Prognostic role of pneumonia in supracricoid and supraglottic laryngectomies.

The goal of this study was to identify host and tumour factors associated with postoperative pneumonia (PP) in a selected population of laryngeal cancer patients, treated by partial laryngectomy in 20 years at our Institution and to assess its potential prognostic impact. Clinical records of 416 consecutive patients were retrospectively reviewed. Tobacco consumption, body mass index (BMI), previous pulmonary disease, age, sex, preoperative blood gas analysis values, tumour stage and type of surgery were tested as potential risk factors for PP. Finally, the prognostic impact of these variables, including PP, in terms of disease-free and actuarial survival by Kaplan-Meier and Cox analyses were evaluated. PP developed in 73 patients (16.8\%). We identified two groups of patients: 26 patients experienced an early PP within the first 7-9 days after surgery, whilst 44 experienced an ab ingestis PP following attempts of oral food intake restoration, three patients died for PP related sepsis. At multivariate Cox analysis, age older than 60 years and BMI greater than 30 were statistically associated with early PP; whereas male gender and laryngectomy with neck dissection were statistically related to a higher risk of ab ingestis PP. Interestingly, the occurrence of early PP was a negative independent prognostic factor for 5-years disease-free and actuarial survival (p=0.049 and p=0.001, respectively). The occurrence of early-onset pneumonia in laryngeal cancer patients selected for conservative laryngectomies is predictable and associated with poor clinical outcome

Testosterone does not affect lower urinary tract symptoms while improving markers of prostatitis in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia: a randomized clinical trial

PURPOSE: Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) is a result of prostate inflammation, frequently occurring in metabolic syndrome (MetS). Low testosterone is common in MetS. A randomized clinical trial was designed to evaluate if 24 weeks of testosterone therapy (TTh) in BPH men with MetS and low testosterone improve urinary symptoms and prostate inflammation. METHODS: One-hundred-twenty men with MetS waitlisted for BPH surgery were enrolled. They were categorized into normal testosterone (TT ≥ 12 nmol/L and cFT ≥ 225 pmol/L; n = 48) and testosterone deficient (TD) (TT < 12 nmol/L and/or cFT < 225 pmol/L; n = 72) then randomized to testosterone gel 2% (5 g/daily) or placebo for 24 weeks. At baseline and follow-up, questionnaires for urinary symptoms and trans-rectal ultrasound were performed. Prostate tissue was collected for molecular and histopathological analyses. RESULTS: No differences in the improvement of urinary symptoms were found between TTh and placebo (OR [95% CI] 0.96 [0.39; 2.37]). In TD + TTh, increase in prostate but not adenoma volume was observed (2.64 mL [0.07; 5.20] and 1.82 mL [− 0.46; 0.41], respectively). Ultrasound markers of inflammation were improved. In a subset of 61 men, a hyper-expression of several pro-inflammatory genes was found in TD + placebo when compared with normal testosterone. TTh was able to counteract this effect. For 80 men, the inflammatory infiltrate was higher in TD + placebo than in normal testosterone (0.8 points [0.2; 1.4]) and TD + TTh men (0.9 points [0.2; 1.5]). CONCLUSIONS: Twenty-four weeks of TTh in TD men with BPH and MetS improves ultrasound, molecular and histological proxies of prostate inflammation. This does not result in symptom improvement. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40618-022-01776-9

Does Hepatitis C Virus Infection Increase Risk for Stroke? A Population-Based Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: The relationship between hepatitis C virus infection and risk of stroke remains inconsistent. This study evaluates the risk of stroke in association with chronic hepatitis C infection in a longitudinal population-based cohort. METHODS: We identified 4,094 adults newly diagnosed with hepatitis C infection in 2002-2004 from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Comparison group consisted of 16,376 adults without hepatitis C infection randomly selected from the same dataset, frequency matched by age and sex. Events of stroke from 2002-2008 were ascertained from medical claims (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, ICD-9-CM, codes 430-438). Multivariate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for potential associated factors including HCV infection, age, sex, low-income status, urbanization, cessation of cigarette smoking, alcohol-related illness, obesity, history of chronic diseases and medication use. FINDINGS: During 96,752 person-years of follow-up, there were 1981 newly diagnosed stroke cases. The HRs of stroke associated with medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease were 1.48 (95% CI 1.33 to 1.65), 1.23 (95% CI 1.11 to 1.36) and 1.17 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.30), respectively, after adjustment for covariates. The cumulative risk of stroke for people with hepatitis C and without hepatitis C infections was 2.5% and 1.9%, respectively (p<0.0001). Compared with people without hepatitis C infection, the adjusted HR of stroke was 1.27 (95% CI 1.14 to 1.41) for people with hepatitis C infection. CONCLUSION: Chronic hepatitis C infection increases stroke risk and should be considered an important and independent risk factor

Rate and predictors of thromboprophylaxis in internal medicine wards: Results from the AURELIO study

Background: Randomized controlled trials suggest that prophylactic doses of anticoagulants effectively prevent venous thromboembolism (VTE) in hospitalized medical patients with high thromboembolic risk. However, no prospective studies exist regarding the real-world prevalence of prophylactic anticoagulant use. This prospective study aimed to determine the rate and predictors of thromboprophylaxis in an unselected population of patients hospitalized in medical departments. Methods: We conducted a multicenter prospective observational study (AURELIO – rAte of venous thrombosis in acutely iLl patIents hOspitalized) to assess the rate of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in unselected acutely ill patients hospitalized in medical wards using compression ultrasound (CUS) at admission and discharge. Additionally, we evaluated the rate of pharmacological thromboprophylaxis administration in this population and analyzed the thrombotic risk by assessing RAMs (Risk Assessment Models) such as the IMPROVE-VTE and PADUA scores following the clinician's decision to administer thromboprophylaxis. Patients with IMPROVE-VTE scores ≥3 and/or PADUA scores ≥4 were classified as high thrombotic risk; those with IMPROVE-VTE scores <3 and/or PADUA scores <4 were classified as low risk. Results: We recruited 2371 patients (1233 males [52 %] and 1138 females [48 %]; mean age 72 ± 16 years). The median length of hospitalization was 13 ± 12 days. Overall, 442/2371 (18.6 %) patients received prophylactic parenteral anticoagulants (subcutaneous low weight molecular heparin or fondaparinux once daily) at admission. Assessing the thrombotic risk of the population recruited 1016 (42.9 %) patients were classified as high risk and 1354 (57.1 %) were low risk. Among high-risk patients, 339/1016 (33.4 %) received anticoagulant prophylaxis compared to 103/1354 (7.6 %) low-risk patients. During hospitalization, 9 patients developed DVT, comprising 7 asymptomatic and 2 symptomatic cases of proximal DVT. Of these, 3 patients were on anticoagulant prophylaxis, while 6 were not. Among the high-risk population, 7 out of 1016 patients (0.7 %) experienced proximal DVT during hospitalization, with 2 out of these 7 (28 %) receiving anticoagulant thromboprophylaxis. In the low-risk population, 2 out of 1354 patients (0.2 %) developed DVT, with 1 out of these 2 (50 %) receiving anticoagulant thromboprophylaxis. Age, heart or respiratory failure, pneumonia, active neoplasia, previous VTE, reduced mobility, and absence of kidney failure were more frequent in patients receiving prophylaxis. Multivariable logistic regression identified age (RR 1.010; CI 95 % 1002–1019; p = 0.015), heart/respiratory failure (RR 1.609; CI 95 % 1248–2075; p < 0.0001), active neoplasia (RR 2.041; CI 95 % 1222–2141; p < 0.0001), pneumonia (RR 1.618; CI 95 % 1557–2676; p < 0.0001), previous VTE (RR 1.954; CI 95 % 1222–3125; p < 0.0001), and reduced mobility (RR 4.674; CI 95 % 3700–5905; p < 0.0001) as independent predictors of thromboprophylaxis. Conclusions: This study, conducted without pre-established thromboembolic risk scores, offers a comprehensive view of venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in medical patients with acute conditions hospitalized in internal medicine departments. It reveals that advanced age, heart or respiratory failure, active cancer, pneumonia, previous VTE, and reduced mobility are predictors that may influence the decision to administer thromboprophylaxis in these patients

Human cell types important for Hepatitis C Virus replication in vivo and in vitro. Old assertions and current evidence

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is a single stranded RNA virus which produces negative strand RNA as a replicative intermediate. We analyzed 75 RT-PCR studies that tested for negative strand HCV RNA in liver and other human tissues. 85% of the studies that investigated extrahepatic replication of HCV found one or more samples positive for replicative RNA. Studies using in situ hybridization, immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry, and quasispecies analysis also demonstrated the presence of replicating HCV in various extrahepatic human tissues, and provide evidence that HCV replicates in macrophages, B cells, T cells, and other extrahepatic tissues. We also analyzed both short term and long term in vitro systems used to culture HCV. These systems vary in their purposes and methods, but long term culturing of HCV in B cells, T cells, and other cell types has been used to analyze replication. It is therefore now possible to study HIV-HCV co-infections and HCV replication in vitro

Frequency of left ventricular hypertrophy in non-valvular atrial fibrillation

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is significantly related to adverse clinical outcomes in patients at high risk of cardiovascular events. In patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), data on LVH, that is, prevalence and determinants, are inconsistent mainly because of different definitions and heterogeneity of study populations. We determined echocardiographic-based LVH prevalence and clinical factors independently associated with its development in a prospective cohort of patients with non-valvular (NV) AF. From the "Atrial Fibrillation Registry for Ankle-brachial Index Prevalence Assessment: Collaborative Italian Study" (ARAPACIS) population, 1,184 patients with NVAF (mean age 72 \ub1 11 years; 56% men) with complete data to define LVH were selected. ARAPACIS is a multicenter, observational, prospective, longitudinal on-going study designed to estimate prevalence of peripheral artery disease in patients with NVAF. We found a high prevalence of LVH (52%) in patients with NVAF. Compared to those without LVH, patients with AF with LVH were older and had a higher prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and previous myocardial infarction (MI). A higher prevalence of ankle-brachial index 640.90 was seen in patients with LVH (22 vs 17%, p = 0.0392). Patients with LVH were at significantly higher thromboembolic risk, with CHA2DS2-VASc 652 seen in 93% of LVH and in 73% of patients without LVH (p &lt;0.05). Women with LVH had a higher prevalence of concentric hypertrophy than men (46% vs 29%, p = 0.0003). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that female gender (odds ratio [OR] 2.80, p &lt;0.0001), age (OR 1.03 per year, p &lt;0.001), hypertension (OR 2.30, p &lt;0.001), diabetes (OR 1.62, p = 0.004), and previous MI (OR 1.96, p = 0.001) were independently associated with LVH. In conclusion, patients with NVAF have a high prevalence of LVH, which is related to female gender, older age, hypertension, and previous MI. These patients are at high thromboembolic risk and deserve a holistic approach to cardiovascular prevention