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Describe the echocardiographic evolution of valvular regurgitation in patients with rheumatic carditis (RC) and to establish which features may predict long-term outcome, in the absence of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) relapse. Retrospective cohort study. 123 patients with confirmed RC, diagnosed at Turin Children's Hospital between 2010 and 2019. We reviewed the echocardiographic images recorded at diagnosis, after 6-8 weeks, after 6 months, then yearly, to assess which predictors at diagnosis are associated with the degree of improvement at 6 months. Secondly, we tested which variables predict the regression of pathological regurgitation of mitral (MV) or aortic valve (AV) during follow-up. At onset, 90.2% patients had MV regurgitation while 42.3% had AV involvement. 115 (93.5%) patients were treated with steroids and 70.8% experienced a downgrading of RC after 6 months. Steroids were associated with better outcomes at six months (p = 0.01). During follow-up (median 56.1 months), MV improved in 58.6% patients, AV in 46.2%. At multivariate analysis, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was positively associated with regression of MV regurgitation (OR 1.02, p = 0.02), while higher degree of carditis at onset was negatively associated (OR 0.04, p < 0.01). Conversely, regression of AV regurgitation was more frequent in patients with bi-valvular involvement (OR 20.5, p = 0.03) and in absence of murmur at onset (OR 0.04, p = 0.01). This study indicates that valvular regurgitation improves overtime if there are no ARF recurrences during follow-up, especially when the MV is involved and in patients treated with steroids.
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INTRODUCTION: According to guidelines, a morning serum cortisol level <83 nmol/L is diagnostic for central adrenal insufficiency (CAI), a value >414 nmol/L excludes CAI, while values between 83 and 414 nmol/L require stimulation tests. However, there are no currently reliable data on morning serum cortisol for prediction of cortisol response to insulin tolerance test (ITT). OBJECTIVE: Using the receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis, the purpose of this study was to detect the morning serum cortisol cutoff with a specificity (SP) or a sensitivity (SE) above 95% that identify those patients who should not be tested with ITT. METHODS: We included 141 adult patients (83 males) aged 42.7 ± 12.3 (mean ± standard deviation) years old. Based on the serum cortisol response to ITT, patients have been divided into 2 groups: subjects with CAI (peak serum cortisol <500 nmol/L; 65 patients) and subjects with preserved adrenocortical function (peak cortisol >500 nmol/L; 76 patients). RESULTS: The best morning cortisol cutoff, in terms of SE (87.7%) and SP (46.1%), was ≤323.3 nmol/L. The cutoff of morning serum cortisol concentration that best predicted a deficient response to ITT was ≤126.4 nmol/L (SE 13.8%, SP 98.7%). The cutoff of morning serum cortisol concentration that best predicted a normal response to ITT was >444.7 nmol/L (SE 96.9%, SP 14.5%). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study that identifies a morning serum cortisol cutoff that best predict the response to ITT in order to simplify the diagnostic process in patients with suspected CAI. A new diagnostic flow-chart for CAI is proposed.