0000000000058707
AUTHOR
F. Savalli
The HCV Sicily Network: A web-based model for the management of HCV chronic liver diseases
Epidemiological studies report that in Sicily reside about 30,000 citizens with a diagnosis of chronic hepatitis due to HCV. The availability of direct antiviral action (DAA) is a real therapeutic breakthrough, but the high cost of the therapeutic regimes limits their use and forced the National Health System to establish clinical priority for the treatment.The HCV Sicily Network is a web-based model of best medical practice, which was designed to improve the management and the treatment of HCV chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis. The network includes 41 centers and 84 gastroenterologists or infectivologists connected by a web platform that recorder the diagnosis and the clinic priority for the…
Is early recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma in HCV cirrhotic patients affected by treatment with direct-acting antivirals? A prospective multicentre study
SummaryBackground Data on HCV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) early recurrence in patients whose HCC was previously cured, and subsequently treated by direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), are equivocal. Aim To assess the risk of HCC early recurrence after DAAs exposure in a large prospective cohort of HCV-cirrhotic patients with previous successfully treated HCC, also looking for risk factors for cancer early recurrence. Methods We enrolled 143 consecutive patients with complete response after curative treatment of HCC, subsequently treated with DAAs and monitored by the web-based RESIST-HCV database. Clinical, biological, and virological data were collected. The primary endpoint was the…
Body Mass Index and Weight Gain in Pregnant Women With HIV: A National Study in Italy.
Although most of the women (69.4%) had a normal BMI at start of pregnancy, only 37% had an adequate weight gain during pregnancy. Inadequate body weight gain was more common (44.8%) than excessive weight gain (18.2%), but 40% of overweight women and 50% of obese women had an excessive weight gain in pregnancy, with about 9% of the women in these categories gaining >18 kg during pregnancy (Table 1). Only 1.9% of the women had a vaginal delivery; elective and nonelective cesarean deliveries accounted for 81.3% and 16.7% of deliveries, respectively. Compared to underweight/normal women, overweight/obese women had similar occurrences of preterm delivery (23.4% vs 22.7%, P = .871), significantly…
Incidence of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients With HCV-Associated Cirrhosis Treated With Direct-Acting Antiviral Agents.
Background & Aims: Studies have produced conflicting results of the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with hepatitis C virus–associated cirrhosis treated with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs). Data from clinics are needed to accurately assess the occurrence rate of HCC in patients with cirrhosis in the real world. Methods: We collected data from a large prospective study of 2,249 consecutive patients (mean age = 65.4 years, 56.9% male) with hepatitis C virus–associated cirrhosis (90.5% with Child-Pugh class A and 9.5% with Child-Pugh class B) treated with DAAs from March 2015 through July 2016 at 22 academic and community liver centers in Sicily, Italy. HCC occurren…
Epidemiology and Microbiology of Skin and Soft Tissue Infections: Preliminary Results of a National Registry
Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) represent a wide range of clinical conditions characterized by a considerable variety of clinical presentations and severity. Their aetiology can also vary, with numerous possible causative pathogens. While other authors previously published analyses on several types of SSTI and on restricted types of patients, we conducted a large nationwide surveillance programme on behalf of the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases to assess the clinical and microbiological characteristics of the whole SSTI spectrum, from mild to severe life-threatening infections, in both inpatients and outpatients. Twenty-five Infectious Diseases (ID) Centres throu…