Intrarenal Venous Doppler as a novel marker for optimal decongestion, patient management, and prognosis in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure.

AIMS: An increase in right atrial pressure is a common feature of acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF). Such increased pressure leads to persistent kidney congestion. A marker to guide optimal diuretic therapy is missing. We aim to correlate intrarenal Doppler (IRD) ultrasound in ADHF patients with clinical outcomes to assess whether renal haemodynamic parameter changes are useful for monitoring kidney congestion. METHODS AND RESULTS: Between December 2018 and January 2020, ADHF patients requiring intravenous diuretic therapy for at least 48 h were considered for study selection. An IRD blinded examination was performed on Days 1, 3, and 5, and clinical and laboratory parameters were recorded. Venous Doppler profiles (VDP) were classified as continuous (C), pulsatile (P), biphasic (B), or monophasic (M) according to the congestion degree; B and M profiles were considered deranged. A VDP improvement (VDPimp) was defined as a change of ≥1 pattern degree or maintenance of C or P patterns. An arterial resistive index (RI) > 0.8 was considered elevated. Outcomes of death and rehospitalization were gathered at 60 days. Data were assessed by regression and Kaplan-Meier analyses. All 177 ADHF patients admitted were screened, and 72 were enrolled [27 females-median age 81 (76-87) years-median ejection fraction 40% (30-52)]. The VDP derangement decreased from 79.2% on Day 1 to 51.4% on Day 5 (P < 0.05). The RI elevation decreased from 60.6% on Day 1 to 43.1% on Day 5 (P < 0.05). At Day 5, VDPimp was registered in over half of the patients (59.7%). At Day 5, signs of congestion (dyspnoea/oedema/rales), fluid accumulation (pleural/peritoneal fluid), haematocrit, and brain natriuretic peptide improved (P > 0.05). After 60 days, 12 (16.7%) patients were readmitted and 9 (12.5%) died. The VDPimp was identified as the unique independent factor associated with readmission [Hazard Ratio (HR) 0.22, 95% (confidence interval) CI 0.05-0.94, P = 0.04] and death (HR 0.07, 95% CI 0.01-0.68, P = 0.02), with significantly better outcomes identified in VDPimp patients (log-rank test, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Decongestion may be associated with improvements in many clinical and instrumental parameters, but only VDPimp was associated with better clinical outcomes. The VDPimp should be incorporated in ad hoc ADHF clinical trials to better define its role in everyday practice.

MoCA 7.1: Multicenter Validation of the First Italian Version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment.

Background: The early detection of neurocognitive disorders, especially when mild, is a key issue of health care systems including the Italian Dementia National Plan. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), i.e., the reference screening tool for dementia in Italian Memory Clinics, has low sensitivity in detecting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or mild dementia. Objective: Availability of a 10-minute screening test sensitive to MCI and mild dementia, such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), is relevant in the field. This study presents initial validity and reliability data for the Italian version of MoCA 7.1 that is being collected as part of a large ongoing longitudinal study to evaluate the rate of incident MCI and dementia in older adults. Methods: MoCA 7.1 and MMSE were administered to cognitive impaired patients (n = 469; 214 with MCI, 255 with dementia; mean age: 75.5; 52% females,) and healthy older adults (n = 123, mean age: 69.7, 64 % females). Results: Test-retest (0.945, p < 0.001) and inter-rater (0.999, p < 0.001) reliability of MoCA 7.1, assessed on randomly selected participants with normal cognition, MCI, dementia, were significant. MoCA 7.1 showed adequate sensitivity (95.3%) and specificity (84.5%) in detecting MCI compared to MMSE (sensitivity: 53.8%; specificity: 87.5%). The Area Under the Curve of MoCA 7.1 was significantly greater than that of MMSE (0.963 versus 0.742). MoCA 7.1 showed similar results in detecting both MCI and dementia. Conclusion: MoCA 7.1 is a reliable and useful tool that can aid in the diagnosis of MCI and dementia in the Italian population.

Clinical Benefits of Unilateral Adrenalectomy in Patients with Subclinical Hypercortisolism Due to Adrenal Incidentaloma: Results from a Single Center.

INTRODUCTION: This study was designed to evaluate the results of unilateral laparoscopic adrenalectomy in patients with subclinical hypercortisolism (SH) due to adrenal incidentaloma (AI) concerning the main cardiometabolic disorders. METHODS: We have studied between January 2000 to December 2015, 645 patients with AI (283 males and 362 females; mean age 61.9 ± 10 years) and we found 70 patients with SH (27 males and 43 females; mean age 61.9 ± 8.4 years). Twenty-six (37%) SH patients (6 males and 20 females; mean age 58.7 ± 7.1 years) underwent unilateral laparoscopic adrenalectomy, whereas 44 SH patients (21 males and 23 females; mean age 63.9 ± 9.9 years) performed a conservative treatment. All SH patients were evaluated at diagnosis and after follow-up (mean 12 months; range 9-15 months). RESULTS: In only SH patients undergoing unilateral adrenalectomy we found a statistical significant reduction of the arterial hypertension and metabolic syndrome (p < 0.05, respectively). In particular we observed a reduction of 24-h systolic blood pressure and "non-dipper" pattern (p < 0.05, respectively) evaluated with ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirm the high prevalence of SH in AI, and the unilateral laparoscopic adrenalectomy seemed to have a beneficial effect on some cardiometabolic disorders.

Plasma endothelin-1 levels in patients with resistant hypertension: effects of renal sympathetic denervation.

INTRODUCTION: Resistant arterial hypertension (RHT) is defined as poor controlled blood pressure (BP) despite optimal doses of three or more antihypertensive agents, including a diuretic. In the development of RHT, hyperactivity of sympathetic (SNS) and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (SRAA) systems are involved, and SNS is a potent stimulator of vasoactive endothelin-1 (ET-1) peptide. Renal sympathetic denervation (RSD) through disrupting renal afferent and efferent nerves attenuates SNS activity. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We carried out pilot study investigating the effect of RSD on BP and plasma ET-1 levels in consecutive 9 RHT patients (7 male and 2 female, mean age of 56 ± 13.3). RESULTS: After 12 months of the RSD, we observed a significant reduction of BP office, 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) (p < 0.05, respectively), and "non-dipping" pattern (from 55% to 35%) (p < 0.05). Moreover, RSD significantly decreased plasma ET-1 levels in both renal artery (at right from 21.8 ± 4.1 to 16.8 ± 2.9 pg/ml; p = 0.004; at left from 22.1 ± 3.7 to 18.9 ± 3.3 pg/ml; p = 0.02). We observed positive correlations between plasma renal arteries ET-1 levels and systolic BP values at ABPM [Global-SBP (r = 0.58; p < 0.01), Diurnal-SBP (r = 0.51; p < 0.03) and Nocturnal-SBP (r = 0.58; p < 0.01), respectively]. DISCUSSION: Our data confirmed the positive effects of RSD on BP values in patients with RHT, and showed a possible physio-pathological role of ET-1. KEY MESSAGES RSD is associated to a significant reduction of plasma ET-1 levels, representing an useful tool into reduction of BP in RHT patients.