High Prevalence of Proarrhythmic Events in Patients With History of Atrial Fibrillation Undergoing a Rhythm Control Strategy: A Retrospective Study.

Background: A retrospective study was undertaken to evaluate the respective prevalence of proarrhythmic events depending on various therapeutic regimens within a population of patients with history of atrial fibrillation (AF) undergoing a rhythm control strategy.

Methods: Inclusion criterion was the presence of AF in the patient's clinical history, whose cardioversion had been followed by the adoption of rhythm control strategy. The primary endpoint was the determination of the respective prevalences of paradoxical arrhythmias in the various therapeutic groups.

Acquired drug-induced long QTc: new insights coming from a retrospective study.

Introduction: Several drug classes (antiarrhythmics, antimicrobials, antidepressants, phenothiazines, opiates, prokinetics of digestive tract, etc.) have been related to ventricular hyperkinetic arrhythmias such as torsade de pointes (TdP). TdPs are usually heralded by an abnormal prolongation of heart rate-corrected QT interval on the electrocardiogram, so-called drug-induced long heart rate-corrected QT (diLQTc).

Malignant Ventricular Arrhythmias Resulting From Drug-Induced QTc Prolongation: A Retrospective Study.

Background: Several drug classes (antiarrhythmics, antimicrobials, antidepressants, phenothiazines, opiates, prokinetics of digestive tract, etc.) have been related to ventricular hyperkinetic arrhythmias such as torsade de pointes (TdP). TdPs are usually heralded by an abnormal prolongation of heart rate-corrected QT interval on the electrocardiogram, so-called drug-induced long heart rate-corrected QT (diLQTc).

In HFREF patients, sacubitril/valsartan, given at relatively low doses, does not lead to increased mortality or hospitalization : A retrospective cohort study.

Introduction: In heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFREF) patients, the dosage of sacubitril/valsartan is modulated according to a gradual increase regimen. Nevertheless, if patients exhibit tolerability problems, a provisional reduction of the dose of sacubitril/valsartan or even its interruption are recommended.

Material And Methods: This study provides estimates of respective proportions of patients receiving minimum or intermediate doses of sacubitril/valsartan.

Cognitive performance of patients with chronic heart failure on sacubitril/valsartan : A retrospective cohort study.

Background: Sacubitril, a neprilysin inhibitor in the combination molecule sacubitril/valsartan, slows down degradation of endogenous natriuretic peptides, thereby enhancing their beneficial cardiovascular effects. However, sacubitril might also promote neuronal dysfunction and cognitive impairment in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) treated with sacubitril/valsartan, due to possible neprilysin inhibition at the level of Central Nervous System.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was undertaken to detect the effects exerted by sacubitril/valsartan on cognitive function in CHF patients.

Sacubitril/valsartan for heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction : A retrospective cohort study.

Background: The combination drug sacubitril/valsartan was reported to be superior to enalapril in reducing all-cause death, cardiovascular mortality, and heart failure (HF) hospitalizations in patients with cardiac insufficiency and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFREF) with NYHA class II-IV.

Methods: Our retrospective cohort study aimed to assess the effects of sacubitril/valsartan in addition to a beta-blocker and mineral receptor antagonist (MRA) in a group of HFREF patients with NYHA class II-III HF vs. conventional therapy (ACE inhibitor or angiotensin II receptor blocker added to a beta-blocker plus an MRA) administered to a control group of HFREF patients with comparable clinical features.

Thiazides and Osteoporotic Spinal Fractures: A Suspected Linkage Investigated by Means of a Two-Center, Case-Control Study.

Background: An alleged association of chronic use of thiazide diuretics with an increased risk of bone fragility fractures has been highlighted by a relatively recent prospective cohort study. However, the concept that thiazides exert a beneficial effect on osteoporosis is still a predominant view. This effect would be mediated by the decrease in renal clearance of calcium ions, a pharmacological feature recognized for a long time now to this class of drugs, as opposed to the increase in calcium urinary excretion attributed instead to loop diuretics, i.

Differential efficacy profile of aldosterone receptor antagonists, depending on the type of chronic heart failure, whether with reduced or preserved left ventricular ejection fraction-results of a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Background: Because of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) activation, the patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) manifest increased ventricular stress, with impaired left ventricular function, and a slowing down in systemic venous drainage. More importantly, a reduction of the patient's life expectancy has been proven in the case of RAAS overstimulation. For these reasons, huge efforts have been made to obtain molecules able to efficaciously antagonize the RAAS overstimulation, such as aldosterone receptor antagonists (ARAs).

Aldosterone receptor antagonists decrease mortality and cardiovascular hospitalizations in chronic heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, but not in chronic heart failure with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Introduction: Aldosterone receptor antagonists (ARAs) were introduced in the treatment of chronic heart failure (CHF), as a result of the demonstration of their protective effect on the failing heart. However, important questions remain unanswered regarding the clinical efficacy of the ARAs on the clinical and echocardiographic phenotype of heart failure, called heart failure with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Evidence Acquisition: The aim of the present meta-analysis was to verify the impact of the ARAs on some hard endpoints, such as all-cause death and hospitalizations from cardiovascular cause, making a comparative evaluation of these outcomes in CHF patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFREF) and in those with HFpEF, respectively.

Effects of Hyponatremia Normalization on the Short-Term Mortality and Rehospitalizations in Patients with Recent Acute Decompensated Heart Failure: A Retrospective Study.

Several studies have shown that hyponatremia is associated with increased risk of rehospitalization and death in patients with heart failure. In these studies, chronic heart failure (CHF) patients with persistent hyponatremia were compared only with CHF patients with a normal sodium level at hospital admission. In the present retrospective study, conducted in a cohort of patients with recent acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF), all with hyponatremia ascertained at the time of hospital admission, we aimed to evaluate the effect of the normalization of serum sodium on the composite endpoint of short-term rehospitalization and mortality.

The MacNew Questionnaire Is a Helpful Tool for Predicting Unplanned Hospital Readmissions After Coronary Revascularization.

Background: The MacNew questionnaire is a neuro-behavioral tool which is easy and immediately usable. This self-reported questionnaire filled out by the patient allows the physician to achieve helpful information concerning the ways for optimizing the therapy and patient's lifestyles. In this retrospective study, our aim was to assess whether relatively high scores found using the MacNew questionnaire in patients who had undergone percutaneous or surgical revascularization were associated with a decreased risk of unscheduled hospitalizations during the follow-up.

The Relation Between Global Longitudinal Strain and Serum Natriuretic Peptide Is More Strict Than That Found Between the Latter and Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction: A Retrospective Study in Chronic Heart Failure.

Background: In chronic heart failure (CHF), the finding of elevated levels of the N-terminal fragment of the pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is a marker of pathological increase in myocardial ventricular wall stress and detrimental rise in ventricular filling pressures. However, the ensemble of data concerning the relationship between longitudinal deformation indices and NT-proBNP is still rather vague and approximate.

Methods: We carried out a retrospective study that involved 118 patients with CHF admitted to our clinic for CHF outpatients.

B-type natriuretic peptide-guided versus symptom-guided therapy in outpatients with chronic heart failure: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

Purpose: It has been asserted that serial measurements of natriuretic peptides, specifically B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) or the amino-terminal fragment of pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), may serve as an objective practical guide to better tailor the drug treatment for patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), and especially to detect the cases of subclinical congestion that would require an increase in drug dosing. However, considerable uncertainty remains about the alleged useful role of natriuretic peptide-guided therapy in this context. Therefore, we decided to execute a meta-analysis of published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to test the hypothesis that an improvement of clinical outcomes in outpatients with CHF may be achieved by adjustment of pharmacologic dosing performed according to natriuretic peptide determinations.

Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism associated with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia [corrected].

A 65-year-old man was referred to our clinic for the rehabilitation of right hemiparesis caused by ischaemic stroke. Hypertension, postphlebitic syndrome of lower limbs, frequent nose bleeding, and anemia were present in his history; in his adolescence, he was treated for idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. Further investigations have revealed also microsomia, suggesting a clinical diagnosis of Kallmann syndrome, that is, an association, possible in males and females, of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism with olfactory deficits.