Giornale italiano di cardiologia
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
ASSENCE (assessment of cost-effectiveness of several strategies of early diagnosis in patients with acute chest pain and non-conclusive electrocardiogram).
Clinical, economical, organizative, and medico-legal issues raised by management of citizens who come to Emergency Department with acute chest pain and non diagnostic electrocardiogram are well known. Data from the Italian Health Ministry show that, in 1996, 37,444 patients had been discharged from Italian hospitals with the main diagnosis of chest pain. To obtain this "non-diagnosis", it was needed a mean hospital stay of 4.2 days with estimated costs close to $57,000,000. ⋯ Costs will be assessed taking into account: hospital stay length, performed diagnostic procedures and treatments during index admission, in-hospital and 2-month follow-up events (cardiac death, myocardial infarction, definite unstable angina, coronary angioplasty, by-pass surgery, re-admission to hospital for chest-pain). A secondary ASSENCE study end-point will be to assess the effect on patient quality of life of the use of the 3 strategies tested. Sample size estimation calculated in order to detect an absolute difference of at least 10% and based on a 30% expected rate of events, was of 186 patients for each strategy tested.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Beneficial impact of isoflurane during coronary bypass surgery on troponin I release.
Experimental studies indicate that isoflurane, a commonly used volatile anesthetic, mimics the cardioprotective effects of ischemic preconditioning, probably through ATP-sensitive K+ (KATP) channel activation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of isoflurane during coronary bypass surgery (CABG) on troponin I release. ⋯ Isoflurane reduces myocardial injury in patients with impaired left ventricular function undergoing CABG; thus, it can be safely used as an additional cardioprotective tool during routine CABG in high-risk patients with poor left ventricular function.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Effects of early treatment with captopril and metoprolol singly or together on six-month mortality and morbidity after acute myocardial infarction. Results of the RIMA (Rimodellamento Infarto Miocardico Acuto) study. The RIMA researchers.
The RIMA (Rimodellamento Infarto Miocardico Acuto) study was designed to assess the relative effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition by captopril, beta-blocker therapy by metoprolol, and their combination in patients with a first acute myocardial infarction on: 1. echocardiographically detected left ventricular remodeling; 2. prognosis. The second goal will be the argument of the present paper. Two-hundred fifty < or = 75 years consecutive patients (mean age: 58 yrs, males = 203) with acute myocardial infarction were randomly allocated to receive for > or = 3 months captopril (up to 75 mg/day, Group 1), metoprolol (up to 200 mg/day, Group 2) or captopril + metoprolol (Group 3) starting in the first 24 hours after the onset of symptoms. Intravenous beta-blockers in the acute phase of myocardial infarction and all other cardioactive drugs were allowed. The effect of the randomized therapy at six months from admission to the coronary care unit was considered in relation to: 1. recurrence of spontaneous cardiac events and of elective revascularization procedures; 2. adverse reactions (hypotension, atrioventricular block, cough, allergy, need of beta-blockers in Group 1, need for ACE inhibition in Group 2) requiring treatment modification based on physician's decision. ⋯ In a randomized early post-infarction treatment strategy, ACE inhibition with captopril alone or in combination with metoprolol demonstrated an increased protection against spontaneous cardiac events at six months in comparison with metoprolol alone. On the other hand, the beta-blocker treatment was associated with a lower number of elective revascularization procedures and appeared better tolerated than ACE inhibition.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
[Left ventricular function in myocardial infarct. An analysis of the prognostic variables in the database of the GISSI-2 study. The Researchers of GISSI-2. Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Streptochinasi nell'Infarto Miocardico].
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
[The evolution of hospital mortality due to acute myocardial infarct in the first 2 GISSI studies. Participants in the GISSI 1 and GISSI 2 studies. Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Streptochinasi nell'Infarto Miocardico].
During the short while of 5 years, between 1984 and 1985, two large clinical trials have been performed in Italy concerning fibrinolytic therapy in Acute Myocardial Infarction: GISSI 1 and GISSI 2. They made possible to evaluate the evolution of demographic and clinical features, the in-hospital mortality rate, and the causes of death of a huge number of patients admitted to CCU throughout the whole country. Out of 31,826 patients with acute myocardial infarction admitted to 176 CCU participating to the GISSI 1 16.9% were 75 years old and 24.7% were females; 21.8% and 26.4% were the percentages in the 38,086 patients admitted to the 223 CCU participating in the GISSI 2. ⋯ As a matter of fact 468 patients died of the 4,696 (10.0%) treated with SK in the GISSI 1 against 1,092 patients of 12,381 (8.8%) enrolled in the GISSI 2 and treated with SK or rtPA (RR 0.87; L. C. 0.78-0.98). The reduction of in-hospital mortality may be explained by some differences in the two groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)