Personalized Risk-Benefit Ratio Adaptation of Breast Cancer Care at the Epicenter of COVID-19 Outbreak.

Northern Italy has been one of the European regions reporting the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths. The pandemic spread has challenged the National Health System, requiring reallocation of most of the available health care resources to treat COVID-19-positive patients, generating a competition with other health care needs, including cancer. Patients with cancer are at higher risk of developing critical illness after COVID-19 infection.

The Role of NGAL in Peritoneal Dialysis Effluent in Early Diagnosis of Peritonitis: Case-Control Study in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients.

Background: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is frequently complicated by high rates of peritonitis, which result in hospitalization, technique failure, transfer to hemodialysis, and increased mortality. Early diagnosis, and identification of contributing factors are essential components to increasing effectiveness of care. In previous reports, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), a lipocalin which is a key player in innate immunity and rapidly detectable in peritoneal dialysis effluent (PDE), has been demonstrated to be a useful tool in the early diagnosis of peritonitis.

Home visit program improves technique survival in peritoneal dialysis.

Background: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a home therapy, and technique survival is related to the adherence to PD prescription at home. The presence of a home visit program could improve PD outcomes. We evaluated its effects on clinical outcome during 1 year of follow-up.

Is brain natriuretic peptide a reliable biomarker of hydration status in all peritoneal dialysis patients?

Background: Achievement of euvolemia is a fundamental challenge in the peritoneal dialysis (PD) population. Bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) is one of the best techniques for routine assessment of hydration status (HS) in PD, but in recent years, the role of brain natriuretic peptides (BNP) in the assessment of volume status has gained interest. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between BNP and volume status as measured by BIS in PD patients and to assess how these variables correlate according to the time that a patient has been on PD.

Renal denervation: intractable hypertension and beyond.

Background: Hypertension continues to be a major burden of public health concern despite the recent advances and proven benefit of pharmacological therapy. A certain subset of patients has hypertension resistant to maximal medical therapy and appropriate lifestyle measures. A novel catheter-based technique for renal denervation (RDN) as a new therapeutic avenue has great promise for the treatment of refractory hypertension.