – probably less than a 100th of a percent.
- When someone in your family has a mutation, that means that their close relatives all have a 50 percent chance of also having that mutation.
- If you do have a family history of cancer, the first step can be meeting with a genetic counselor who can look at your family history and identify if you meet certain criteria for genetic testing.
COVID/Infectious Disease Updates
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director, infection prevention & control, The University of Kansas Health System
- The CDC just released two reports about alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), which is a tick bite that can trigger red meat allergies.
- The CDC says as many as 450,000 Americans may have been affected by it, but many cases are underdiagnosed because the medical profession is not really aware of it.
- Ticks spread bacteria, viruses, and parasites.
- People who work on farms and in landscaping are at the greatest risk of having a series of tick bites.
Monday, July 31 at 8 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. Two decades of pain led one patient to try a spinal cord stimulator that changed his life.
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