La ricostruzione del LCA con legamento sintetico: vantaggi,svantaggi, limiti

Synthetic ligaments must have a good elongation, torsion and abrasion resistance and be biocompatible, that is, chemically inert. They should be as similar as possible to natural ligaments. The effective benefits in their use for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction are represented by a reduction in iatrogenic damage, faster recovery times, less pain and faster surgical technique. The disadvantages and limits are represented by the cost and the impossibility to define if mechanical failure may occur in the future as no long-term studies with a long follow-up have been reported in the literature yet.     

Prevalent cardiac,renal and cardiorenal damage in patients with advanced abdominal aortic aneurysms

Chronic kidney disease (CKD), cardiac damage (CD) and the combination of the two are associated with increased morbidity and death in patients admitted to vascular surgery units. We assessed the prevalence of cardiac and renal damage and cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) in 563 patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) who underwent cardiac screening before either an endovascular procedure (EVAR) or open surgery (OS) for aneurysm repair. CD was defined by ≥stage B as per the ACC/AHA classification of congestive heart failure (CHF), while CKD was defined by estimated GFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m² (CKD-EPI). Anemia [World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines] and iron deficiency (ID) (criteria for CHF patients) were also calculated. AAA patients were stratified into the following groups: CD, CKD, CRS or none of these conditions [no risk factors (NoRF)]. The prevalence of isolated cardiac and renal structural damage, of combined cardiorenal damage and of ID was 24.1, 15.0, 20.6 and 23.4 %, respectively. The frequency of anemia (mostly unrecognized) among the groups increased from NoRF (12.8 %)/CKD (19 %)/CD (25 %) up to CRS (38.8 %). This large-scale observational study provides clues for the increased CD/CKD risk profiles of unselected AAA patients, and underlines the need for better identification of ID/anemia and for appropriate treatment of CKD and CD before these patients undergo EVAR/OS.     

Neurological symptoms in essential thrombocythemia: impact of JAK2V617F mutation and response to therapy

Patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET) often suffer from neurological symptoms (NS) not ever resulting from previous thrombotic cerebral events (TCE). We reported NS occurred in 282 patients, in order to identify the factors influencing ET‐related NS in the absence of TCE, and the response to therapy. Overall, 116 of 282 patients (41%) presented NS; 101 of them (87%) reported subjective transient and fluctuating NS, without concurrent TCE, which we defined as ET‐related NS, by frequency: cephalalgia, chronic paresthesias, dizziness or hypotension, visual disturbances, and tinnitus. In univariate analysis, ET‐related NS resulted more frequently in young people (P = 0.017) and in females (P = 0.025). We found a higher prevalence of JAK2V617F mutation in ET‐related NS patients (P = 0.021). In multivariate analysis, gender (P = 0.024) and JAK2V617F mutation (P = 0.041) remained significantly associated with the development of ET‐related NS, with a risk of about four times higher for JAK2V617F‐mutated patients (OR = 3.75). Ninety‐seven of 101 patients with ET‐related NS received an antiplatelet (AP) agent at the time of NS, whereas only selected high‐risk ET‐related NS patients were treated with a cytoreductive drug, according to the published guidelines and similarly to patients without NS. We observed that only 32 of 97 (33%) patients with ET‐related NS achieved a complete response after AP treatment. Among the 65 non‐responder patients, 36 (55.4%) improved NS after the introduction of cytoreductive therapy; therefore, the addition of cytoreductive treatment should be considered in this setting.     

Multiple drug delivery hydrogel system for spinal cord injury repair strategies

The multifactorial pathological progress of spinal cord injury (SCI) is probably the main reason behind the absence of efficient therapeutic approaches. Hence, very recent highlights suggest the use of new multidrug delivery systems capable of local controlled release of therapeutic agents. In this work, a biocompatible hydrogel-based system was developed as multiple drug delivery tool, specifically designed for SCI repair strategies. Multiple release profiles were achieved by loading gel with a combination of low and high steric hindrance molecules. In vitro, in vivo and ex vivo release studies showed an independent combination of fast diffusion-controlled kinetics for smaller molecules together with slow diffusion-controlled kinetics for bigger ones. A preserved functionality of loaded substances was always achieved, confirming the absence of any chemical stable interactions between gel matrix and loaded molecules. Moreover, the relevant effect of the cerebrospinal fluid flux dynamics on the drug diffusion in the spinal cord tissue was here revealed for the first time: an oriented delivery of the released molecules in the spinal cord tract caudally to the gel site is demonstrated, thus suggesting a more efficient gel positioning rostrally to the lesion.     

Heart-type fatty acid binding protein is an early marker of myocardial damage after radiofrequency catheter ablation

ObjectivesRadiofrequency (RF) ablation of arrhythmias induces myocardial damage and release of biomarkers. This study aimed to assess the kinetics of heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (h-FABP), a cytosolic protein released after myocardial injury incurred by both atrial and ventricular RF ablation, compared to other markers of myocardial injury.Design and methodsh-FABP, cTnI, CK-MB_mass and myoglobin were evaluated in 30 patients with atrial or ventricular tachyarrhythmias before, immediately after and at 3, 6 and 24 h after the procedure.Resultsh-FABP increased immediately after the procedure in all subjects (6.6 ± 1.2 μg/L vs 2.7 ± 0.3, p < 0.001) but increased significantly only in ventricular ablations. The peak of h-FABP significantly correlates with the values of time for mean power of RF application in both the entire patient cohort and in ventricular ablations.Conclusionsh-FABP may be an early parameter for monitoring RF-induced lesions and the site of ablation was relevant for biomarker increase.     

Methylprednisolone Administration in Primary Biliary Cirrhosis Increases Cholic Acid Turnover, Synthesis, and Deoxycholate Concentration in Bile

As immunosuppressive agents, corticosteroids maybe considered an appropriate treatment for primarybiliary cirrhosis, even if bone loss and other sideeffects may occur. We studied biliary lipid metabolism in 10 nonicteric patients, with histologicallyproven primary biliary cirrhosis (stage I-IV). Weadministered methylprednisolone (24 mg daily) for 30days to ascertain its effects on biliary lipidmetabolism, which are largely still unknown. All patientsunderwent a 30-day drug-washout period before enteringthe trial. The following parameters were studied beforeand after methylprednisolone treatment: serum biochemistry; cholic acid pool size, kineticsand synthesis; biliary lipid secretion; biliary bileacid pattern; biliary lipid molar percentage; andcholesterol saturation index. Methylprednisolone induced a statistically significant (Wilcoxon ranktest) increase in cholic acid turnover (from 0.26± 0.04 to 0.50 ± 0.05 K/day, P = 0.005)and synthesis (from 0.42 ± 0.12 to 0.78 ±0.11 mmol/day, P = 0.04), and in bile deoxycholic acid molarpercentage (from 19.4 ± 2.7 to 30.6 ± 4.4%molar, P = 0.01). On the other hand, a significantdecrease in biliary cholesterol molar percentage (from7.9 ± 0.7 to 6.4 ± 0.5 % molar, P =0.005), cholesterol saturation index (from 1.11 ±0.11 to 0.95 ± 0.07, P = 0.05), and biliarycholesterol secretion (from 64.7 ± 5.4 to 53.0± 4.5 mol/hr, P = 0.005) was observed. These findings show thatshort-term administration of methylprednisolone inpatients with primary biliary cirrhosis does not induceexpansion of the cholic acid pool but increases cholicacid synthesis and turnover, as well as intestinalproduction of deoxycholic acid. If long-term treatmentis considered, the beneficial immunosuppressive effectsof corticosteroids have to be weighed against the hepatotoxic properties of deoxycholicacid.