Giornale italiano di cardiologia
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Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (AC) is one of the leading causes of death in industrialized countries. AC-related mortality can be reduced by rapid intervention. We report the experience of the emergency medical service (EMS) of Mestre on the management of out-of-hospital AC. ⋯ Our data confirm that early defibrillation is the key factor in the prognosis of out-of-hospital AC. The data suggest that the immediate delivery of bystander CPR could extend the interval in which defibrillation is effective.
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We report our experience in the organization and management of a Cardiac First Aid Unit (CFAU) which was developed according to the guidelines of the National Hospital Cardiologists Association as a part of a General Emergency Department. The CFAU is a 24 hour service directed by a Senior Cardiologist. The medical facilities are two monitored beds for short-term observation (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation instruments, echocardiograph, endoesophageal pacing for overdrive). ⋯ In no case was diagnosed AMI after discharge. Cardiac First Aid Unit, as designed in our Hospital, suits the needs of a level II Emergency Department. It is a useful tool to shorten in-hospital delay to thrombolysis and to screen chest pain with nearly complete safety.
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Clinical Trial
Evaluation of mean right atrial pressure by two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography in patients with cardiac disease.
Several approaches have been used for noninvasive estimation of right atrial pressure (RAP), but, no currently available method has gained any definite validation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography in estimating mean RAP in patients with cardiac disease. ⋯ Mean RAP can be estimated noninvasively by two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography. The combined analysis of IVCCI and DT provides an accurate prediction on mean RAP < or = 8 mmHg and > 12 mmHg, whereas the prediction of intermediate values is less accurate.
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Case Reports
Coronary artery inflammation and thrombosis in Wegener's granulomatosis-polyarteritis nodosa overlap syndrome.
Coronary arteries are frequently involved in systemic arteritis. The inflammatory infiltrate damages the intima and may trigger the occurrence of coronary thrombosis. We report an extreme example of how intimal inflammation in multiple sites of a coronary tree with and without atherosclerosis may trigger coronary thrombosis, in an elderly female patient who died of a clinically unrecognized systemic autoimmune-inflammatory disorder with necrotizing arteritis. ⋯ The abrupt occurrence of a systemic disease with renal failure, hepatomegaly, lung opacities and serositis should prompt analysis to consider these disorders. If properly diagnosed, cardiac involvement should be suspected in autoimmune disorders, even when clinically silent or masked by the systemic clinical picture. In our patient, the role that heart involvement played in the outcome, if any, remains unknown, even though the postmortem pathological identification of coronary mural and occlusive thrombi is generally sufficient to attribute the final cause of death to coronary thrombosis itself.
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Concern exists in literature about the clinical course, the best acute and chronic treatment and the prognosis of idiopathic neonatal atrial flutter. The aim of our study was to evaluate this in a population of our patients with this type of arrhythmia. ⋯ Neonatal atrial flutter is an arrhythmia with significant acute morbidity but an excellent long-term prognosis. Electrical cardioversion is the first-choice treatment when the arrhythmia is not well-tolerated hemodynamically, while class III antiarrhythmic drugs such as amiodarone should be preferred in the other cases.