Management of antithrombotic therapy in gray areas of venous thromboembolism: a Delphi consensus panel.

For some years now, direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have entered the clinical practice for stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) or for prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE). However, there is uncertainty on DOACs' use in some clinical scenarios that are not fully explored by clinical trials, but commonly encountered in the real world. We report a Delphi Consensus on DOAC use in VTE patients.

Combined assessment of thrombotic and haemorrhagic risk in acute medical patients.

Acute medical patients have a high risk of venous thromboembolic events (VTE). Unfortunately, the fear of bleeding complications limits the use of antithrombotic prophylaxis in this setting. To stratify the VTE and haemorrhagic risk, two clinical scores (PADUA, IMPROVE) have recently been developed.

Insulin resistance/compensatory hyperinsulinemia predict carotid intimal medial thickness in patients with essential hypertension.

Background And Aim: Approximately 50% of subjects with essential hypertension (EH) are insulin resistant, and this defect in insulin action could contribute to increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in these patients. To test this hypothesis, we attempted to see if there was a link between insulin resistance (IR) and carotid intimal medial thickness (IMT), an early index of CVD, in patients with essential hypertension.

Methods And Results: Ultrasound quantification of carotid IMT was performed in 79 hypertensive patients, and 63 patients (31 m and 32 f), defined as being free of plaque (IMT < 1.

Relationship between plasma nitric oxide concentration and insulin resistance in essential hypertension.

Background: Plasma nitric oxide (NOx) concentrations in patients with essential hypertension (EH) have been reported to be higher, lower, or no different than in normotensives. This study was initiated to determine whether these inconsistent findings were related to differences in insulin resistance.

Methods: Fasting plasma NOx and insulin concentrations were measured in 78 patients with EH and the relationship between these variables evaluated by regression analysis.