Modification of the lipidic and coagulative pattern in postmenopause women: effect of hormone replacement therapy.

AIM: We evaluated the changes of lipidic and coagulative pattern during menopause and the influence of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on these parameters. METHODS: We considered 158 patients divided into 2 groups: Group I consisted of 127 women in physiological/surgical menopause and Group II of 31 women with childbearing potential. Subsequently, we considered a group III formed of 34 patients from menopausal women (group I) who underwent three months of HRT. We evaluated total-cholesterol (TC), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), triglycerides (TG), lipoprotein (a) (Lpa), fibrinogen, antithrombin III (ATIII), factor VII (FVII) and tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI). RE…

Inefficiency of renin-angiotensin inhibitors to prevent the Atrial Fibrillation in patient with normal heart

Diagnosis and management of the Takotsubo cardiomyopathy: Role of echocardiography

Insulin resistance and acute coronary syndrome

BACKGROUND: Insulin resistance (IR), which can be quantified by HOMA index (fasting glucose X fasting insulin/22.5), is considered the "primum movens" for the development of Metabolic Syndrome. Many authors have suggested that insulin resistance could raise both incidence and mortality of coronary heart disease (CHD). IR is also associated with important predictors of cardiovascular disease, as increased concentration of LDL or triglyceride, decreased concentration of HDL, high systolic blood pressure, visceral obesity. There is accumulating evidence that chronic sub-clinical inflammation, as measured by inflammatory markers as C-reactive protein (CRP) and fibrinogen, is related with insuli…

Ventricular arrhythmias in children: the uselessness of MRI.

The long QT syndrome in pediatric age: Prognosis and risk factor

AIM: Long QT syndrome is a rare arrhythmic disease with a low incidence in the general population. There are no sure clinical or electrocardiographic parameters that could lead to a correct prognostic stratification in patients affected by this syndrome. The correlation between the incidence of a sudden death or dangerous ventricular arrhythmias and the duration of QTc interval is still a controversial topic. METHODS: Twenty nine children affected by QT long syndrome were admitted to the Division of Pediatric Cardiology of the Casa del Sole Hospital of Palermo (Italy). Their diagnosis was made by electrocardiogram (ECG). The average age of the patients was 7.6 years. The average follow-up w…

Short term prognostic role of NT-proBNP in patients after myocardial infarction

Aim. The clinical and prognostic role of cardiac natriuretic peptides (CNP) in patients with heart failure is well known; recently, several studies have evaluated the possibility of using CNP to evaluate their potential prognostic role in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). The aim of this study was to evaluate the short term prognostic value of NT-proBNP in 70 patients admitted for ACS. Methods. The authors studied 70 patients with ACS, evaluating, at admission, clinical-anamnestic, instrumental and laboratory characteristics including NT-proBNP plasma levels. Patients were monitored in a 6-month-follow-up to record adverse fatal events and their possible correlation with baselin…