Regional disparities in the management and outcomes of ST-elevation myocardial infarction: an Italian analysis focusing on time-dependent reperfusion networks and in-hospital logistics.

Background: Prompt reperfusion is critical for patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) to improve outcomes. Yet, variability in regional healthcare delivery may influence treatment times and patient outcomes. We thus aimed at evaluating differences in management and outcomes of STEMI patients across Northern, Central, and Southern Italy, focusing on time-dependent reperfusion and in-hospital logistics.

Lateral hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: A case report.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common genetic cardiovascular disorder, more often presenting with asymmetrical septal hypertrophy. Here we report the case of a patient, affected by arterial hypertension, presenting to the emergency department with chest pain, electrocardiographic changes and troponin rise. Further diagnostic work-up ruled out ischemic heart disease and lead to the diagnosis of a rare HCM phenotype affecting the lateral wall of the left ventricle.

Semiquantitative Chest CT Severity Score Predicts Failure of Noninvasive Positive-Pressure Ventilation in Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19 Pneumonia.

Objective: Noninvasive positive-pressure ventilation (NPPV) emerged as an efficient tool for treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia. The factors influencing NPPV failure still are elusive. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationships between semiquantitative chest computed tomography (CT) scoring and NPPV failure and mortality in patients with COVID-19.

A clinical and angiographic study of the XIENCE V everolimus-eluting coronary stent system in the treatment of patients with multivessel coronary artery disease: the EXECUTIVE trial (EXecutive RCT: evaluating XIENCE V in a multi vessel disease).

Objectives: This study sought to investigate the efficacy and performance of the XIENCE V everolimus-eluting stent (EES) (Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, California) in the treatment of de novo coronary lesions in patients with 2- to 3-vessel multivessel coronary artery disease (MV-CAD).

Background: Drug-eluting stents (DES) have emerged as an alternative to conventional coronary artery bypass surgery in patients with MV-CAD although first-generation DES yielded inferior efficacy and safety compared with surgery.

Methods: Prospective, randomized (1:1), multicenter feasibility trial was designed to assess angiographic efficacy of EES compared with the TAXUS paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES) in 200 patients, and a prospective, open-label, single-arm, controlled registry was designed to analyze the clinical outcome of EES at 1-year follow-up in 400 MV-CAD patients.

Identifying factors that predict the choice and success rate of radial artery catheterisation in contemporary real world cardiology practice: a sub-analysis of the PREVAIL study data.

Aims: To assess: the reasons behind an operator choosing to perform radial artery catheterisation (RAC) as against femoral arterial catheterisation, and to explore why RAC may fail in the real world.

Methods And Results: A pre-determined analysis of PREVAIL study database was performed. Relevant data were collected in a prospective, observational survey of 1,052 consecutive patients undergoing invasive cardiovascular procedures at nine Italian hospitals over a one month observation period.

Stress cardiomyopathy: transient basal ballooning.

Stress cardiomyopathy is a reversible left ventricular dysfunction triggered by emotional stress. We describe a variant of transient left ventricular ballooning in a patient in which basal and midventricular segments are affected. This confirms that there is not just one ventricular dysfunction pattern in Takotsubo cardiomyopathy.

A new variant of Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy: transient mid-ventricular ballooning.

Stress cardiomyopathy is a reversible left ventricular dysfunction precipitated by emotional stress. Affected patients are generally women, whose symptoms are similar to myocardial infarction with reversible apical dyskinesis associated with hypercontractile basal segments and no evidence for hemodynamically significant coronary arterial stenoses by angiography. We report the case of an 82-year-old woman who presented with acute onset of chest pain after emotional stress and with reversible left ventricular dysfunction consisting of akinesis of the midventricular segments and hyperkinesis of the basal and apical segments.

Increased plasma levels of adrenomedullin, a vasoactive peptide, in patients with end-stage pulmonary disease.

Aim: To study adrenomedullin (AM) plasma levels in patients with severe lung disease and to analyze the relationship between AM and heart changes, hemodynamics and blood gases.

Methods: Case control study of 56 patients (36 men, 20 women) with severe lung disease and 9 control subjects (7 men, 2 women). Patients with end-stage pulmonary disease, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, n=11), cystic fibrosis (CF, 26), idiopatic pulmonary fibrosis (ILD, n=9), and idiopatic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH, n=10), who were evaluated for lung trasplantation between January 1997 and September 2000, and nine patients who underwent lung surgery for a solitary benign nodule.

Role of echocardiography in acute chest pain syndrome.

Fewer than one third of patients presenting to the emergency department with complaints of chest pain have an acute coronary syndrome. The electrocardiogram provides a specific diagnosis only in 40% of patients with acute myocardial infarction. The presence of regional wall-motion abnormalities at echocardiography in patients without known coronary artery disease is a moderate indicator of an increased likelihood of acute myocardial ischemia or myocardial infarction with a positive predictive accuracy of about 50%.