Pulmonary embolism post-Covid-19 infection: physiopathological mechanisms and vascular damage biomarkers.

Covid-19 infection is characterized by several acute complications, as well long-term sequelae, mostly sustained by endothelial dysfunction; several studies show that complications as pulmonary embolism (PE) are described both in the acute phase and after negativization. Aim of research was to evaluate anthropometric, bio-humoral, instrumental parameters in a group of patients affected by PE after recent Covid-19 infection compared to PE patients without previous Covid-19 infection. We enrolled 72 consecutive patients (35M, 37F) with acute PE, distinguished in relation to previous acute Covid-19 infection: 54 pts without previous acute Covid-19 infection and 18 pts with previous Covid-19 infection within negativity at least 2 months before PE diagnosis; 44 healthy subjects (21M, 23F) were recruited as control group. Patients who had previously developed Covid-19 needed hospitalization in high percentage (84%); this group showed significantly higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus than Covid-19-free PE patients, reduced serum levels of C-reactive protein, sST2 and PESI score. In post-Covid-19 PE group, we observed higher mean IMPROVE risk score, whereas in Covid-19-free group lower P/F ratio, higher radiological severity, and worse PESI score and severity index. Covid-19 infection affects not just the lung parenchyma but also other organs; endothelial damage plays pivotal role in long-term alterations; in high thrombotic risk group (recent hospitalization due to acute Covid-19 infection), we have described thrombotic complications characterized by persistent prothrombotic state after recovery, highlighted by well-known markers as PCR and D-Dimer as well as novel vascular marker (sST2).

Assessment of sST2 Behaviors to Evaluate Severity/Clinical Impact of Acute Pulmonary Embolism.

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a potentially life-threatening disorder. Beyond its usefulness in the prognostic stratification of heart failure, sST2 can represent a biomarker with high utility in several acute conditions. Our study was aimed to investigate whether sST2 can be used as a clinical marker of severity and prognostic outcome in acute PE. We enrolled 72 patients with documented PE and 38 healthy subjects; we measured the plasma concentrations of sST2 to evaluate the prognostic and severity performance of different levels of sST2 according to its association with the pulmonary embolism severity index (PESI) score and several parameters of respiratory function. PE patients had significantly higher levels of sST2 compared with healthy subjects (87.74 ± 17.1 vs. 17.1 ± 0.4 ng/mL, p < 0.001); we found higher PESI scores and serum lactate values in the group of patients with sST2 > 35 ng/mL compared with patients with sST2 < 35 ng/mL (138.7 ± 14.9 vs. 103.7 ± 15.1 and 2.43 ± 0.69 vs. 1.025 ± 0.05 mmol/L, respectively; p < 0.05). Patients with sST2 > 35 ng/mL showed higher radiological severity of PE compared with patients with sST2 < 35 ng/mL. Moreover, sST2 was the strongest parameter with a discriminative capacity for the development of acute respiratory failure and a PESI score >106 with respect to C reactive protein (CRP), creatinine, d-dimer, and serum lactate. We clearly demonstrated that sST2 significantly increased in PE and that its elevation was associated with disease severity. Therefore, sST2 may be used as a clinical marker in the evaluation of PE severity. However, further studies with larger patient populations are required to confirm these findings.

Interleukin 18 and IL-18 BP response to Sars-CoV-2 virus infection.

The immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 infection is crucial to the patient outcome. IL-18 is involved in the lymphocyte response to the disease and it is well established its important role in the complex developing of the host response to viral infection. This study aims at the analysis of the concentrations of IL-18, IL-18BP, INF-γ at the onset of the SARS-CoV-2 infection. The serum levels of measured interleukins were obtained through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Furthermore, the free fraction of IL-18 was numerically evaluated. The enrolled patients were divided in two severity groups according to a threshold value of 300 for the ratio of arterial partial pressure of oxygen and fraction of inspired oxygen fraction and according to the parenchymal involvement as evaluated by computerized tomography at the admittance. In the group of patients with a more severe disease, a significant increase of the IL-18, INF-γ and IL-18BP levels have been observed, whereas the free IL-18 component values were almost constant. The results confirm that, at the onset of the disease, the host response keep the inflammatory cytokines in an equilibrium and support the hypothesis to adopt the IL-18BP modulation as a possible and effective therapeutic approach.

Prognostic Role of sST2 in Acute Heart Failure and COVID-19 Infection-A Narrative Review on Pathophysiology and Clinical Prospective.

The importance of cardiovascular biomarkers in clinical practice increased dramatically in the last years, and the interest extends from the diagnosis purpose to prognostic applications and response to specific treatment. Acute heart failure, ischemic heart failure, and COVID-19 infection represent different clinical settings that are challenging in terms of the proper prognostic establishment. The aim of the present review is to establish the useful role of sST2, the soluble form of the interleukin-1 receptor superfamily (ST2), physiologically involved in the signaling of interleukin-33 (IL-33)-ST2 axis, in the clinical setting of acute heart failure (HF), ischemic heart disease, and SARS-CoV-2 acute infection. Molecular mechanisms associated with the IL33/ST2 signaling pathways are discussed in view of the clinical usefulness of biomarkers to early diagnosis, evaluation therapy to response, and prediction of adverse outcomes in cardiovascular diseases.

Empirical Antimicrobial Therapy and QTc Interval Prolongation in Emergency Medicine.

BACKGROUND: QTc prolongation is common in dangerous clinical conditions, associated with an increased risk of life-threatening arrhythmia torsades de pointes. The goal of this short communication is to evaluate the principal causes of risk of QTc prolongation that are observed in an emergency department and discuss the differences between drug- and non-drug-associated factors. METHODS: The retrospective analysis was carried out on 130 patients that presented a QTc prolongation (>480 ms for man and >470 for female, respectively), admitted to the emergency department of a single Italian hospital. Patients with pace-maker (22) were excluded from this study. For each patient, a minimum of 3 ECGs (12 leads) were recorded. Attention was paid on electrolytes disturbances and to the pharmacotherapy, with a particular emphasis to the use of antibiotics. RESULTS: Mean age of the patients was 79.6 years (SD=11.3) and females and males were almost equally present (46.6% F, 53.7% M). The average QTc value was 492.2 ms (493.3 ms F, 492.8 M). The patients were divided in those with electrolytes disturbances (24.0%), antimicrobial therapy (35.2%), both antimicrobial therapy and electrolytes disturbances (24.1%), and other causes of QTc prolongation (16.7%). CONCLUSION: This analysis shows the relevance of the empirical therapy established at the admission, in particular for infective diseases, as an important risk factor for the prolongation of QTc. Other factors that can increase the risk are electrolytes alterations, advanced age, cardiovascular diseases, and drug-drug interaction.

Cardiac complications in a patient affected by systemic mastocytosis and primitive myelofibrosis: A case report.

Systemic mastocytosis with associated primitive myelofibrosis is a rare and complex disease with a difficult therapeutic management. The release of several inflammation mediators can trigger acute cardiovascular events.

Time to hospitalisation, CT pulmonary involvement and in-hospital death in COVID-19 patients in an Emergency Medicine Unit.

BACKGROUND: Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are often treated at home given the limited healthcare resources. Many patients may have sudden clinical worsening and may be already compromised at hospitalisation. We investigated the burden of lung involvement according to the time to hospitalisation. METHODS: In this observational cohort study, 55 consecutive COVID-19-related pneumonia patients were admitted to the Emergency Medicine Unit. Groups of lung involvement at computed tomography were classified as follows: 0 (<5%), 1 (5%-25%), 2 (26%-50%), 3 (51%-75%) and 4 (>75%). We also investigated in-hospital death and the predictive value of Yan-XGBoost model and PREDI-CO scores for death. RESULTS: The median age was 74 years and 34 were men. Time to admission increased from 2 days in group 0 to 8.5-9 days in groups 3 and 4. A progressive increase in LDH, CRP and d-dimer was found across groups, while a decrease of lymphocytes paO2 /FiO2 ratio and SpO2 was found. Ten (18.2%) patients died during the in-hospital staying. Patients who died were older, with a trend to lower lymphocytes, a higher d-dimer, creatine phosphokinase and troponin T. The Yan-XGBoost model did not accurately predict in-hospital death with an AUC of 0.57 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.37-0.76), which improved after the addition of the lung involvement groups (AUC 0.68, 95%CI 0.45-0.90). Conversely, a good predictive value was found for the original PREDI-CO score with an AUC of 0.76 (95% CI 0.58-0.93) which remained similar after the addition of the lung involvement (AUC 0.76, 95% CI 0.57-0.94). CONCLUSION: We found that delayed hospital admission is associated with higher lung involvement. Hence, our data suggest that patients at risk for more severe disease, such as those with high LDH, CRP and d-dimer, should be promptly referred to hospital care.

qSOFA as a new community-acquired pneumonia severity score in the emergency setting.

BACKGROUND: Quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score is a bedside prognostic tool for patients with suspected infection outside the intensive care unit (ICU), which is particularly useful when laboratory analyses are not readily available. However, its performance in potentially septic patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) needs to be examined further, especially in relation to early outcomes affecting acute management. OBJECTIVE: First, to compare the performance of qSOFA and CURB-65 in the prediction of mortality in the emergency department in patients presenting with CAP. Second, to study patients who required critical care support (CCS) and ICU admission. METHODS: Between January and December 2017, a 1-year retrospective observational study was carried out of adult (≥18 years old) patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) of our hospital (Rome, Italy) with CAP. The accuracy of qSOFA, qSOFA-65 and CURB-65 was compared in predicting mortality in the ED, CCS requirement and ICU admission. The concordance among scores ≥2 was then assessed for 30-day estimated mortality prediction. RESULTS: 505 patients with CAP were enrolled. Median age was 71.0 years and mortality rate in the ED was 4.7%. The areas under the curve (AUCs) of qSOFA-65, CURB-65 and qSOFA in predicting mortality rate in the ED were 0.949 (95% CI 0.873 to 0.976), 0.923 (0.867 to 0.980) and 0.909 (0.847 to 0.971), respectively. The likelihood ratio of a patient having a qSOFA score ≥2 points was higher than for qSOFA-65 or CURB-65 (11 vs 7 vs 6.7). The AUCs of qSOFA, qSOFA-65 and CURB-65 in predicting CCS requirement were 0.862 (95% CI 0.802 to 0.923), 0.824 (0.758 to 0.890) and 0.821 (0.754 to 0.888), respectively. The AUCs of qSOFA-65, qSOFA and CURB-65 in predicting ICU admission were 0.593 (95% CI 0.511 to 0.676), 0.585 (0.503 to 0.667) and 0.570 (0.488 to 0.653), respectively. The concordance between qSOFA-65 and CURB-65 in 30-day estimated mortality prediction was 93%. CONCLUSION: qSOFA is a valuable score for predicting mortality in the ED and for the prompt identification of patients with CAP requiring CCS. qSOFA-65 may further improve the performance of this useful score, showing also good concordance with CURB-65 in 30-day estimated mortality prediction.

[Impaired lung function and anemia from large hiatal hernia: a case report]. / Alterazioni della funzione respiratoria ed anemia da voluminosa ernia iatale: descrizione di un caso.

We present the clinical case of a 54 years old man who accessed for dyspnea and severe anemia. After being transfused, he underwent to gastroscopy, which showed an erosive gastritis with large hiatal hernia. The hernia was surgically reduced with laparoscopic hiatoplastic and Nissen-Rossetti fundoplication. In conclusion, dyspnea is not merely a medical competence but also a surgical one.

[Non-traumatic chest pain. Work at the Chest Pain Unit of Umberto I Polyclinic in Rome]. / Dolore toracico non traumatico. Attività 2010 dell'Unità Operativa Semplice Chest Pain Unit del Policlinico Umberto I di Roma.

The aim of the Chest Pain Unit at Policlinico Umberto I in Rome was to implement simple diagnostic flow-charts in subjects with non-traumatic chest pain for an early identification of patients at high, intermediate and low risk of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). A total of 4.74% of all patients admitted to the Emergency Department were hospitalized in the Chest Pain Unit. 15.72% of them received a diagnosis of atypical chest pain with low risk of ACS; 26,42% were diagnosed of stable angina pectoris; 11.37% were affected by chronic coronary heart disease with medium risk of ACS and 12.83% were at high risk of acute coronary syndrome.

Syncope caused by iatrogenic hyperkalemia.

Symptomatic bradycardia in the emergency department may have several causes (excessive vagal tone, drug toxicity, acute myocardial ischemia, sick sinus syndrome, heart block, and electrolyte imbalance); among these, hyperkalemia may develop as a complication of chronic medical treatment with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin-receptor blockers, and must be considered in the early approach to the bradyarrhythmic patient with possible electrocardiographic signs of hyperkalemia. We report a case of an 87-year-old woman with a clinical history of chronic angiotensin-receptor blocker consumption that led her to dangerous bradyarrhythmia, cardiogenic syncope, and risk of sudden cardiac death.

[Hemorrhoidal thrombosis. A clinical and therapeutical study on 22 consecutive patients]. / Trombosi emorroidaria. Studio del profilo emocoagulativo e riflessioni terapeutzche su 22 pazienti consecutivi.

Hemorrhoidal thrombosis (HT) represents one of the most frequent complication of hemorrhoids. The two main modalities of clinical presentation are thrombosed of a single external pile or as massive thrombosis (MT), both representing an harmfull condition for the patient which can be usually treated with surgical intervention on an outptient basis. The etiopathogenesis of the disease is nowadays obscure and few investigated till now in the international literature. The Authors performed a prospective study on 22 patients with HT aimed at clarifying the ethiopathogenesis of the disease through the evaluation of the emocoagulative profile of these patients. All the main coagulopathy indexes such as aPT, APTT, Fibrinogen, AT III, XDP, aPCR and LAC resulted normal, while the products of prothrombin degradation (F1 + F2) showed higher values in respect of the control group (p < 0.0001). Our study seems to highlight that HT could not be considered a sistemic or local coagulopathy, so far surgical management of the disease remains the gold standard, as confirmed in our series.

[Variation in the plasma concentration of B-type natriuretic peptide in emergent paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, in acute pulmonary embolism, in acute coronary syndrome and in dilated cardiomyopathy]. / Variazioni della concentrazione plasmatica del peptide natriuretico di tipo B in urgenza nella fibrillazione atriale parossistica, nell'edema polmonare acuto, nella sindrome coronarica acuta e nella cardiomiopatia dilatativa.

Our research is based on the critical evaluation of plasma concentration variation of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP)--in emergency--in paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, acute pulmonary edema, acute coronary syndrome and dilated cardiomyopathy. The aim of our research was to assess if the BNP concentration variation may be useful in the diagnosis and therapy. Peptide synthesis takes place mainly in the ventricular myocardium. We selected 102 patients: 27 control subjects, and 75 admitted to the emergency and reception department for dyspnea and/or precordialgia and/or palpitations. At the beginning they were considered as one group only, and then they were divided into groups according to the diagnosis: 20 with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation with reversion to sinus rhythm in the first week; 20 with acute pulmonary edema; 22 with acute coronary syndrome without electrocardiographic ST-segment changes; 13 with compensated dilated cardiomyopathy. Our research assessed that the BNP activation and secretion are evident especially in patients with heart failure and remains at the high level until the administration of an effective therapy and then they reach a balance with values higher than the standards, while in the paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and in acute coronary syndrome they rise and come back to the standard levels or even at lower levels after the disease solution. For this reason, BNP reiterated measurements allow to assess treatment efficacy, even at home, and to optimize the therapy. The main limit of BNP diagnostic role is in the need of knowing in advance the specific values for each patient. The BNP concentration evaluation in the acute phase is necessary to differentiate patients with dyspnea due to heart failure from those with pulmonary pathologies, while the BNP assessment in the acute coronary syndrome predicted exitus or heart failure manifestations.