Causalgia and complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) type II with nerve injury can be difficult to treat. Surgical peripheral nerve denervation for causalgia has been largely abandoned by pain clinicians because of a perception that this may aggravate a central component (anesthesia dolorosa).

We selectively searched Pubmed, Cochrane, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL Plus, and Scopus from 1947 for articles, books, and book chapters for evidence of surgical treatments (nerve resection and amputation) and treatment related to autoimmunity and immune deficiency with CRPS.

Reviews were found for the treatment of causalgia or CRPS type II (n = 6), causalgia relieved by nerve resection (n = 6), and causalgia and CRPS II treated by amputation (n = 8). Twelve reports were found of autoimmunity with CRPS, one paper of these on associated immune deficiency and autoimmunity, and two were chosen for discussion regarding treatment with immunoglobulin and one by plasma exchange. We document a report of a detailed and unique pathological examination of a CRPS type II affected amputated limb and related successful treatment with immunoglobulin.

Nerve resection, with grafting, and relocation may relieve uncomplicated causalgia and CRPS type II in some patients in the long term. However, an unrecognized and treatable immunological condition may underly some CRPS II cases and can lead to the ultimate failure of surgical treatments.

Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery is associated with high mortality if not timely surgery. We reviewed our experience with anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery to assess the preoperative variables predictive of outcome and post-operative recovery of left ventricular function.

A retrospective review was conducted and collected data from patients who underwent anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery repair at our institute from April 2005 to December 2019. Left ventricular function was assessed by ejection fraction and the left ventricular end-diastolic dimension index. The outcomes of reimplantation repair were analysed.

A total of 30 consecutive patients underwent anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery repair, with a median age of 14.7 months (range, 1.5–59.6 months), including 14 females (46.67%). Surgery was performed with direct coronary reimplantation in 12 patients (40%) and the coronary lengthening technique in 18 (60%). Twelve patients had concomitant mitral annuloplasty. There were two in-hospital deaths (6.67%), no patients required mechanical support, and no late deaths occurred. Follow-up echocardiograms demonstrated significant improvement between the post-operative time point and the last follow-up in ejection fraction (49.43%±19.92% vs 60.21%±8.27%, p < 0.01) and in moderate or more severe mitral regurgitation (19/30 vs 5/28, p < 0.01). The left ventricular end-diastolic dimension index decreased from 101.91 ± 23.07 to 65.06 ± 12.82 (p < 0.01).

Surgical repair of anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery has good mid-term results with low mortality and reintervention rates. The coronary lengthening technique has good operability and leads to excellent cardiac recovery. The decision to concomitantly correct mitral regurgitation should be flexible and be based on the pathological changes of the mitral valve and the degree of mitral regurgitation.

Globally, cancer is the second leading cause of death, and it is estimated that over 18·1 million new cases are diagnosed annually. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted almost every aspect of the provision and management of cancer care worldwide. The time-critical nature of COVID-19 diagnosis and the large number of patients requiring hospitalisation necessitated the rerouting of already limited resources available for cancer services and programmes to the care of COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, the stringent social distancing, restricted in-hospital visits and lockdown measures instituted by various governments resulted in the disruption of the oncologic continuum including screening, diagnostic and prevention programmes, treatments and follow-up services as well as research and clinical trial programmes.

We searched several databases from October 2020 to January 2021 for relevant studies published in English between 2020 and 2021 and reporting on the impact of COVID-19 on the cancer care continuum. This narrative review paper describes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cancer patient care continuum from screening and prevention to treatments and ongoing management of patients.

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted cancer care and the management of cancer services and patients. Nevertheless, the oncology healthcare communities worldwide have done phenomenal work with joint and collaborative efforts, utilising best available evidence-based guidelines to continue to give safe and effective treatments for cancer patients while maintaining the safety of patients, healthcare professionals and the general population. Nevertheless, several healthcare centres are now faced with significant challenges with the management of the backlog of screening, diagnosis and treatment cases. It is imperative that governments, leaders of healthcare centres and healthcare professionals take all necessary actions and policies focused on minimising further system-level delays to cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment initiation and clearing of all backlogs cases from the COVID-19 pandemic in order to mitigate the negative impact on cancer outcomes.