Publications by authors named "Gerard Ferrer"
Article Synopsis
- * A study involving over 16,600 STEMI patients found a 16% reduction in PPCI procedures in 2020 compared to 2019, with the elderly experiencing the most significant delays.
- * Consequently, there was a notable increase in 30-day mortality rates during the pandemic, particularly among older patients, attributed to longer ischemia times and treatment delays.
Article Synopsis
- The COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced the number of primary percutaneous coronary interventions (PPCIs) for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients by 16% in 2020 compared to 2019.
- Despite this reduction affecting both genders equally, 30-day mortality rates increased notably for female patients during the pandemic, while male patients did not show a significant change.
- The analysis highlights the importance of addressing gender-specific outcomes in cardiac care during public health crises.
Article Synopsis
- The "smoking paradox" refers to lower mortality rates in smokers among STEMI patients, particularly in the context of modern primary PCI protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- A large retrospective study revealed that among 16,083 STEMI patients, active smokers had better postprocedural blood flow and lower mortality rates compared to both non-smokers and previous smokers.
- The findings suggest that despite initial challenges in treatment, active smoking was linked to improved heart health outcomes in this patient population, indicating the need for further investigation into this unexpected relationship.
Article Synopsis
- SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) for STEMI is linked to increased thrombotic complications due to inflammation and endothelial dysfunction.
- In a study of 62 SARS-CoV-2 positive STEMI patients compared to 310 matched negative controls, the positive group showed significantly higher in-hospital mortality (29% vs 5.5%) and complications like stent thrombosis and heart failure.
- The findings highlight the need for careful management of STEMI patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, as they may experience worse outcomes compared to non-infected patients.
Background: The fear of contagion during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have potentially refrained patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) from accessing the emergency system, with subsequent impact on mortality.
Objectives: The ISACS-STEMI COVID-19 registry aims to estimate the true impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the treatment and outcome of patients with STEMI treated by primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI), with identification of "at-risk" patient cohorts for failure to present or delays to treatment.
Methods: This retrospective registry was performed in European high-volume PPCI centers and assessed patients with STEMI treated with PPPCI in March/April 2019 and 2020.
Objective: Thermal energy storage (TES) systems using phase change materials (PCM) have been lately studied and are presented as one of the key solutions for the implementation of renewable energies. These systems take advantage of the latent heat of phase change of PCM during their melting/ solidification processes to store or release heat depending on the needs and availability. Low thermal conductivity and latent heat are the main disadvantages of organic PCM, while corrosion, subcooling and thermal stability are the prime problems that inorganic PCM present.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Our purpose was to assess the usefulness of a strategy based on the clinical presentation in order to choose antibiotics in patients with non-severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).
Patients And Method: During one year, all patients admitted to the emergency department with a diagnosis of non-severe (Fine risk-classes I, II and III) CAP, were randomized and assigned into the following groups: GROUP 1: the clinical presentation was not taken into account and all patients were treated with levofloxacin; GROUP 2: patients with typical presentation were treated with amoxicillin and patients with atypical presentation were treated with clarithromycin. The following aspects were evaluated during the follow-up: presence of fever after 72 h of treatment, days of hospitalization and complications.