VV-ECMO in critical COVID-19 obese patients: a cohort study.

Background: Obesity causes significant difficulties in successful extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support and may interfere with patient outcomes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced an increased number of obese patients supported with ECMO in our intensive care unit due to severe illness in this population.

Methods: We designed a single-center retrospective study to identify prognostic factors for 180-day survival in obese critical COVID-19 patients receiving venovenous ECMO (VV-ECMO).

Thrombolytic Dilemma: A Case Report of Early Puerperium Ischemic Stroke Treated With Intravenous Thrombolysis.

A 25-year-old woman was admitted to the obstetrics ward when presented with a sudden onset of expressive aphasia and minor right facial palsy 48 hours after forceps-assisted delivery. The intrahospital emergency team was immediately mobilized. The patient had a blood pressure (BP) of 119/79 mmHg, heart rate of 114 bpm, O saturation of 97%, and blood glucose level of 136 mg/dL.

Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome in a patient submitted to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for COVID-19.

A 63-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with an acute history of fever, prostration and dyspnea. She was diagnosed with severe COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome and, despite optimized critical care support, met the indications for veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. On day 34, after 7 days of wean sedation with a positive evolution of neurologic status, she presented a limited generalized tonic-clonic seizure not related to hydroelectrolytic or metabolic imbalance, which led to a diagnostic investigation; her brain imaging tests showed a posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome.

Rationale and design of the Statins Evaluation in Coronary procedUres and REvascularization: The SECURE-PCI Trial.

Background: Previous evidence suggests that acute treatment with statins reduce atherosclerotic complications, including periprocedural myocardial infarction, but currently, there are no large, adequately powered studies to define the effects of early, high-dose statins in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and planned invasive management.

Objectives: The main goal of Statins Evaluation in Coronary procedUres and REvascularization (SECURE-PCI) Trial is to determine whether the early use of a loading dose of 80 mg of atorvastatin before an intended percutaneous coronary intervention followed by an additional dose of 80 mg 24 hours after the procedure will be able to reduce the rates of major cardiovascular events at 30 days in patients with an ACS.

Design: The SECURE-PCI study is a pragmatic, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial planned to enroll around 4,200 patients in 58 different sites in Brazil.

Acetylcysteine for the prevention of renal outcomes in patients with diabetes mellitus undergoing coronary and peripheral vascular angiography: a substudy of the acetylcysteine for contrast-induced nephropathy trial.

Background: Diabetes mellitus represents an independent risk factor for contrast-induced acute kidney injury. We report the results of a prespecified substudy of patients with diabetes mellitus included in the Acetylcysteine for Contrast-Induced Nephropathy Trial (ACT), the largest randomized study evaluating the effects of acetylcysteine for the prevention of contrast-induced acute kidney injury conducted to date.

Methods And Results: From the 2308 patients included in the ACT, 1395 had diabetes mellitus and were considered for the present analysis.

Assessing the temporal course of neointimal hyperplasia formation after different generations of drug-eluting stents.

Objectives: This study sought to assess the temporal course of neointimal hyperplasia (NIH) formation following implantation of 2 different generations of drug-eluting stents (DES).

Background: The amount of NIH following DES implantation correlates with the potency of the antiproliferative drug, its kinetic release, as well as some individual characteristics, as the presence of diabetes mellitus (DM). Recently, some publications have suggested a continuous growth of NIH following DES, which in some cases, might result in late "catch-up.

Comparison of the very long term (>1 year) outcomes of drug-eluting stents for the treatment of bare-metal and drug-eluting stent restenosis.

Aims: Drug-eluting stents (DES) have become the first choice to treat BMS restenosis (ISR), replacing brachytherapy and all other available percutaneous approaches. Although markedly reduced, DES ISR still occurs and has been frequently treated with another DES, despite the lack of robust data supporting the safety and efficacy of this approach. We sought to compare the long term clinical outcomes of patients with BMS and DES ISR treated with another DES deployment.

Small coronary arteries treated with sirolimus-eluting stents: one-year results of the PORTO multicentre registry.

Aims: To assess the effectiveness and safety of sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) in de novo native coronary lesions in small vessels (
Methods And Results: PORTO was a multicentre, prospective registry, performed in 274 patients.

Characteristics of a Blood Pump Combining the Centrifugal and Axial Pumping Principles: The Spiral Pump.

Two well-known centrifugal and axial pumping principles are used simultaneously in a new blood pump design. Inside the pump housing is a spiral impeller, a conically shaped structure with threads on the surface. The worm gears provide an axial motion of the blood column through the threads of the central cone.