American Registry of Ambulatory or acutely decompensated heart failure (AMERICCAASS Registry): First 1000 patients.

BACKGROUND: About 80% of cardiovascular diseases (including heart failure [HF]) occur in low-income and developing countries. However, most clinical trials are conducted in developed countries. HYPOTHESIS: The American Registry of Ambulatory or Acutely Decompensated Heart Failure (AMERICCAASS) aims to describe the sociodemographic characteristics of HF, comorbidities, clinical presentation, and pharmacological management of patients with ambulatory or acutely decompensated HF in America. METHODOLOGY: Descriptive, observational, prospective, and multicenter registry, which includes patients >18 years with HF in an outpatient or hospital setting. Collected information is stored in the REDCap electronic platform. Quantitative variables are defined according to the normality of the variable using the Shapiro-Wilk test. RESULTS: This analysis includes data from the first 1000 patients recruited. 63.5% were men, the median age of 66 years (interquartile range 56.7-75.4), and 77.6% of the patients were older than 55 years old. The percentage of use of the four pharmacological pillars at the time of recruitment was 70.7% for beta-blockers (BB), 77.4% for angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI)/angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB II)/angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI), 56.8% for mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA), and 30.7% for sodium-glucose cotransporter type-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i). The main cause of decompensation in hospitalized patients was HF progression (64.4%), and the predominant hemodynamic profile was wet-warm (68.3%). CONCLUSIONS: AMERICCAASS is the first continental registry to include hospitalized or outpatient patients with HF. Regarding optimal medical therapy, approximately a quarter of the patients still need to receive BB and ACEI/ARB/ARNI, less than half do not receive MRA, and more than two-thirds do not receive SGLT2i.

J-Shaped Upper Mini-Sternotomy Versus Full Sternotomy for Aortic Valve Replacement: A Comparative Study.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to compare the characteristics between patients who underwent aortic valve replacement (AVR) through a J-shaped upper mini-sternotomy (UMS) and patients who underwent full sternotomy (FS) in the basis of clinical care and hospital outcomes. METHODS: A retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted on adult patients who were subjected to AVR by UMS from 2014 to 2017, compared with a historical control of patients who had undergone UMS by FS from 2011 to 2014. Patients, who received combined valve replacement or aortic surgery, as well as heart valve reinterventions due to endocarditis, were excluded. Sociodemographic characteristics, medical history, hospital and intensive care stay, blood transfusions, complications, and mortality of both procedures were compared. RESULTS: There were 57 patients under UMS and 99 patients under FS included in this study. The median age was 67 years, and 56.77% of the patients were male. No differences were observed in the past medical history and the type of valve implanted between the groups. During surgery, patients under UMS received a lower percentage of red blood cell and platelet transfusions compared with FS. However, UMS had a higher percentage of cryoprecipitate transfusion. Intensive care stay was shorter in UMS compared with FS (three days; interquartile range [IQR], 2-4; and four days; IQR, 2-6, respectively) without differences in overall hospital stay, postoperative complications, in-hospital mortality, and 30-day mortality. CONCLUSIONS: The J-shaped upper mini-sternotomy is a feasible surgical technique that does not increase in-hospital or 30-day mortality, neither hospital stay nor infectious complications.

Coronavirus - COVID 19: Más allá de la enfermedad pulmonar, qué es y qué sabemos del vínculo con el sistema cardiovascular / COVID-19 coronavirus: More than just a lung disease: what it is and what we know about the link with the cardiovascular system

Resumen La infección por SARS-CoV2 es una pandemia. Se creía que el primer caso de esta enfermedad ocurrió el 8 de diciembre de 2019 en la provincia de Hubei en China, aunque posteriormente se indicó que el primer caso confirmado por laboratorio ocurrió el 1.( de diciembre de 2019 ante la presencia de un brote de neumonía en 59 pacientes sospechosos en un mercado local de mariscos en Wuhan. No solo produce patología respiratoria, con frecuencia compremete el sistema cardiovascular ya que produce lesión miocárdica, miocarditis, y, con cierta frecuencia, aumenta la descompensación de enfermedades cardiovasculares preestablecidas. En este artículo se trata de dilucidar el componente cardiovascular hasta ahora existente en la literatura y se sugieren algunos pasos a seguir en pacientes con estas enfermedades, acorde con la evidencia actual.

Abstract Infection due to SARS-CoV2 is a pandemic. It is believed that the first case occurred on 8 December 2019 in Hubei province in China, although it was later indicated that the first laboratory-confirmed case occurred on 1 December 2019 due to the presence of an outbreak of suspected pneumonia in 59 patients in a shellfish market in Wuhan. It not only caused a respiratory disease, it often compromised the cardiovascular system since it produces a myocardial lesion, myocarditis, and, less often, increased the decompensation of pre-established cardiovascular diseases. An attempt is made in this article to elucidate the cardiovascular component presented in the current literature, and to suggest some steps to follow in patients with these diseases in accordance with the current evidence.

Hospital Outcomes of Adult Diabetic Patients by Glycated Hemoglobin Level in Nonsurgical Pathology in a High-Complexity Institution.

Recent evidence supports the relationship between in-hospital hyperglycemia and inpatient complications. Besides, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) can predict the clinical course of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) during hospital stays. This study aimed to assess the relationship between HbA1c levels and inpatient outcomes. Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with age greater than 18 years, hospital length of stay greater than 24 hours, and one HbA1c report during their in-hospital management were included. All the electronic care records of patients admitted at the Clinical Versalles, a high-volume institution, in Manizales-Colombia were revised. The following variables were considered: hospital length of stay, diagnoses at the arrival, complications, capillary glucose levels, and treatment at discharge. Variables were categorized by HbA1c levels: group 1 = ⩽ 7%, group 2 = 7.01% to 8.5%, group 3 = 8.51% to ⩽10% and group 4 = >10%. There were a total of 232 patients. Average age was 69.7 years, mean HbA1c was 7.19 ± 2.03, average body mass index (BMI) was 28.8 ± 5.6. About HbA1c, 146 (62.9%) had ⩽7.5%. The most frequent admission diagnosis was by cardiovascular diseases. Average hospitalization was 7.5 ± 5.7 days. There was no relationship between the levels of HbA1c with hospital stays, inpatient complications, or readmissions. Infections and respiratory diseases were more common conditions related to higher HbA1c levels, especially when these were 8.5%. In diabetic patients with nonsurgical diseases and high HbA1c levels, there was no association with clinical complications, length of stay, readmissions, or in-hospital mortality, but changes in treatment at discharge were observed.

Hallazgos en la citologia vaginal y colposcopia y su asociacion con infeccion por VPH y otros factores de riesgo para Cancer de cervix en mujeres atendidas en entidadesde Manizales (Colombia), 2000-2007 / Findings on the pap smear and colposcopy in relation to the HPV in women attending in Manizales (Colombia), 2000 to 2007

Objetivo: Describir los hallazgos microscopicos e histopatologicos de la citologia vaginal y de la colposcopia en mujeres asistentes a la clinica la ASSBASALUD ESE y a la LIGA CONTRA EL CANCER, seccional Caldas en la ciudad de Manizales (Colombia), y la relacion existente entre los factores de riesgo para el cancer de cervix e infeccion por VPH. Materiales y metodos: Estudio de corte transversal basado en analizar aproximadamente1500 historias clinicas de mujeres sexualmente activas, revisadas en ASSBASALUD ESE y la LIGA CONTRA EL CANCER (Manizales, Colombia, Suramerica), evaluando las caracteristicas socio-demograficas de las pacientes, sus antecedentes ginecobstetricos y los hallazgos histologicos y de colposcopia. Resultados: Edad promedio de inicio de relaciones sexuales de 17.9 anos, Del 19.3 que reportó antecedentes de enfermedades de transmision sexual, 73.3 fue por VPH, solo un 4.3 uso anticonceptivo de barrera, 42.1 de las citologias se reportaron como normales y 70.5 de las colposcopias negativas. Hubo 36.5 casos de LEIBG y 25.5 de reportes de VPH por colposcopia. La incidencia de cancer de cuello uterino fue de 2.3 por colposcopia y se hallo 8.8 de LEIAG. Conclusion: El VPH constituye la enfermedad de transmision sexual mas comun. Se encontraron bajos niveles de infeccion por VPH en las mujeres universitarias. Poco uso del metodo de barrera como la colposcopia eleva la cifra de diagnostico de infeccion por el VPH, y otros...