Design and rationale of the Impact of MultiPoint pacing in CRT patients with reduced RV-to-LV delay (IMAGE-CRT) study.

Background: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is an established treatment in patients with heart failure and prolonged QRS duration. A biventricular device is implanted to achieve faster activation and more synchronous contraction of the ventricles. Despite the convincing effect of CRT, 30-40% of patients do not respond.

Supraorbital vs Endo-Orbital Routes to the Lateral Skull Base: A Quantitative and Qualitative Anatomic Study.

Background: Various extensions of the supraorbital approach reach the lateral and parasellar middle cranial fossa regions by removing the orbital rim and greater/lesser sphenoid wings. Recent proposals of a purely endoscopic ventral transorbital pathway to these regions heighten the need to compare these surgical windows.

Objective: To detail the lateral and parasellar middle cranial fossa regions and quantify exposures by 2 surgical windows (transcranial and transorbital) through anatomic study.

Optimizing a clinical guidance for diagnosis of atopic dermatitis in adults: joint recommendations of the Italian Society of Dermatology and Venereology (SIDeMaST), Italian Association of Hospital Dermatologists (ADOI), and Italian Society of Allergological, Occupational and Environmental Dermatology (SIDAPA).

Atopic dermatitis (AD) places significant burden not only on quality of life, but is also associated with considerable costs to healthcare systems. Diagnosis of AD may be challenging when it starts in adolescence or adulthood, and is further complicated as its manifestations are different from those generally seen in children. Accordingly, better definition of diagnostic criteria for adult onset AD is needed to avoid misdiagnosis and undertreatment in adult patients.

Chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency and menière's disease: Interventional versus medical therapy.

Objectives/hypothesis: To evaluate the incidence of chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency in Menière's disease patients and the effect of bilateral percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of the jugular/azygos veins compared to medical therapy.

Study Design: Prospective case-control study.

Methods: Five hundred fourteen subjects were included in the study, 412 affected by definite Menière's disease, and 102 healthy controls.

Italian guidelines for therapy of atopic dermatitis-Adapted from consensus-based European guidelines for treatment of atopic eczema (atopic dermatitis).

Atopic dermatitis (AD) therapeutic approach calls for a long-term treatment. Treatment options for AD have recently undergone a revolutionary change by the introduction of the first biologic drug. Availability in daily practice of the last version of international AD guidelines, taking peculiarities of the country into account, can contribute to good clinical practice in Italy.

Approach to residual dizziness after successfully treated benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: effect of a polyphenol compound supplementation.

Purpose: To assess if a polyphenol compound supplementation (Vertigoval) could improve residual dizziness earlier after benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and relieve patients from this disabling symptomatology.

Methods: In this prospective, multicentric study, 127 patients were randomized in the treatment group (TG), who received a 60-day supplementation, while 131 patients were randomized in the control group (CG), who did not receive any medication. The dizziness handicap inventory (DHI) score, static posturography, and the visual analog scale (VAS) for both dizziness (D-VAS) and nausea/vomit (N/V-VAS) were used as measures of outcome at baseline and after 30 and 60 days.

Incidence of toxoplasmosis in pregnancy in Campania: A population-based study on screening, treatment, and outcome.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of toxoplasmosis infection during pregnancy and to describe the characteristics of the serological status, management, follow-up and treatment.

Material And Methods: This is a population-based cohort study of women referred for suspected toxoplasmosis during pregnancy from January, 2001 to December, 2012. Suspected toxoplasmosis was defined as positive IgM antibody during pregnancy.

Pure Endoscopic Lateral Orbitotomy Approach to the Cavernous Sinus, Posterior, and Infratemporal Fossae: Anatomic Study.

 The aim of this anatomic study is to describe a fully endoscopic lateral orbitotomy extradural approach to the cavernous sinus, posterior, and infratemporal fossae.  Three prefixed latex-injected head specimens (six orbital exposures) were used in the study. Before and after dissection, a computed tomography scan was performed on each cadaver head and a neuronavigation system was used to guide the approach.

Effectiveness and safety of secukinumab in Italian patients with psoriasis: an 84 week, multicenter, retrospective real-world study.

: Long term data on the real-life use of secukinumab are scant. The aim of this study was to investigate the real-life effectiveness, safety and treatment persistence of secukinumab in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis. : This 84-week, multicenter (n = 7) retrospective study analyzed data from patients who initiated and received at least 6 months of secukinumab treatment between June 2016 and June 2018 in the Campania region of Italy.

Reversible MR Findings in Marchiafava-Bignami Disease.

Marchiafava-Bignami Disease (MBD) is a toxic demyelinating disease often diagnosed in chronic alcoholics. The disease process typically involves the corpus callosum and clinically presents with various manifestations resulting in MBD type A and type B on the basis of clinical condition, extent of callosal involvement and extracallosal involvement at brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and prognosis. The death rate is high.

The Presence of Concomitant Mutations Affects the Activity of EGFR Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in EGFR-Mutant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Patients.

Recent findings suggest that a fraction of EGFR-mutant non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC) carry additional driver mutations that could potentially affect the activity of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). We investigated the role of concomitant KRAS, NRAS, BRAF, PIK3CA, MET and ERBB2 mutations (other mutations) on the outcome of 133 EGFR mutant patients, who received first-line therapy with EGFR TKIs between June 2008 and December 2014. Analysis of genomic DNA by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) revealed the presence of hotspot mutations in genes other than the EGFR, including KRAS, NRAS, BRAF, ERBB2, PIK3CA, or MET, in 29/133 cases (21.

Desensitization of two young patients with infantile-onset Pompe disease and severe reactions to alglucosidase alfa.

Pompe disease is a metabolic myopathy, due to deficiency of alpha glucosidase, with a wide clinical spectrum. Enzyme replacement therapy is the only available treatment to improve morbidity and mortality, especially in infantile-onset form. However, some patients experience infusion-associated reactions, which may restrict their access to this treatment.

Atopic dermatitis in young adult Italian males: persistent and adult-onset varieties did not clinically differ, as for allergological variables.

Background: The prevalence of adult atopic dermatitis (AD) in general population range from 2.6% to 8% according to objective diagnosis in selected groups of people. The adult-onset AD is the clinical form arising de novo in adulthood.

AISF position paper on HCV in immunocompromised patients.

This report summarizes the clinical features and the indications for treating HCV infection in immunocompromised and transplanted patients in the Direct Acting Antiviral drugs era.

Subdural Hematoma as a Consequence of Labor Epidural Analgesia.

Subdural hematoma (SDH) following labor epidural analgesia is a rare neurological complication. SDH is a late complication of this procedure; it is caused by a leak of cerebrospinal fluid that may damage the vascular structures of the brain. Persistent headache in the days after labor epidural analgesia is a nonspecific clinical symptom caused by hematoma.

Cow's Milk Consumption and Health: A Health Professional's Guide.

The most recent scientific evidence supports the consumption of cow's milk and dairy products as part of a balanced diet. However, these days, the public and practicing physicans are exposed to a stream of inconsistent (and often misleading) information regarding the relationship between cow's milk intake and health in the lay press and in the media. The purpose of this article, in this context, is to facilitate doctor-patient communication on this topic, providing physicians with a series of structured answers to frequently asked patient questions.

Expanding the clinical phenotype of individuals with a 3-bp in-frame deletion of the NF1 gene (c.2970_2972del): an update of genotype-phenotype correlation.

Purpose: Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is characterized by a highly variable clinical presentation, but almost all NF1-affected adults present with cutaneous and/or subcutaneous neurofibromas. Exceptions are individuals heterozygous for the NF1 in-frame deletion, c.2970_2972del (p.

Safety and feasibility of balloon aortic valvuloplasty in non-TAVI centers: The "BAV for life" experience.

Objectives: To evaluate the safety and the feasibility of balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) procedure made by trained operators in centers not performing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).

Background: BAV is a valuable therapeutic tool for patients with symptomatic severe aortic valve stenosis (AS) at prohibitive risk for TAVI or surgery.

Methods: Consecutive high-risk AS patients underwent BAV in five non-TAVI centers, where BAV operators had completed a 6-month training period in high-volume TAVI centers (Group A).

Management of atrial fibrillation in the emergency room and in the cardiology ward: the BLITZ AF study.

Aims: To assess the number of admissions to the emergency room (ER) of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) or atrial flutter (af) and their subsequent management. To evaluate the clinical profile and the use of antithrombotics and antiarrhythmic therapy in patients with AF admitted to cardiology wards.

Methods And Results: BLITZ-AF is a multicentre, observational study conducted in 154 centres on patients with AF/af.

Review of the main surgical and angiographic-oriented classifications of the course of the internal carotid artery through a novel interactive 3D model.

The course of the internal carotid artery (ICA) and its segment classifications were reviewed by means of a new and freely available 3D interactive model of the artery and the skull base, based on human neuroimages, that can be freely downloaded at the Public Repository of the University of Barcelona (http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/handle/2445/112442) and runs under Acrobat Reader in Mac and Windows computers and Windows 10 tablets.

Perspectives in immunotherapy: meeting report from the Immunotherapy Bridge (29-30 November, 2017, Naples, Italy).

Immunotherapy represents the third important wave in the history of the systemic treatment of cancer after chemotherapy and targeted therapy and is now established as a potent and effective treatment option across several cancer types. The clinical success of anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen (CTLA)-4, first, and anti-programmed death (PD)-1/PD-ligand (L)1 agents in melanoma and other cancers a few years later, has encouraged increasing focus on the development of other immunotherapies (e.g.

Palatal Position of Patient Tracker for Magnetic Neuronavigation System: Technical Note.

Objective: Recently, the neuronavigation system (NS) has become an essential intraoperative tool for many neurosurgical procedures, allowing for precise lesion localization. It is particularly important to avoid errors during the navigation process. Here we report a novel technique using palatal positioning of the patient tracker to ensure optimal accuracy during magnetic navigation in various neurosurgical procedures.

Endoscopic Endonasal Transclival Approach to the Ventral Brainstem: Anatomic Study of the Safe Entry Zones Combining Fiber Dissection Technique with 7 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Guided Neuronavigation.

Background: Treatment of intrinsic lesions of the ventral brainstem is a surgical challenge that requires complex skull base antero- and posterolateral approaches. More recently, endoscopic endonasal transclival approach (EETA) has been reported in the treatment of selected ventral brainstem lesions.

Objective: In this study we explored the endoscopic ventral brainstem anatomy with the aim to describe the degree of exposure of the ventral safe entry zones.