Analogies and differences between cirrhotic cardiomyopathy and hepatopulmonary syndrome.

Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy and hepatopulmonary syndrome are two quite frequent clinical entities that may complicate the course of liver cirrhosis. The common pathophysiological origin and the same clinical presentation make them difficult to compare. Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy and hepatopulmonary syndrome may start with dyspnea and breathlessness but the former is characterized by a chronic cardiac dysfunction and the latter by a defect of oxygenation due to pulmonary shunts formation. The focus is to differentiate them as soon as possible since the treatment is different until the patient undergoes liver transplant that is the real unique cure for them.

Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa Inhibitors May Modulate the Clinical Benefit of Radial Access as Compared to Femoral Access in Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Meta-Regression and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials.

OBJECTIVES: Several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) consistently reported better clinical outcomes with radial as compared to femoral access for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Nevertheless, heterogeneous use of potent antiplatelet drugs, such as Gp IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPI), across different studies could have biased the results in favor of radial access. We performed an updated meta-analysis and meta-regression of RCTs in order to appraise whether the use of GPI had an impact on pooled estimates of clinical outcomes according to vascular access. METHODS: We computed pooled estimates by the random-effects model for the following outcomes: mortality, major adverse cardiovascular events (death, myocardial infarction, stroke, and target vessel revascularization), and major bleedings. Additionally, we performed meta-regression analysis to investigate the impact of GPI use on pooled estimates of clinical outcomes. RESULTS: We analyzed 14 randomized controlled trials and 11090 patients who were treated by radial (5497) and femoral access (5593), respectively. Radial access was associated with better outcomes for mortality (risk difference 0.01 (0.00, 0.01), p=0.03), MACE (risk difference 0.01 (0.00, 0.02), p=0.003), and major bleedings (risk difference 0.01 (0.00, 0.02), p=0.02). At meta-regression, we observed a significant correlation of mortality with both GPI use (p=0.011) and year of publication (p=0.0073), whereas no correlation was observed with major bleedings. CONCLUSIONS: In this meta-analysis, the use of radial access for primary PCI was associated with better clinical outcomes as compared to femoral access. However, the effect size on mortality was modulated by GPI rate, with greater benefit of radial access in studies with larger use of these drugs.

Nosocomial Extracardiac Infections After Cardiac Surgery.

Purpose of Review: Nosocomial extracardiac infections after cardiac surgery are a major public health issue affecting 3-8.2% of patients within 30-60 days following the intervention. Recent Findings: Here, we have considered the most important postoperative infective complications that, in order of frequency, are pneumonia, surgical site infection, urinary tract infection, and bloodstream infection. The overall picture that emerges shows that they cause a greater perioperative morbidity and mortality with a longer hospitalization time and excess costs. Preventive interventions and corrective measures, diminishing the burden of nosocomial extracardiac infections, may reduce the global costs. A multidisciplinary team may assure a more appropriate management of nosocomial extracardiac infections leading to a reduction of hospitalization time and mortality rate. Summary: The main and most current data on epidemiology, prevention, microbiology, diagnosis, and management for each one of the most important postoperative infective complications are reported. The establishment of an antimicrobial stewardship in each hospital seems to be, at the moment, the more valid strategy to counteract the challenging problems.

Diagnostic approach to neuropsychiatric lupus erythematosus: what should we do?

Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus is a diagnostic challenge due to the multifarious neurological and psychiatric manifestations that define it but, when suspected, diagnostic imaging can give a fundamental help. The advancements and variety of neuroimaging techniques allow us to perform more and more accurate evaluations of structure, perfusion, and metabolism of the brain and to detect cerebral and spinal lesions. Moreover, vascular districts of the neck and the brain, as well as the electrical brain and peripheral muscle activity may be accurately investigated, thus giving us a wide panoramic view. Although magnetic resonance is recognized as a fundamental neuroimaging technique to reach a correct diagnosis, the juxtaposition of other diagnostic techniques has improved the possibility to make diagnoses but has also increased the confusion about deciding which of them to use and when. Our aim was to combine the number of available techniques with the need to simplify the diagnostic path. Therefore, through the construction of an algorithm from an evidence based approach, we believe we are providing some added improvements to facilitate and expedite the diagnosis of NPSLE.

Differences in carotid atherosclerosis between patients with ankylosing spondylitis treated with tumor necrosis factor-α antagonists and healthy matched controls.

An increased vascular risk is present in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). In this report, we evaluate the presence and grade of atherosclerosis in patients with AS, uninterruptedly treated with tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) antagonists for 2 years, in comparison to that in a nontreated group of healthy controls.Fourteen patients with AS and 14 healthy controls underwent carotid sonography to measure intima-media thickness (IMT) and to evaluate the presence of plaque. Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index scores, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, glycemia, total cholesterol, and triglyceride levels were also recorded.Patients with AS showed significantly lower values of mean and maximum IMT at the level of the common carotid (P = .02 and .04, respectively) and the carotid bulb (P = .0006 and .0005, respectively) compared to those of healthy controls. They also had a number of carotid plaques significantly lower than that of healthy controls (P = .02). No differences were found in IMT values at the level of internal carotid between the 2 populations.The significantly lower carotid atherosclerosis found in patients with AS treated with TNF antagonists than in healthy controls shows the important complementary role of this treatment in reducing vascular disease progression probably by decreasing inflammation.

An ultrasound automated method for non-invasive assessment of carotid artery pulse wave velocity.

To validate the clinical applicability and feasibility of an automated ultrasound (US) method in measuring the arterial stiffness of patients with chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases, comparing automated measurements performed by a rheumatologist without experience in vascular sonography with those obtained by a sonographer experienced in vascular US, using a standardized manual method. Twenty subjects affected by different chronic inflammatory rheumatic disorders were consecutively recruited. For each patient, the arterial stiffness of both common carotids was manually calculated. Subsequently, the measure of the pulse wave velocity (PWV) was obtained using an US device called Radio Frequency - Quality Arterial Stiffness (RF-QAS), provided by the same US system (ie, My Lab 70 XVG, Esaote SpA, Genoa, Italy) equipped with a 4-13 MHz linear probe. The reliability comparison between the two US methods was calculated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). ICC between the values obtained with the two methods for calculating the arterial stiffness resulted 0.789. A significant positive correlation between the two methods was also established with Pearson's (r=0.62, p<0.0001) and Spearman's analysis (r=0.66, p=0.001). A significant performance comparison was seen using Bland-Altman plot. The acquisition of the arterial stiffness parameter with the automated method required about 2 min for each patient. Clinical applicability of this US automated method to assess PWV at common carotid level by a rheumatologist is reliable and feasible in comparison with a conventional manual method.

Portopulmonary hypertension and hepatorenal syndrome. Two faces of the same coin.

Portopulmonary hypertension and hepatorenal syndrome are both severe local hypertensive complications of liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension. Both are characterized by vasoconstrictive manifestations regarding pulmonary and renal vascular network, respectively. This review addresses the mechanisms underlying the development of vasoconstriction that leads to local vascular hypertension in the lung and in the kidney with the result of organ dysfunction. Potential therapeutic options are available for the management of these two syndromes as a bridge for liver transplantation; clinical efficacy depends in part on the time and rapidity of intervention and in part on how serious the chain of events is that has triggered the entire vasoconstrictive process.

Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy in the pre- and post-liver transplantation phase.

Patients with advanced liver cirrhosis may develop a clinical syndrome characterized by a blunted contractile responsiveness to stress and/or altered diastolic relaxation, called "cirrhotic cardiomyopathy." This syndrome, which is initially asymptomatic, is often misdiagnosed due to the presence of symptoms that characterize other disorders present in patients with advanced liver cirrhosis, such as exercise intolerance, fatigue, and dyspnea. Stress and other conditions such as liver transplantation and transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) may unmask this syndrome. Liver transplantation in this group of patients results in a clinical improvement and can be a cure for the cardiomyopathy. However, post-transplant prognosis depends on the identification of cirrhotics with cardiomyopathy in the pre-transplant phase; an early diagnosis of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy in the pre-transplant phase may avoid an acute onset or worsening of cardiac failure after liver transplantation. Since a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction may mask the presence of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy, the use of newer noninvasive diagnostic techniques (i.e. tissue Doppler, myocardial strain) is necessary to identify cirrhotics with this syndrome, in the pre-transplant phase. A pre-transplant treatment of heart failure in cirrhotics with cardiomyopathy improves the quality of life in this phase and reduces the complications during and immediately after liver transplantation. Since specific therapies for cirrhotic cardiomyopathy are lacking, due to the absence of a clear understanding of the pathophysiology of the cardiomyopathy, further research in this field is required.

Early interleukin-1 receptor antagonist elevation in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to evaluate interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) levels in patients with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction (AMI) upon emergency department (ED) admission in order to assess the sensitivity of such a determination by comparison with common markers of myocardial necrosis. BACKGROUND: Inflammatory markers are elevated in patients with unstable coronary syndromes, but IL-1Ra levels during the early phases of AMI have not been previously investigated. METHODS: Levels of IL-1Ra were measured in 44 consecutive patients with AMI and compared with creatine kinase (CK), CK-MB, troponin I, myoglobin, and C-reactive protein (CRP). RESULTS: Upon admission, 82% of patients had elevated (>230 pg/ml) IL-1Ra levels, compared with 41% of patients with raised CK (p = 0.001), CK-MB (45%, p = 0.002), troponin I (57%, p = 0.027), myoglobin (48%, p = 0.004), and CRP (57%, p = 0.019) levels. The IL-1Ra values were significantly higher in patients with heralded AMI than in those without pre-infarction angina (671 vs. 320 pg/ml, p = 0.013). The sensitivity of IL-1Ra determination increased to 86% when chest pain duration was < or =3 h and to 91% if heralded infarction occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that, unlike markers of necrosis, an increase of IL-1Ra levels occurs early in patients with AMI, is more significant in those with heralded infarction and symptom onset < or =3 h, and precedes the release of markers of necrosis. Thus, IL-1Ra determination may be an important early adjuvant toward the diagnosis of AMI in the ED.

Endothelial dysfunction and activation as an expression of disease: role of prostacyclin analogs.

The endothelium is now considered a real endocrine-paracrine organ, important not only as a structural barrier between the circulation and surrounding tissue, but also because it plays an essential role for local hemodynamics, releasing substances that modulate the vascular calibre and blood cell activation. Here, after a brief but detailed analysis of the importance of the endothelium in vascular homeostasis, in the control of coagulation and in the relations with the different blood cells, we will explain the concept of endothelial dysfunction (altered NO release) and activation (amplified adhesion molecule expression) in inflammatory, connective tissue and post-trasplantation diseases. Furthermore, this review will focus on the activity of prostacyclin and synthetic analogs, especially their ability to interact with the vasodilatation system and their role in modulating cell interaction by surface adhesion molecule expression, cytokines and growth factors release as well as gene transcription factors. Finally, we will consider the therapeutic role of prostacyclin analogs in the prevention and treatment of connective tissue diseases.

Viral cirrhosis with chronic right heart failure and cardiac liver sclerosis: a hypothesis on the differentiation between the two diseases through pulsed Doppler sonography examination.

Chronic right heart failure determines cardiac liver sclerosis as a consequence of the hepatic venous congestion that is easily detectable with pulsed Doppler sonography measuring hepatic venous pulsatility. These Doppler parameters profoundly change on the basis of the causative agent of the liver sclerosis. In fact, on pulsed Doppler examination, we detected a flat waveform in hepatic veins of subjects with viral liver cirrhosis whereas we only observed biphasic waveforms in subjects with cardiac liver sclerosis. On the contrary, a pulsed Doppler sonography pattern in subjects with viral cirrhosis and associated chronic right heart failure is unknown. We suppose that splanchnic pulsed Doppler sonography has an important role both in differentiating cardiac liver sclerosis from viral cirrhosis with chronic right heart failure and in the follow-up of the seriousness of the right ventricular failure.

Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy.

Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy is a clinical syndrome in patients with liver cirrhosis characterized by an abnormal and blunted response to physiologic, pathologic, or pharmacologic stress but normal to increased cardiac output and contractility at rest. As many as 50% of cirrhotic patients undergoing liver transplantation show signs of cardiac dysfunction, and 7% to 21% of deaths after orthotopic liver transplantation result from overt heart failure. In this review, we critically evaluate the existing literature on the pathophysiology and clinical implications of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy.