Primary pericardial mesothelioma.

Primary pericardial mesothelioma is a rare clinical entity; about 150 cases have been described in literature. It is a highly aggressive tumour with global survival under 6 months. We present a 44-year-old man with a primary pericardial mesothelioma who received treatment under clinical essay with carboplatinum and pemetrexed reaching tumoral response; consolidation radiotherapy was administered. Ten months after end of radiotherapy, tumoral progression was detected, and patient received second line of chemotherapy. The patient died 16 months after diagnosis. New cytotoxic drugs can improve the prognosis of this rare entity.

The fully automatic external cardioverter defibrillator: reality of a new meaningful scenario for in-hospital cardiac arrests.

Sudden cardiac death is an unresolved problem which causes significant mortality and morbidity in both the community and in-hospital setting. Cardiac arrest is often caused by ventricular tachyarrhythmias which may be mostly interrupted by cardioversion or defibrillation. The single most critical factor for survival is the response time. Over the last 30 years, there have been virtually no procedural changes in the way hospitals address in-hospital resuscitation. A unique device has been developed that eliminates human intervention and assures defibrillation therapy is administered in seconds. This is accomplished with a fully automatic, external bedside monitor defibrillator designed to be prophylactically attached to hospitalized patients at risk of ventricular tachyarrhythmia. The safety and efficacy of the device has been demonstrated in multicenter US and European trials. Thus, this device allows a new scenario which may increase survival and enables meaningful redistribution of health resources.