[Therapeutic decisions and treatment with sorafenib in hepatocellular carcinoma: final analysis of GIDEON study in Italy].

Introduction: Sorafenib, an oral multikinase inhibitor, is the only targeted agent approved for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after demonstration to increase overall survival compared to placebo in two randomized phase III study. GIDEON (Global Investigation of therapeutic DEcisions in HCC and Of its treatment with sorafeNib) is the largest, global, non-interventional, prospective study of patients with uHCC (n>3200) treated with sorafenib in real-life clinical practice conditions. Here we report the final analysis of safety and efficacy in the Italian cohort of patients.

Incidence of arterial cardiovascular events in patients with idiopathic venous thromboembolism. A retrospective cohort study.

Recent data have shown a higher incidence of arterial events in patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) of unknown origin than in those with the secondary form of disease. Whether patients with idiopathic VTE have a higher risk of subsequent arterial events than the general population is unknown. The aim was to evaluate the rates of subsequent arterial events in patients with idiopathic VTE and control subjects.

Importance of troponin T for the risk stratification of normotensive patients with pulmonary embolism. A prospective, cohort study with a three-month follow-up.

To determine the prognostic importance of troponin T in normotensive patients with pulmonary embolism, we investigated the rate of adverse events in patients with normal and elevated troponin values, during the hospital period and at three months of follow-up. We also calculated the proportion of patients with abnormal troponin values and adverse outcomes who could have been treated with more aggressive therapy according to published criteria.

Incidence of post-thrombotic syndrome in patients with previous pulmonary embolism. A retrospective cohort study.

There is little information available about the true incidence of post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS) after pulmonary embolism (PE). The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of PTS in patients with previous pulmonary embolism without concomitant ultrasonographically-detectable deep vein thrombosis (DVT). A retrospective cohort study was conducted at a single tertiary care centre, Cosenza, Italy.

Diagnostic utility of echocardiography in patients with suspected pulmonary embolism.

The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical utility of echocardiography in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE). For this, we enrolled 162 patients with suspected PE in a prospective study. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of right ventricular dilatation, the Doppler evidence of pulmonary hypertension, and their possible associations.