Guidance for diagnosis and treatment of acute angioedema in the emergency department: consensus statement by a panel of Italian experts.

Angioedema attacks, characterized by the transient swelling of the skin and mucosae, are a frequent cause of visits to the emergency department. Swellings of the oral cavity, tongue, or larynx can result in life-threatening airway obstruction, while abdominal attacks can cause severe pain and often lead to unnecessary surgery. The underlying pathophysiologic process resulting in increased vascular permeability and plasma extravasation is mediated by vasoactive molecules, most commonly histamine and bradykinin.

Exploring the gap between National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines and clinical practice in secondary care: results of a cross-sectional study involving over 10 000 patients followed in different specialty settings across Italy.

Objectives: To evaluate implementation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) control recommendations in secondary care and explore key points in the decisional workup.

Methods And Results: In a nationwide survey of secondary-care outpatients (n=11,124), we studied prevalence/predictors of (1) LDL-C value availability; (2) ongoing treatment with statins; (3) achievement of US National Cholesterol Education Program III target LDL-C values. Agreement between US National Cholesterol Education Program III risk category and physicians' personal risk assessments was also studied.

Current presentation and management of heart failure in cardiology and internal medicine hospital units: a tale of two worlds--the TEMISTOCLE study.

Background: The purpose pf the current article is to describe the clinical profile, use of resources, management and outcome in a population of real-world inpatients with heart failure.

Methods And Results: With a prospective, cross-sectional survey on acute hospital admissions, we evaluated the overall and provider-related differences in patient characteristics, diagnostic work-up, treatment and inhospital outcome of 2127 patients with heart failure admitted to 167 cardiology departments and 250 internal medicine departments between February 14 and 25, 2000. Patients admitted to cardiology units were younger (56.