Single center 5-years' experience of Ozaki procedure: mid-term follow-up.

Background: The Ozaki procedure is an innovative surgical technique aiming at the reconstruction of the aortic valve with autologous pericardium to overcome the limitations of commercially available prostheses.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed 71 patients who underwent Ozaki operation at our centre between October 2014 and February 2020.

Results: No in-hospital death occurred.

Long-term secondary cardiovascular prevention programme in patients subjected to coronary artery bypass surgery.

Aims: Patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) are at very high risk of recurrent events. A strategy to reduce excess risk might be to deliver structured secondary prevention programmes, but their efficacy has been mostly evaluated in the short term and in experimental settings. This is a retrospective case-control study aimed at assessing, in the real world, the efficacy of a secondary prevention programme in reducing long-term coronary event recurrences after coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG).

Single Center Five Years' Experience of Ozaki Procedure: Midterm Follow-up.

Background: The Ozaki procedure is an innovative surgical technique aiming at the reconstruction of the aortic valve with autologous pericardium to overcome the limitations of commercially available prostheses.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 71 patients who underwent the Ozaki operation at our center between October 2014 and February 2020.

Results: No in-hospital death occurred.

Fatal anaphylaxis in Italy: Analysis of cause-of-death national data, 2004-2016.

Background: Epidemiological data on fatal anaphylaxis are underestimated worldwide. Few Italian data do exist. The aims of the study are to determine the anaphylaxis mortality rate in Italy and its associations with demographic characteristics (gender, age, and geographical distribution), and to investigate which are the most common triggers of fatal anaphylaxis.

Severe Tricuspid Regurgitation After Percutaneous Removal of a Swan-Ganz Catheter Caught by Suture.

Swan-Ganz catheter entrapment in the heart, vena cava, or pulmonary artery is rare but may lead to life-threatening events. We report a case of severe tricuspid regurgitation resulting from papillary muscle rupture during percutaneous removal of a Swan-Ganz catheter (SCG) caught by a surgical suture. We performed urgent tricuspid valve repair by suturing the ruptured papillary muscle.

Update upon efficacy and safety of etanercept for the treatment of spondyloarthritis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

TNF-α inhibitors have demonstrated efficacy both as monotherapy and in combination with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in the treatment of chronic inflammatory immune-mediated diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriasis (Ps) and/or psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and may be administered off-label to treat disseminated granuloma annulare, systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic sclerosis. There are several TNF-α inhibitors available for clinical use including infliximab, adalimumab, golimumab, certolizumab pegol and etanercept. In this article, we discuss the efficacy and safety of etanercept in the treatment of spondyloarthritis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

Impact of pharmacogenomics upon the therapeutic response to etanercept in psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.

TNF-α inhibitors have demonstrated efficacy both as monotherapy and in combination with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in the treatment of chronic inflammatory immune-mediated diseases. Etanercept is a decoy receptor" for TNF-α and it is composed of two p75 TNF-α receptors fused to human IgG1. Areas covered: We discuss the potential role of pharmacogenetics in predicting the response to etanercept in patients with Ps and PsA.

Immunogenicity of infliximab and adalimumab: what is its role in hypersensitivity and modulation of therapeutic efficacy and safety?

Introduction: TNF-α inhibitors have demonstrated efficacy both as monotherapy and in combination with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in the treatment of chronic inflammatory immune-mediated diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis and/or psoriatic arthritis, and may be administered off-label to treat disseminated granuloma annulare systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic sclerosis. There are several TNF-α inhibitors available for clinical use including infliximab, adalimumab, golimumab, certolizumab pegol and etanercept.

Areas Covered: infliximab and adalimumab can induce the development of anti-infliximab (anti-IFX) and anti-adalimumab (anti-ADA) monoclonal antibodies (mAbs).

Efficacy of cilostazol for the treatment of Raynaud's phenomenon in systemic sclerosis patients.

Cilostazol is a selective inhibitor of phosphodiesterase-III with antiplatelet, antithrombotic and vasodilating properties. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of the drug on vasculopathy and Raynaud's phenomenon (RP), in a series of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), before and after cilostazol treatment. Twenty-one consecutive SSc patients with moderate or severe RP were enrolled in an open-label study.

Adventitial vessel growth and progenitor cells activation in an ex vivo culture system mimicking human saphenous vein wall strain after coronary artery bypass grafting.

Saphenous vein graft disease is a timely problem in coronary artery bypass grafting. Indeed, after exposure of the vein to arterial blood flow, a progressive modification in the wall begins, due to proliferation of smooth muscle cells in the intima. As a consequence, the graft progressively occludes and this leads to recurrent ischemia.

Infection risk associated with anti-TNF-α agents: a review.

Introduction: TNF-α is a pro-inflammatory cytokine known to a have a key role in the pathogenesis of chronic immune-mediated diseases. TNF-α inhibitors can be administered either as monotherapy or in combination with other anti-inflammatory or disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) to treat chronic immune-mediated diseases.

Areas Covered: Patients receiving TNF-α inhibitors are at high risk of infections.

A compact and automated ex vivo vessel culture system for the pulsatile pressure conditioning of human saphenous veins.

Saphenous vein (SV) graft disease represents an unresolved problem in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). After CABG, a progressive remodelling of the SV wall occurs, possibly leading to occlusion of the lumen, a process termed 'intima hyperplasia' (IH). The investigation of cellular and molecular aspects of IH progression is a primary end-point toward the generation of occlusion-free vessels that may be used as 'life-long' grafts.

17Beta-estradiol effects on human coronaries and grafts employed in myocardial revascularization: a preliminary study.

Background: This study was undertaken to compare the in vitro effects of 17beta-estradiol on human epicardial coronary arteries, resistance coronary arteries and on arterial vessels usually employed as grafts in surgical myocardial revascularization.

Methods: Coronary artery rings (descending coronary artery, right coronary artery, circumflex coronary artery, first septal branch) and arterial graft rings (internal thoracic artery, gastro-epiploic artery) obtained from human heart donors with heart not suitable to cardiac transplantation were connected to force transducer for isometric force recording. Precontracted specimens with and without endothelium were exposed to increasing concentration of 17beta-estradiol (3-30-300-3000 nmol/l) and to vehicle (0.

Reduction ascending aortoplasty: midterm follow-up and predictors of redilatation.

Background: Reduction ascending aortoplasty is an alternative procedure to the replacement of the ascending aorta in case of ascending aorta aneurysm without aortic root involvement. This study was designed to evaluate the midterm follow-up of aortoplasty and to determine predictors of redilatation.

Methods: From January 1, 1998, to April 30, 2005, 68 patients with dilatation of the ascending aorta underwent unsupported reduction aortoplasty in combination with other cardiac procedures.