Publications by authors named "Cominotto F"

Background: Early identification of sepsis in the emergency department (ED) triage is both valuable and challenging. Numerous studies have endeavored to pinpoint clinical and biochemical criteria to assist clinicians in the prompt diagnosis of sepsis, but few studies have assessed the efficacy of these criteria in the ED triage setting. The aim of the study was to explore the accuracy of clinical and laboratory markers evaluated at the triage level in identifying patients with sepsis.

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: The most prominent risk factors for mortality after mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) have not been established. This study aimed to establish risk factors related to 90-day mortality after a traumatic event. : A retrospective cohort study on adult patients entering the Emergency Department of the University Hospital of Trieste for mild TBI from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020 was conducted.

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Background: Transient ischemic attack (TIA) is defined as a transient episode of neurologic dysfunction, without acute infarction or tissue injury lasting less than 24 h. Previous data suggest TIA precedes 15% of ischemic strokes, with a higher risk in the first week. Current practice guidelines advise evaluation through rapid neurological visit or admission to hospital.

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is an intestinal nematode endemic throughout tropical and subtropical areas, with a life cycle consisting of free-living and parasitic components. Unlike other soil-transmitted nematodes, it is capable of self-infection, which can cause chronic disease that lasts for decades, or cause overwhelming hyperinfection in people taking corticosteroids or other immunosuppressive drugs or who have impaired Th2 cell-mediated immunity, particularly those infected with human T-lymphotropic virus 1. During hyperinfection, a large numbers of larvae have access to the bloodstream, lungs, central nervous system, and other organs.

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Pulmonary infarction (PI) is a possible consequence of pulmonary embolism (PE). The real incidence of PI could be underestimated considering only non-fatal PE presentation. However, following postmortem examination, the prevalence of PI is considerably higher.

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Article Synopsis
  • Pheochromocytoma can lead to a serious complication known as tako-tsubo syndrome, which is rare and not widely documented in medical literature.
  • The article presents two clinical cases that highlight the diagnosis and management of this condition using point-of-care ultrasound in an emergency department setting.
  • Emergency physicians should be aware of this association to identify potential pheochromocytoma in patients exhibiting tako-tsubo syndrome-like symptoms, especially if there are signs of hypertension or tachycardia.
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Purpose: Early diagnosis of COVID-19 has a crucial role in confining the spread among the population. Lung ultrasound (LUS) was included in the diagnostic pathway for its high sensitivity, low costs, non-invasiveness and safety. We aimed to test the sensitivity of LUS to rule out COVID-19 pneumonia (COVIDp) in a population of patients with suggestive symptoms.

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Background: Despite prognostic improvements in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), patients presenting with cardiogenic shock (CS) have still high mortality. Which are the relevant early prognostic factors despite revascularization in this high-risk population is poorly investigated.

Methods: We analyzed STEMI patients treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and enrolled at the University Hospital of Trieste between 2012 and 2018.

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Background: During the first COVID-19 lockdown in Italy, it was observed a reduction in emergency department (ED) attendances due to non-SARS-COV-2-related acute/chronic conditions.

Objective: To analyze the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on patients reporting headache as the principal presenting symptom on admission to the ED of the tertiary care University Hospital of Trieste over the relevant period.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the frequency, features, and management of ED attendances for headache during the COVID-19 lockdown from 8 March to 31 May 2020, comparing it with the pre-lockdown period (January-February 2020) and the first 5 months of 2019.

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 The diagnosis of Not Otherwise Specified (NOS) headaches in the Emergency Department (ED) is frequent despite many specialist visits performed. The aim of the study was to examine specialist visits carried out in the patients discharged from ED with diagnosis of NOS headache to evaluate discrepancies between specialist and ED diagnosis at discharge. We retrospectively (1.

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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is characterized by a distinctive blood leucocyte pattern and B-lines on lung ultrasound (LUS) as marker of alveolar-interstitial syndrome. We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of blood leucocyte count alone or in combination with LUS for COVID-19 diagnosis. We retrospectively enrolled consecutive patients diagnosed with community acquired pneumonia (CAP) at hospital admission to derive and validate cutoff values for blood cell count that could be predictive of COVID-19 before confirmation by the nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT).

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The case highlights the value of contrast echocardiography in raising clinical suspicion of malignancy, allowing a diagnostic work-up and the treatment of the primitive heart tumors.

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Background: Public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 outbreak may impact on the incidence rate of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in severely affected areas. However, this phenomenon demands attention also in areas where media and patients were focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, but the healthcare system was not overwhelmed by the huge number of COVID-19 patients.

Methods And Results: In this observational study, we compared the incidence rate of all consecutive STEMI patients admitted at the University Hospital of Trieste, Italy, during March and April 2020 with the same 2 months of the previous 5 years (2015-2019).

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Introduction: The risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 in a hospital setting and the need of reorganizing the Emergency Departments (EDs) to cope with infected patients have led to a reduction of ED attendances for non-infectious acute conditions and to a different management of chronic disorders.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study evaluating the frequency and features of ED attendances for seizures during the lockdown period (March 10th-April 30th 2020) in the University Hospital of Trieste, Italy. We studied the possible pandemic impact on the way patients with seizures sought for medical assistance by comparing the lockdown period to a matched period in 2019 and to a period of identical length preceding the lockdown (January 18th-March 9th 2020).

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Since the presence of "bubbly consolidation" (central lucencies) on a multi-slice computed tomography pulmonary angiography (MCTPA) is one of the highly specific imaging appearances of infarct secondary to pulmonary embolism, we investigated the ultrasound characteristics of these infarctions. In this study, 118 patients with MCTPA diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism were enrolled. Pulmonary infarctions were detected in 21 patients (17.

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemics required several changes in stroke management and it may have influenced some clinical or functional characteristics. We aimed to evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemics on stroke management during the first month of Italy lockdown. In addition, we described the emergency structured pathway adopted by an Italian University Hub Stroke Unit in the cross-border Italy-Slovenia area.

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To evaluate therapies employed in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with a chief complaint of non-traumatic headache to check if guidelines are followed. A 6-month retrospective analysis of the ED records of all the patients who referred to the ED of the University Hospital of Trieste for non-traumatic headache was performed. Out of 37.

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The aim of the present study was to determine whether changes of carotid wall shear stress induced by changes in blood viscosity after diuretic administration cause carotid arterial dilatation in elderly hypertensives, as reported in the cat. Arterial wall shear rate (ultrasound technique, profilmeter FRP III), the systo-diastolic diameter (echotracking technique) and the mean blood flow velocity and volume of the common carotid artery, the blood viscosity (rotational viscometer) and the finger arterial blood pressure (Finapress Ohmeda) were measured in 12 young volunteers (aged 25+/-2 years) and in 12 elderly hypertensives (aged 80+/-4 years) treated with short-acting calcium antagonists up to 24h before the study, both at baseline and after intravenous furosemide infusion (0.5mg/min), when the haematocrit had increased by at least two percentage points.

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Unlabelled: The aim was to investigate the regional and systemic haemodynamic consequences of bolus injection of fluids with different physical properties in the course of routine aortography. Iopamidol was compared with an equiosmolar solution of mannitol and with a 0.9 N saline solution.

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Our objective was to determine if urinary bladder distention modifies the sensitivity of the baroreceptor-heart rate reflex in hypertensive and control subjects. The baroreceptor-heart rate reflex sensitivity was measured in 15 male patients (mean age 37+/-8 years) with mild untreated hypertension (mean 163+/-8/ 95+/-12 mmHg) and 17 age- and sex-matched control subjects before and after urinary bladder distention. Bladder filling was performed infusing saline heated to 37 degrees C via a urinary catheter; the volume infused in each patient corresponded to that which caused the urge to void without reaching the pain threshold.

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Objective: To evaluate the relationship between the mechanical properties of the carotid artery wall and baroreflex function after acute reduction of blood pressure with lacidipine in essential hypertension.

Design: After 15 days of placebo washout, the hypertensive patients underwent a single-blind haemodynamic study before and 90 min after administration of 4 mg lacidipine (a dihydropyridine calcium antagonist).

Methods: Brachial intra-arterial blood pressure was recorded in eight mild-to-moderate essential hypertensive patients aged 40-53 years (mean +/- SEM 46.

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