Cytomegalovirus colitis and cow's milk allergy in an immunocompetent infant: Is a causal or casual relationship?

The association between cytomegalovirus (CMV) colitis and cow's milk allergy (CMPA) is rare and still unclear. The authors describe the case of an 8-week old female infant who presented with bloody diarrhea, lack of appetite, weight loss and fever due to CMV colitis. After some months she developed a CMPA. This case report describes the third case of CMV colitis associated with CMPA. This case strongly suggests a causal relationship between the two conditions

Prodromal angina and risk of 2-year cardiac mortality in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary percutaneous intervention

We sought to investigate the prognostic significance of prodromal angina (PA) in unselected patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) and its additive predictive value to the GRACE score.We prospectively enrolled 3015 consecutive STEMI patients undergoing PPCI. Patients were divided in 2 groups according to the presence or absence of PA. Multivariable Cox regression was used to establish the relation to 2-year cardiac mortality of PA.The mean age of the study population was 68 (±14) years; 2178 patients (72%) were male. During follow-up, 395 (13%) patients died with 278 of these (9.2%) suffering from cardiac mortality. Kaplan-Meier estimates showed a survival rate of 95% and 87% for patients with PA and no PA, respectively (log rank test < 0.001). After multivariable analysis, patients with PA had still a lower risk of 2 years' cardiac mortality compared with patients without PA (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.50; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06-1.81, P = .001). Evaluation of net reclassification improvement showed that reclassification improved by 0.16% in case patients, whereas classification worsened in control patients by 1.08% leading to a net reclassification improvement of -0.93% (95% CI: -0.98, -0.88).In patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI the presence of PA is independently associated with a lower risk of 2-year cardiac mortality. However, the incorporation of this variable to the GRACE score slightly worsened the classification of risk. Accordingly, it seems unlikely that the evaluation of PA may be useful in clinical practice

Practice patterns and 90-day treatment-related morbidity in early-stage cervical cancer

To evaluate the impact of the Laparoscopic Approach to Cervical Cancer (LACC) Trial on patterns of care and surgery-related morbidity in early-stage cervical cancer

Efficacy and safety of thrombus aspiration in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials

BACKGROUND: The role of thrombus aspiration plus primary percutaneous coronary intervention in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction remains controversial. METHODS: We performed a meta-analysis of 25 randomised controlled trials in which 21,740 ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients were randomly assigned to thrombus aspiration plus primary percutaneous coronary intervention or primary percutaneous coronary intervention. Study endpoints were: death, myocardial infarction, stent thrombosis and stroke. RESULTS: On pooled analysis, the risk of death (4.3% vs. 4.8%, odds ratio (OR) 0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.79-1.03; P=0.123), myocardial infarction (2.4% vs. 2.5%, OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.80-1.13; P=0.57) and stent thrombosis (1.3% vs. 1.6%, OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.63-1.01; P=0.066) was similar between thrombus aspiration plus primary percutaneous coronary intervention and primary percutaneous coronary intervention. The risk of stroke was higher in the thrombus aspiration plus primary percutaneous coronary intervention than the primary percutaneous coronary intervention group (0.84% vs. 0.59%, OR 1.401, 95% CI 1.004-1.954; P=0.047). However, on sensitivity analysis after removing the TOTAL trial, thrombus aspiration plus primary percutaneous coronary intervention was not associated with an increased risk of stroke (OR 1.01, 95% CI 0.58-1.78). The weak association between thrombus aspiration and stroke was also confirmed by the fact that the lower bound of the 95% CI was slightly below unity after removing either the study by Kaltoft or the ITTI trial. There was no interaction between the main study results and follow-up, evidence of coronary thrombus, or study sample size. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, thrombus aspiration plus primary percutaneous coronary intervention does not reduce the risk of death, myocardial infarction or stent thrombosis. Thrombus aspiration plus primary percutaneous coronary intervention is associated with an increased risk of stroke; however, this latter finding appears weak

Prognostic significance of shockable and non-shockable cardiac arrest in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients undergoing primary angioplasty

Objective To determine, in patients with ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI), the prognostic weight of cardiac arrest (CA) according to the type of rhythm (shockable vs. non-shockable). Methods We prospectively enrolled 3278 consecutive STEMI patients undergoing PPCI. Multivariable Cox regression was used to establish the relation to 1-year cardiac mortality of both type of CA. In patients suffering from CA we identified predictors of both poor neurological outcome (cerebral performance categories 3\ue2\u80\u935) and cardiac mortality at 1 year. Results The incidence of CA was 7.26% (n = 238). Of these, 196 (5.98%) had an initial shockable rhythm and 42 (1.28%) a non shockable rhythm. During 1-year follow up 311(9.48%) patients died from cardiac causes. Shockable rhythm (adjusted-HR = 1.61; 95%CI 1.08\ue2\u80\u932.43, p = 0.02) and non-shockable rhythm (adjusted-HR = 3.83; 95%CI 2.36\ue2\u80\u936.22, p < 0.001) were independently associated with 1-year cardiac mortality. Among patients with CA those with shockable rhythm had a lower risk of poor neurological outcome at 1 year follow up (adjusted OR = 0.22: 95%CI; 0.08\ue2\u80\u930.55, p = 0.001). Independent predictors of 1-y cardiac mortality were: non shockable rhythm (adjusted HR = 2.6; 95%CI; 1.48\ue2\u80\u934.5, p = 0.001), crew-witnessed CA, diabetes mellitus, left ventricle ejection fraction and creatinine on admission. There was a significant interaction between type of rhythm and crew-witnessed CA (p = 0.026). Conclusions In patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI patients with both shockable and non shockable CA are at increased risk of 1-year cardiac mortality. Among patients with CA those with non shockable rhythm have an higher risk of both poor neurological outcome and cardiac mortality at 1 year

Is surgery mandatory in locally advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors after imatinib? A case report and literature review.

Oesophageal gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are rare neoplasms (about 2% ofall GISTs); radical surgery is the standard treatment of all GISTs but in case of locally advanced and unresectable disease no clear treatment guide lines are available. Studies including neoadjuvant imatinib mesylate (IM) are relatively recent, includes small sample size of heterogeneous patients and do not report a standardized duration of neoadjuvant treatment. The main question still remains whether surgery after neoadjuvant IM gives a survival benefit in locally advanced disease. A 46-year-old man with locally advanced unresectable oesophageal GIST harboring KIT exon 11 mutation was treated in our institution for 12 months with neoadjuvant IM; a reduction of 83% of tumor volume was obtained in 9-month of neoadjuvant IM, but in the last 3 months no further response was seen. After neoadjuvant therapy, patient underwent radical surgery and adjuvant IM, which is still ongoing. Since no definitive data are available about survival benefit of surgery after neoadjuvant IM in locally advanced GISTs, a careful balance between morbidity and mortality derived from surgery should be considered and more studies are needed to better define the utility and the optimal duration of neoadjuvant treatment