Publications by authors named "Georgia Gkounti"

Purpose: Regional anaesthesia techniques provide highly effective alternative to general anaesthesia. Existing evidence on the effect of spinal anaesthesia (SA) on cardiac diastolic function is scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a single-injection, low-dose SA on left ventricular end-diastolic pressures (LVEDP) using echocardiography in euvolaemic patients undergoing elective vascular surgery.

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Existing evidence of the effect of spinal anesthesia (SA) on cardiac systolic function is scarce and inconclusive. This study aimed to evaluate the effects induced by a single injection of SA for elective vascular surgery on left (LV) and right (RV) ventricular systolic performance using transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). A prospective study.

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Article Synopsis
  • Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune disorder that can lead to blood clots and pregnancy complications, diagnosed through persistently high levels of antiphospholipid antibodies over time.
  • A systematic review of literature focused on the relationship between APS and acute coronary syndromes revealed that APS should be considered in younger patients experiencing heart attacks, even if their coronary arteries appear normal.
  • Current treatment mainly involves vitamin K antagonists and sometimes aspirin, but there are no clear guidelines, indicating the need for more randomized clinical trials to improve understanding and treatment for patients with APS.
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Real-world data regarding the effectiveness, safety and immunogenicity of the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine are accumulating in the literature, suggesting that this vaccine generates high titres of S1-binding IgG antibodies that exhibit potent virus neutralization capacity. This is the first phase IV immunogenicity study to recruit a large number of Greek healthcare workers (=425) including 63 previously-infected subjects. We measured titres of neutralizing IgGs against the receptor-binding domain of the S1 subunit of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 14 days post-immunization with the first dose, employing the SARS-CoV-2 IgG II Quant assay.

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