Incidence of deep venous thrombosis in patients with both Pulmonary Embolism and COPD.

Background: There are no studies investigating populations of patients with both pulmonary embolism and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (PE-COPD) with and without deep venous thrombosis (DVT).

Aim Of The Study: To define prevalence of DVT in COPD with PE and to compare characteristics of COPD patients who develop PE, with and without DVT. Secondly, we aimed to assess differences in the localization of PE among study groups.

Hepatic angiodynamic profile in paediatric patients with hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia type 1 and type 2.

Background: Liver involvement is a common manifestation of hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT). Although a number of studies have been carried out in adult patients, no study has ever been focused on investigating HHT-related hepatic involvement in paediatric patients. The present study aimed for the first time to systematically estimate the prevalence of HHT-associated liver involvement and to characterize HHT-associated hepatic angiodynamic features in paediatric age.

Liver involvement in a large cohort of patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia: echo-color-Doppler vs multislice computed tomography study.

Background/aims: Hepatic arterio-venous malformations (HAVMs) have been found in 74% of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) patients with multislice CT (MSCT). This single-blind study aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of echo-color-Doppler with MSCT and identify the most sensitive ultrasound criteria indicating hepatic shunts.

Methods: One hundred and fifty-three HHT patients were systematically screened for HAVMs by biological tests, abdominal MSCT and echo-color-Doppler.

Hepatic involvement in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia: CT findings.

Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), also known as Rendu-Osler-Weber disease, is an autosomal-dominant vascular disease characterized by mucocutaneous or visceral angiodysplastic lesions (telangiectases and arteriovenous malformations) that may be widely distributed throughout the cardiovascular system. The recognition of mucocutaneous telangiectases, the occurrence of spontaneous and recurrent episodes of epistaxis, the presence of visceral involvement, and a family history of this disease are the clinical criteria that allow diagnosis. In comparison with skin, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, and brain involvement, hepatic involvement defined by clinical criteria alone has long been considered uncommon.

Haemodynamic effects of propranolol, octreotide and their combination during fasting and post-prandial splanchnic hyperaemia in patients with cirrhosis.

Background/aims: This double-blind study was designed to evaluate the haemodynamic effect of two drugs, propranolol and octreotide, and their combination in patients with cirrhosis.

Methods: Fifteen patients with cirrhosis were randomly assigned to two groups receiving either octreotide subcutaneously at 100 microg ('octreotide' group, n = 9) or propranolol orally at 40 mg followed by a subcutaneous dose of octreotide (100 microg) after 1 h ('propranolol + octreotide' group, n = 6); then, after 30 min, a standard meal was administered to both groups. The hepatic vein pressure gradient by hepatic vein catheterization, portal and superior mesenteric artery blood flow velocity, superior mesenteric artery pulsatility index by the echo-Doppler duplex system were recorded at baseline, 1 h after propranolol in the 'propranolol + octreotide' group, and in both groups 30 min after octreotide and 30 min after meal.