Multidisciplinary Perspectives of Challenges in Infective Endocarditis Complicated by Septic Embolic-Induced Acute Myocardial Infarction.

BACKGROUND: Infective endocarditis (IE) management is challenging, usually requiring multidisciplinary collaboration from cardiologists, infectious disease specialists, interventional cardiologists, and cardiovascular surgeons, as more than half of the cases will require surgical procedures. Therefore, it is essential for all healthcare providers involved in managing IE to understand the disease's characteristics, potential complications, and treatment options. While systemic embolization is one of the most frequent complications of IE, the coronary localization of emboli causing acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is less common, with an incidence ranging from 1% to 10% of cases, but it has a much higher rate of morbidity and mortality. There are no guidelines for this type of AMI management in IE. METHODS: This narrative review summarizes the current knowledge regarding septic coronary embolization in patients with IE. Additionally, this paper highlights the diagnosis and management challenges in such cases, particularly due to the lack of protocols or consensus in the field. RESULTS: Data extracted from case reports indicate that septic coronary embolization often occurs within the first two weeks of the disease. The aortic valve is most commonly involved with vegetation, and the occluded vessel is frequently the left anterior descending artery. Broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy followed by targeted antibiotic therapy for infection control is essential, and surgical treatment offers promising results through surgical embolectomy, concomitant with valve replacement or aspiration thrombectomy, with or without subsequent stent insertion. Thrombolytics are to be avoided due to the increased risk of bleeding. CONCLUSIONS: All these aspects should constitute future lines of research, allowing the integration of all current knowledge from multidisciplinary team studies on larger patient cohorts and, subsequently, creating a consensus for assessing the risk and guiding the management of this potentially fatal complication.

Revolutionizing Cardiology through Artificial Intelligence-Big Data from Proactive Prevention to Precise Diagnostics and Cutting-Edge Treatment-A Comprehensive Review of the Past 5 Years.

BACKGROUND: Artificial intelligence (AI) can radically change almost every aspect of the human experience. In the medical field, there are numerous applications of AI and subsequently, in a relatively short time, significant progress has been made. Cardiology is not immune to this trend, this fact being supported by the exponential increase in the number of publications in which the algorithms play an important role in data analysis, pattern discovery, identification of anomalies, and therapeutic decision making. Furthermore, with technological development, there have appeared new models of machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DP) that are capable of exploring various applications of AI in cardiology, including areas such as prevention, cardiovascular imaging, electrophysiology, interventional cardiology, and many others. In this sense, the present article aims to provide a general vision of the current state of AI use in cardiology. RESULTS: We identified and included a subset of 200 papers directly relevant to the current research covering a wide range of applications. Thus, this paper presents AI applications in cardiovascular imaging, arithmology, clinical or emergency cardiology, cardiovascular prevention, and interventional procedures in a summarized manner. Recent studies from the highly scientific literature demonstrate the feasibility and advantages of using AI in different branches of cardiology. CONCLUSIONS: The integration of AI in cardiology offers promising perspectives for increasing accuracy by decreasing the error rate and increasing efficiency in cardiovascular practice. From predicting the risk of sudden death or the ability to respond to cardiac resynchronization therapy to the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism or the early detection of valvular diseases, AI algorithms have shown their potential to mitigate human error and provide feasible solutions. At the same time, limits imposed by the small samples studied are highlighted alongside the challenges presented by ethical implementation; these relate to legal implications regarding responsibility and decision making processes, ensuring patient confidentiality and data security. All these constitute future research directions that will allow the integration of AI in the progress of cardiology.

Enhancing the Evidence with Algorithms: How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming Forensic Medicine.

BACKGROUND: The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into various fields has ushered in a new era of multidisciplinary progress. Defined as the ability of a system to interpret external data, learn from it, and adapt to specific tasks, AI is poised to revolutionize the world. In forensic medicine and pathology, algorithms play a crucial role in data analysis, pattern recognition, anomaly identification, and decision making. This review explores the diverse applications of AI in forensic medicine, encompassing fields such as forensic identification, ballistics, traumatic injuries, postmortem interval estimation, forensic toxicology, and more. RESULTS: A thorough review of 113 articles revealed a subset of 32 papers directly relevant to the research, covering a wide range of applications. These included forensic identification, ballistics and additional factors of shooting, traumatic injuries, post-mortem interval estimation, forensic toxicology, sexual assaults/rape, crime scene reconstruction, virtual autopsy, and medical act quality evaluation. The studies demonstrated the feasibility and advantages of employing AI technology in various facets of forensic medicine and pathology. CONCLUSIONS: The integration of AI in forensic medicine and pathology offers promising prospects for improving accuracy and efficiency in medico-legal practices. From forensic identification to post-mortem interval estimation, AI algorithms have shown the potential to reduce human subjectivity, mitigate errors, and provide cost-effective solutions. While challenges surrounding ethical considerations, data security, and algorithmic correctness persist, continued research and technological advancements hold the key to realizing the full potential of AI in forensic applications. As the field of AI continues to evolve, it is poised to play an increasingly pivotal role in the future of forensic medicine and pathology.

Associated risk factors of lower limb lymphedema after treatment of cervical and endometrial cancer.

The scope of the study was to identify the associated risk factors of lower limb lymphedema development in cervical and endometrial cancer patients. We retrospectively analysed 326 patients: 186 cases (57.06%) with cervical cancer and 140 cases (42.94%) with endometrial cancer were treated in Surgery, Radiotherapy, Oncology and Gynaecology Clinics of 'St. Apostle Andrew' Emergency Clinical Hospital Galati over 9 years. Adjuvant radiotherapy was performed in 83.57% of endometrial cancer cases. Adjuvant chemotherapy was performed in 45.16% of cervical cancer cases. Over 10 lymph nodes were removed in 74.73% of cervical cancer patients. Incidence of lymphedema was 15.05% in cervical cancer patients and 10% in endometrial cancer patients, P=0.06. Analysed risk factors for lower limb lymphedema occurrence were: Age, disease stage, radiotherapy, number of invaded lymph nodes (for cervical cancer patients), number of removed lymph nodes (for cervical cancer patients) and obesity. Multivariate analysis for associated risk factors of lower limb lymphedema development in cervical cancer showed that number of removed lymph nodes, OR=2.109 (0.907-4.903), P<0.0001, number of lymph nodes with metastasis, OR=1.903 (0.253-4.332), P=0.004 and obesity, OR=1.713 (0.226-2.967), P=0.006 were found as statistically significant risk factors for lower limb lymphedema onset. For endometrial cancer patients, obesity, OR=1.518 (0.721-2.75), P=0.0003, was the only associated risk factor with statistical significance for the lower limb lymphedema development. Lower limb lymphedema represents one of the adverse reactions of multimodal treatment in gynaecological cancers which affects patient's quality of life. Lower limb lymphedema occurrence is related with number of risk factors, the most important being removed lymph nodes, obesity and radiotherapy.

Postanesthetic skin erythema due to succinylcholine versus atracurium.

Intraoperative anaphylactic reactions may range from mild, erythema-like to anaphylactic shock, with tension crash and bronchospasm. The substances considered to be most responsible for the occurrence of intraoperative allergic reactions are neuromuscular blocking agents, antibiotics and latex. Recent studies have identified a new receptor, Mas-Related G-Protein-coupled Receptor X2 (MRGPRX2), considered as a target for some neuromuscular blockers such as atracurium, rocuronium or fluoroquinolone, resulting in pseudoallergic or anaphylactoid reactions. Induction of anesthesia can use both depolarizing myorelaxants, useful especially in emergency situations, in the patient with gastric plenitude or at high risk of intubation, and non-depolarizing myorelaxants such as atracurium, cisatracurium and rocuronium. Succinylcholine has a short time of action and it is rapidly metabolized. Atracurium, although having a slightly longer time to action, has the benefit of a low risk of increased levels of potassium in blood, which is extremely important in patients with cardiac pathology or associated kidney diseases. The present study compared the side effects of systemic anesthesia with succinylcholine vs. atracurium.

[Stromal tumors of jejunum and ileum]. / Tumorile stromale de jejun si ileon.

UNLABELLED: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are the most common mesenchymal tumors of the digestive tract and 25% are in the small intestine. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A retrospective study was performed on 73 patients diagnosed with intestinal cancer in three hospitals in Iasi and Galati, in a period of 12 years (1998-2009). RESULTS: Stromal tumors represents 11.5% of malignant tumors of jejunum and ileum, and the average age of diagnosis was 55 years; male to female incidence was 1 : 2 (chi2 = 0.66, p > 0.05). 66.66% of patients came from urban areas (chi2 = 0.66, p > 0.05). The most frequent signs and symptoms were abdominal meteorism and abdominal pain (83%). There were no correlations between admission and discharge diagnosis. CD117 was present in all patients; CD34 was present in 66.66% of them. Survival at 2 years was 66.67% and at 5 years was 33.33%. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative diagnosis is often difficult to make, many patients come to doctors in advanced-stage and the five-year survival rate is slow. The most frequent tumor markers were CD117 and CD34.