Basic cardiovascular risk assessment in naïve patients with colon cancer.

Cardiovascular assessment of oncological patients suggests that cancer can lead to subclinical damage of the heart. The aim of the present study was to analyze the value of baseline cardiovascular biomarkers in patients with newly diagnosed colon cancer prior to treatment. Additionally, another aim was to establish baseline cut-off alert values for this low-intensity neoplastic damage.

Liver Injury and Elevated FIB-4 Define a High-Risk Group in Patients with COVID-19.

Liver involvement in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been widely documented. However, data regarding liver-related prognosis are scarce and heterogeneous. The current study aims to evaluate the role of abnormal liver tests and incidental elevations of non-invasive fibrosis estimators on the prognosis of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Digestive Toxicities Secondary to Immune Checkpoint Inhibition Therapy - Reports of Rare Events. A Systematic Review.

Background And Aims: While immune checkpoint inhibitors therapy (ICI) is exceedingly effective, these drugs are associated with various immune-related adverse effects. As gastrointestinal, hepatic or pancreatic toxicity becomes more common, various reports of rare adverse effects have emerged, leading to a significant clinical and prognostic impact. We aimed to provide a systematic review of mainly case-reports on rare events, to help physicians to make an accurate and fast diagnosis.

Current status of cardiac manifestations in Fabry disease and their treatment.

In the present paper, we discuss cardiac symptoms in Fabry patients, the main imaging and laboratory methods to diagnose myocardial involvement in this disease. In the second part, we present the main treatment options in Fabry patients, including enzyme replacement therapy, substrate reduction treatment, chaperone therapy, gene treatment.

Cardiotoxicity Associated with Chemotherapy Used in Gastrointestinal Tumours.

Cardiotoxicity is a well-recognised side effect of cancer-related therapies with a great impact on outcomes and quality of life in the cancer survivor population. The pathogenesis of chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity in patients with gastrointestinal cancers involves various molecular mechanisms, and the combined use of various chemotherapies augments the risk of each drug used alone. In terms of cardiotoxicity diagnosis, novel biomarkers, such as troponins, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), myeloperoxidases and miRNAs have been recently assessed.

Cardiomyopathies and Arrhythmias Induced by Cancer Therapies.

Cardiology and oncology are two fields dedicated to the study of various types of oncological and cardiac diseases, but when they collide, a new specialty is born, i.e., cardio-oncology.

Association Between -AGT and -ACE Polymorphisms and Carotid Atheromatosis in Hypertensive Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background/aim: The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) may be implicated in carotid atheromatosis (CA) development. We aimed to assess the relationship of M235T-angiotensinogen (AGT) and insertion/deletion of angiotensin conversion enzyme (I/D-ACE) genotypes with CA in patients with essential hypertension (EHT).

Patients And Methods: We determined the M235T-AGT and I/D-ACE genotypes, using PCR-RFLP methods, in 162 hypertensive subjects from three tertiary regional medical centers.

Remodelling in atrial fibrillation: the impact of amiodarone.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common heart rhythm disorder with a prevalence of up to 2.9% in the general population. Its mechanism involves a particular electrophysiological profile as well as structural and biohumoral changes that are often irreversible.

Brown tumors of the femur and pelvis secondary to a parathyroid carcinoma: report of one case.

Brown tumors result from excess osteoclast activity and consist of collections of osteoclasts intermixed with fibrous tissue and poorly mineralized woven bone. They are secondary to hyperparathyroidism (HPT). Their incidence is higher in primary than in secondary hyperparathyroidism.

Left internal mammary artery graft dysfunction diagnosed by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography. A report of two cases.

Transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TDE) is a non-invasive and easy reproducible method to assess the left internal mammary artery (LIMA) graft patency after coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). LIMA graft dysfunction is rare, its rate being 10% at 10 to 15 years after revascularization. The most common cause of graft dysfunction is the competitive flow with the native coronary artery, when the stenosis of the bypassed vessels is not severe.

Left ventricular diastolic performance in breast cancer survivors treated with anthracyclines.

Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate left ventricular diastolic and systolic performance in women diagnosed with breast cancer and treated with low doses of anthracyclines (epirubicin).

Methods And Results: Thirty-four female patients with breast cancer treated with epirubicin up to 450 mg/m2 (study group), and a matched control group of 34 women diagnosed with breast tumours, who had not started chemotherapy, were assessed by echocardiography. Left ventricular diastolic function was evaluated by measuring Doppler transmitral flow: the maximal velocity of the E and A waves (rapid filling and atrial filling), the Emax/Amax ratio, the pressure half time (PHT) of the E wave and the isovolumic relaxation time (IVRT).

Conventional radiology and right heart catheterization in estimating primary pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary hypertension secondary to left-sided valvular disease.

Aim: to estimate the comparative value of conventional radiology and cardiac catheterization in establishing the diagnosis and severity of primary and secondary pulmonary hypertension. We also tried to achieve some correlations between the radiological and invasive parameters.

Methods: we performed a retrospective study over an 11-years time period, analyzing data from a group of 14 patients diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension compared to a matched group of 20 patients suffering from pulmonary hypertension secondary to mitral and aortic valvular disease.

A rare case of systemic autoimmune disease with intricate features of systemic sclerosis, lupus, polymyositis and rheumatoid arthritis. Overlap syndrome or mixed connective tissue disease?

We report an unusual case of connective tissue disease characterized by the coexistence of signs, symptoms and immunological features of 4 defined autoimmune diseases: systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), systemic sclerosis (SSc), polymyositis (PM) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A 53-year-old female was admitted in our clinic with massive polyserositis (pretamponade) as well as skin, joint, muscular lesions and altered general status. The problem we found was the difficulty of including this case in a known clinical entity; SSc/SLE/PM//RA overlap syndrome and mixed connective tissue disease were the two most plausible diagnoses.

Malignant primary pulmonary tumor with hemangiopericytoma-like features: conventional hemangiopericytoma versus solitary fibrous tumor.

Although extremely rare, the primitive lung hemangiopericytoma in adults is similar to hemangiopericytomas with other soft tissue localizations. Although generally benign and curable after radical surgery, it might also have a malignant clinical course with dissemination in both lungs, infiltration of vital organs (heart, pulmonary artery), extension to the adjacent tissues, and even pulmonary metastases. The treatment of choice is the complete tumor resection with negative surgical margins after excision.

Altered left ventricular diastolic performance in oncologic patients treated with epirubicin.

Anthracyclines confer an increased risk of cardiotoxicity. The authors evaluated left ventricular (LV) performance in patients treated with epirubicin. Sixty-eight patients with malignancies (study group), treated with epirubicin < or = 450 mg/m2, and a matched control group of 68 cancer patients who had not started chemotherapy were evaluated by Doppler echocardiography.

Design of stormwater monitoring programs.

Stormwater runoff is now the leading source of water pollution in the United States, and stormwater monitoring programs have only recently been developed. This paper evaluates several stormwater monitoring programs to identify ways of increasing the likelihood of identification of high-risk dischargers and increasing data reliability for assisting in the development of total maximum daily loads. No relationship was found between various types of industrial activity or landuse and water quality data.

Severe paraneoplastic hyponatremia and hypoosmolality in a patient with small-cell lung carcinoma: syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion versus atrial natriuretic peptide or both?

It is well documented in literature that a majority of small-cell lung cancers are associated with paraneoplastic phenomena. We report the case of a 63-year-old man diagnosed with small-cell lung carcinoma, in whom a severe hyponatremia and renal sodium loss with inappropriate antidiuresis were also found during a routine laboratory testing. Syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion was first suspected in this patient, but another complex pathogenetic mechanism involving atrial natriuretic peptides could be associated, potentiating the deflation of the plasma sodium level.

Hepatic cirrhosis associated with arterial pulmonary hypertension.

The association between hepatic cirrhosis and arterial pulmonary hypertension is mentioned in the literature. The authors report the case of a patient with hepatic cirrhosis, who developed in time an arterial pulmonary hypertension with a fatal outcome. They discuss the pathogenesis of arterial pulmonary hypertension in patients with hepatic diseases, and the therapeutic options in these patients.