Minerva medica
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Isolated systolic hypertension is associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. Despite being the most common form of hypertension in the elderly, it is also detectable among young and middle-aged subjects. ⋯ Excess salt intake, often interacting with overweight and insulin resistance, may contribute to the development and maintenance of isolated systolic hypertension in young individuals by causing endothelial dysfunction and promoting arterial stiffness through a number of mechanisms, namely increase in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system activity, sympathetic tone and salt-sensitivity. This short review focused on the epidemiological and clinical evidence, the mechanistic pathways and the cluster of pathophysiological factors whereby excess salt intake may favor the development and maintenance of isolated systolic hypertension in young people.
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Isolated systolic hypertension in the young (ISHY) remains a challenging problem, partly due to the differences in central aortic pressure observed in studies investigating ISHY. The fundamental relationship between heart rate and central aortic pressure, and more precisely, the relationship between heart rate and amplification of central aortic pressure in the periphery, underpins the assessment and, as a consequence, the treatment of ISHY. Physiology warrants that an increase in heart rate would lead to increased amplification of the pressure pulse between the aorta and the brachial artery. ⋯ Thus, a higher heart rate in the young would result in higher pulse pressure amplification, and therefore an elevated brachial systolic pressure would not necessarily translate to elevated aortic systolic pressure. However, elevated heart rate is not a consistent feature in ISHY, and studies have shown that ISHY can present with either high or low central aortic systolic pressure. In this brief review, we summarize the physiological aspects underlying the relationship between heart rate and central aortic blood pressure and its amplification in the brachial artery, how this relationship changes with age, and examine the implications of these effects on the assessment and treatment of ISHY.
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More than 50% of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) present or develop hepatic metastases (HM). The intraoperative use of the Habib 4X® radio frequency probe device is safe in resetting HM and allows a one-stage resection of both CRC and HM with a similar mortality rate than a two-stage surgical treatment. ⋯ The data suggest that surgeons well trained at a reference center for hepato-biliary surgery may perform with excellent results the one-stage CRC and HM resection with the Habib 4X® device even in a Unit of general surgery.