12.3 Platelet Cyclic GMP Levels and the Aggregating Response to Adrenaline in Essential Hypertensive patients

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Development of lens opacities with peculiar characteristics in patients affected by thalassemia major on chelating treatment with deferasirox (ICL670) at the Pediatric Clinic in Monza, Italy.

About the 11–14% of patients with thalassemia major (TM) treated with deferasirox (DFO) develops retinopathy and/or lens opacities with an unclear pathogenesis but with a clear age related pattern.[1][1],[2][2] Possible causes can be either iron overload itself or DFO toxicity, with variou

Malformazione arterovenosa della mandibola. Caso clinico e revisione della letteratura

Le malformazioni arterovenose (MAV) del distretto cervico-facciale sono patologie rare e potenzialmente letali a causa delle imponenti emorragie che possono determinare. Il trattamento dipende dall'età del paziente, dalla sede, dall'estensione e dalla tipologia della malformazione. La terapia endovascolare è efficace nella maggior parte dei casi che presentano un'estensione limitata. In casi selezionati, e sempre in associazione con l'embolizzazione, si può ricorrere alla chirurgia. Nel presente articolo riportiamo il caso di una giovane donna affetta da un'estesa MAV dell'emimandibola e della regione sottomandibolare sinistra. Viene inoltre effettuata una revisione della letteratura prodotta su questo argomento con particolare attenzione alla strategia di trattamento

Metabolic syndrome, left ventricular hypertrophy and carotid atherosclerosis in hypertension: a gender-based study.

Background. The influence of gender on the association between metabolic syndrome (MS) and subclinical organ damage (OD) has been poorly investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the risk of developing left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and carotid atherosclerosis is different in men and women with MS. Methods. A total of 3752 untreated and treated hypertensive patients (mean age 53.3 ± 12.6, 52.7% men) were considered for this analysis. All patients underwent standard ultrasonographic investigations searching for LVH and carotid atherosclerosis. The MS was defined according to ATP III criteria. Results. LVH was more prevalent in women and men with the MS compared with their counterparts (58% vs 34% and 48% vs 33%, respectively, p < 0.001). This was also the case for carotid plaque prevalence (61% vs 42% and 57% vs 44%, p < 0.001). The prevalence of OD was not different between men and women with MS, after adjusting for confounders. In multivariate analysis, abdominal obesity was the most important MS component independently related to LVH in both genders, followed by blood pressure. As for carotid plaques, blood pressure, hyperglycemia and hypertriglyceridemia turned out to be independent correlates regardless of gender. Conclusions. Our data indicate that MS is associated with a higher risk of LVH and carotid atherosclerosis irrespective of gender; these findings do not support a gender influence in the association between MS and subclinical OD. © 2013 Scandinavian Foundation for Cardiovascular Research

Prevalence of echocardiographic left-atrial enlargement in hypertension : a systematic review of recent clinical studies

Background Left atrial enlargement (LAE) is a marker of hypertensive heart disease associated with increased cardiovascular risk. We reviewed recent literature about the prevalence of LAE, as assessed by echocardiography, to update our information about the clinical relevance of this cardiac phenotype in human hypertension. Methods We performed a search of MEDLINE using the key words "left atrial enlargement," "left atrial dilatation," "left atrial size," "hypertension," "echocardiography, " and "atrial fibrillation" to identify relevant papers. We considered full articles published in English from January 1, 2000 to July 1, 2012 reporting studies involving adult individuals. Results We analyzed a total of 15 studies, including 10,141 untreated and treated subjects. LAE was defined according to 11 different criteria (4 studies applied two or three criteria), and its prevalence consistently varied among studies, from 16.0-83.0%, with a prevalence in the pooled population of 32%. A gender-based analysis of 9 studies (8,588 patients) showed the prevalence of LAE as being similar in women and men (OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 0.83-1.83; P = 0.30). Data provided by 10 studies (n = 9,354 patients) showed the prevalence of left-ventricular hypertrophy as being significantly higher in patients with LAE (68.2%) than in their counterparts without LAE (41.8%) (OR, 2.97; 95% CI, 2.68-3.29; P < 0.01).CONCLUSIONSOur analysis shows that LAE is present in a relevant fraction of the hypertensive population. Because LAE is an independent predictor of cardiovascular events, the accurate detection of this phenotype may improve the evaluation of risk in hypertensive patients