-
According to recent trials, we have known that protonic pump inhibitors (PPIs) interfere with antiplatelet drugs, decreasing the efficacy of clopidogrel after coronary reperfusion surgeries, probably through the inhibition of liver conversion from prodrug to active drug. In order to evaluate this [...]
-
Patients with hypertension resistant to pharmacological therapies (three or more anti-hypertensive drugs) are often an important problem for the general practitioner. In order to examine the role of salt in these subjects, a randomized crossover trial had been performed, based on two weekly diets, [...]
-
The use of an oral anticoagulation therapy (OAT) in patients affected by atrial fibrillation is justified by the need to decrease stroke incidence. Some researchers have reviewed the data of a trial performed in California on 13,559 patients affected by non-valvular atrial fibrillation. OAT benefit [...]
-
We know that the presence of a normal electrocardiogram is not a sufficient element to exclude an acute coronary syndrome in a patient presenting chest pain, but a normal ECG often makes us doubt on the presence of coronary lesions. In order to clarify this important diagnostic element, a [...]
-
When medical therapy is not capable to restore sinus rhythm in patients with atrial fibrillation, the alternative is represented by radiofrequency catheter ablation (RCA). In order to verify the validity of this therapeutical choice, some researchers have examined the results of six randomized [...]
-
PSA levels can have annual variations which are completely casual, which have been investigated by a team in San Antonio: about 2600 subjects have undergone annual PSA dosage for two or more years, together with rectal exploration. Out of these, 55% have undergone dosage for at least 4 consecutive [...]
-
According to some trials, chocolate consumption has a protective action on heart, probably through an antioxidant action. A research team in Sweden has identified 1169 patients hospitalized for non-fatal myocardial infarction, all being not affected by diabetes mellitus. For 86% of them, complete [...]
-
The main cause of infarction during perioperative period is in the breaking of coronary artery plaques and since statins have a stabilizing action on plaques, it was thought that they can also have a preventive effect on the onset of this terrible complication. In the DECREASE-III trial, sponsored [...]
-
In case of severe but asymptomatic aortic stenosis, it is very difficult to foresee the evolution of this condition. With a French trial, 104 asymptomatic patients, affected by a moderate-severe aortic stenosis (defined through a peak of aortic jet ≥ 3 m/sec or by a valvular area ≤ 1.5 cm2 or by [...]
-
In the last years, products based on smokeless tobacco are spreading more and more (at least in the USA), advertised as a luxury means without the risks of smoked tobacco. We known, instead, that smokeless tobacco is all the same cancerogenic and not very recent trials have associated it with a [...]