Guía ESC 2015 sobre el tratamiento de la endocarditis infecciosa

Las Guías de Práctica Clínica (GPC) tienen como objetivo reunir y evaluar toda la evidencia relevante disponible durante el proceso deelaboración sobre un tema particular para ayudar a los médicos a seleccionar la mejor estrategia posible de tratamiento para un paciente en particular, que sufre una enfermedad determinada, teniendo en cuenta no solo el resultado final, sino también sopesando los riesgos y los beneficios de un procedimiento diagnóstico o terapéutico concreto. Las GPC y las recomendaciones deben ayudar a los profesionales de la salud en la toma de decisiones clínicas en su ejercicio diario. No obstante, la decisión final sobre un paciente concreto la debe tomar el médico responsable de su cuidado, en consulta con el propio paciente o, cuando proceda, con la persona responsable de sus cuidados. En los últimos años, la Sociedad Europea de Cardiología (ESC), además de otras sociedades y organizaciones científicas, ha publicado un gran número de GPC. Debido al impacto de las GPC, se han establecido criterios de calidad para su elaboración de forma que todas las decisiones se presenten de modo claro y transparente al usuario. Se puede encontrar las recomendaciones de la ESC para la elaboración y publicación de GPC en la sección de guías de la página web de la ESC (http://www.escardio.org/Guidelines-&-Education/Clinical-Practice- Guidelines/Guidelines-development/Writing-ESC-Guidelines). Las GPC de la ESC representan la postura oficial de la ESC sobre un tema particular y se actualizan con regularidad

Effects of the intensity of prehospital treatment on short-term outcomes in patients with acute heart failure. the SEMICA-2 study

Objective: Little is known about treatments provided by advanced life support (ALS) ambulance teams to patients with acute heart failure (AHF) during the prehospital phase, and their influence on short-term outcome. We evaluated the effect of prehospital care in consecutive patients diagnosed with AHF in Spanish emergency departments (EDs). Methods: We selected patients from the EAHFE registry arriving at the ED by ALS ambulances with available follow-up data. We recorded specific prehospital ALS treatments (supplemental oxygen, diuretics, nitroglycerin, non-invasive ventilation) and patients were grouped according to whether they received low- (LIPHT; 0/1 treatments) or high-intensity prehospital therapy (HIPHT; > 1 treatment) for AHF. We also recorded 46 covariates. The primary endpoint was all-cause 7-day mortality, and secondary endpoints were prolonged hospitalisation (> 10 days) and in-hospital and 30-day mortality. Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios were calculated to compare the groups. Results: We included 1493 patients [mean age 80.7 (10) years; women 54.8%]. Prehospital treatment included supplemental oxygen in 71.2%, diuretics in 27.9%, nitroglycerin in 13.5%, and non-invasive ventilation in 5.3%. The LIPHT group included 1041 patients (70.0%) with an unadjusted OR for 7-day mortality of 1.770 (95% CI 1.115–2.811; p = 0.016), and 1.939 (95% CI 1.114–3.287, p = 0.014) after adjustment for 16 discordant covariables. The adjusted ORs for all secondary endpoints were always > 1 in the LIPHT group, but none reached statistical significance. Conclusions: Patients finally diagnosed with AHF at then ED that have received LIPHT by the ALS ambulance teams have a poorer short-term outcome, especially during the first 7 days

Importance of Baseline Prognostic Factors With Increasing Time Since Initiation of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy: Collaborative Analysis of Cohorts of HIV-1-Infected Patients

Background: The extent to which the prognosis for AIDS and death of patients initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) continues to be affected by their characteristics at the time of initiation (baseline) is unclear. Methods: We analyzed data on 20,379 treatment-naive HIV-1- infected adults who started HAART in 1 of 12 cohort studies in Europe and North America (61,798 person-years of follow-up, 1844 AIDS events, and 1005 deaths). Results: Although baseline CD4 cell count became less prognostic with time, individuals with a baseline CD4 count 350 cells/μL (hazard ratio for AIDS = 2.3, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.0 to 2.3; mortality hazard ratio = 2.5, 95% CI: 1.2 to 5.5, 4 to 6 years after starting HAART). Rates of AIDS were persistently higher in individuals who had experienced an AIDS event before starting HAART. Individuals with presumed transmission by means of injection drug use experienced substantially higher rates of AIDS and death than other individuals throughout follow-up (AIDS hazard ratio = 1.6, 95% CI: 0.8 to 3.0; mortality hazard ratio = 3.5, 95% CI: 2.2 to 5.5, 4 to 6 years after starting HAART). Conclusions: Compared with other patient groups, injection drug users and patients with advanced immunodeficiency at baseline experience substantially increased rates of AIDS and death up to 6 years after starting HAART