Interdiscip Cardiovasc Thorac Surg
May 2024
Aims: This study aimed to report the long-term findings of the Italian programme of cardiovascular preparticipation screening (PPS) in young, competitive athletes.
Methods And Results: The study assessed the diagnostic yield for diseases at risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD), the costs of serial evaluations, and the long-term outcomes of PPS in a large population of Italian children (age range, 7-18 years). The PPS was repeated annually and included medical history, physical examination, resting electrocardiogram, and stress testing; additional tests were reserved for athletes with abnormal findings.
Aims: The athletic preparticipation evaluation (PPE) protocol proposed by he European Society of Cardiology includes history, physical examination and resting electrocardiogram (ECG). The aim of this study was to assess the results of adding constant-load ECG stress testing (EST) to the protocol for the evaluation of ventricular arrhythmias (VA) inducibility.
Methods: We evaluated a consecutive cohort of young athletes with history, physical examination, resting ECG and EST.
Introduction: Italian law mandates that every competitive athlete must undergo annual preparticipation evaluation (PPE) to identify cardiovascular (CV) diseases that pose a risk of sudden death (SD) during sport and other conditions that may threaten the athlete's health. We investigated the diagnostic yield, rate of disqualification and costs of our PPE.
Methods: We included 5910 consecutive apparently healthy athletes (61% males, mean age 15±4 years) who underwent annual PPE performed by a sports medicine specialist.
Background: Anomalous aortic origin of coronary arteries (AAOCA) is a rare abnormality, whose optimal management is still undefined. We describe early outcomes in patients treated with different management strategies.
Methods: This is a retrospective clinical multicenter study including patients with AAOCA, undergoing or not surgical treatment.
Clin Appl Thromb Hemost
July 2007
The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of low-intensity warfarin treatment plus aspirin during the first 6 months after surgery in patients undergoing heart valve substitution with mechanical prostheses. Vitamin K antagonists (VKA) are able to reduce but not eliminate thrombosis and systemic embolism in patients with mechanical heart valves. The intensity of treatment and additional use of aspirin in these patients is still controversial.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Thromb Thrombolysis
February 2006
A multicenter, observational, retrospective, cross-sectional study of patients, receiving oral anticoagulation therapy (OAT) for stroke prophylaxis in chronic non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) was conducted in the US, Canada, France, Italy and Spain according to their predominant model of care [routine medical care (RMC) or Anticoagulation Clinic care (ACC)]. The study objectives were to assess anticoagulation control (time in target range), and to describe the features of the local model of care. Consecutive patients were recruited on the basis of a minimum of 60 days of oral anticoagulant treatment over a 12 month period, and clinic and physician details were captured by means of a structured face-to-face or telephone interview.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmong the so called 'antiphospholipid antibodies', the presence of Lupus Anticoagulant (LA) is associated with thrombosis-related events and defines the antiphospholipid syndrome. The role of anti-cardiolipin (aCL) antibodies and anti-human beta2-glycoprotein I (abeta2GPI) antibodies is less striking. Since the problem of standardization for these tests is far from resolved, we evaluated whether the combination of results (antiphospholipid laboratory profiles) could help to better classify these patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClassic anticoagulant drugs, such as heparin and warfarin, are very effective. However, although in use for more than 50 years, they do have some clinical drawbacks. Heparin, now better termed unfractionated heparin, can only be used intravenously and its laboratory control is complicated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTPH) is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. Its incidence after pulmonary embolism and associated risk factors are not well documented.
Methods: We conducted a prospective, long-term, follow-up study to assess the incidence of symptomatic CTPH in consecutive patients with an acute episode of pulmonary embolism but without prior venous thromboembolism.
We determined whether international normalized ratio (INR) monitoring at 6 weeks rather than 4 weeks would benefit patients and reduce costs. Patients receiving stable oral anticoagulation treatment (target INR, 3.0) with a prosthetic mechanical heart valve for more than 6 months were randomized for a maximum interval between INR determinations of 6 weeks (group 1, n = 59) or 4 weeks (group 2 [control], n = 65).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMitral stenosis (MS) in association with atrial fibrillation (AF) is a clinical condition at high risk for systemic thromboembolism. Although oral anticoagulants greatly reduce the incidence of thromboembolism in these patients, the optimal intensity of treatment has never been tested in specific clinical trials, and current recommendations are derived from studies of nonrheumatic AF. In this study we tested the effectiveness of two different intensities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFailure of anticoagulant therapy in a patient with a St. Jude heart valve in the mitral position is reported. After 8 years of optimal anticoagulation at an International Normalized Ratio between 2.
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