1,721,095 research outputs found
Appropriateness and surroundings: "Doing more does not mean doing better". Choosing wisely, an unfulfilled commitment?
No full textThe attention of the medical community to the appropriateness of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures has increased in recent years, recognizing the need for a careful use of resources and for avoiding unnecessary and sometimes harmful medical tests, procedures and therapies. Not only healthcare providers, but also public, patients and politicians, should know the consequences of inappropriate decisions and behaviors. Indeed, inappropriateness has clinical (risks), economic (waste of resources), but also ethical implications (i.e. the use of unnecessary tests and treatments in a system characterized by limited resources). Inappropriateness is a complex entity and it may vary widely: in fact, it may be influenced by different clinical settings, techniques used, but also by data collection methods, size of the population considered, and the professional background of the physicians requesting a specific test or procedure. Various initiatives have been proposed with the aim at reducing the use of unnecessary tests and procedures but imposed rules appear to be of dubious effectiveness. On the contrary, the medical community needs more in-depth knowledge of the problem and an active commitment for reducing the waste of resources, especially because unnecessary or sometimes harmful interventions subtract resources where they are useful or necessary. Recently, the "Choosing Wisely" campaign, which has involved 18 countries and more than 70 scientific societies, has been one of the most well-known initiatives, launched in Italy by the "Slow Medicine" movement. The purpose is to disseminate the recommendations of scientific societies with the aim to promote processes of care based on appropriateness, but within a relation of dialogue and decision sharing with the patient and public. The Choosing Wisely campaign is certainly important and innovative. However, there are open and unsolved issues such as the lack of rigorous and systematic methods for the evaluation of the results of the proposed initiatives and the need for more widespread interventions both at the medical and community level
Trasposizione corretta dei grossi vasi con insufficienza della valvola atrio-ventricolare sinistra ("mitralica")
No full textAppropriateness, inappropriateness and waste of resources: Unfulfilled expectations?
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Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Acute rickettsial myocarditis and advanced atrioventricular block: diagnosis and treatment aided by endomyocardial biopsy
No full textRestrictive left ventricular filling pattern in dilated cardiomyopathy assessed by Doppler echocardiography: clinical, echocardiographic and hemodynamic correlations and prognostic implications. Heart Muscle Disease Study Group.
No full textOBJECTIVES: This study was undertaken to evaluate the frequency of restrictive left ventricular filling pattern in dilated cardiomyopathy, as well as its clinical and hemodynamic correlations and prognostic implications.
BACKGROUND: In dilated cardiomyopathy, as in other heart diseases, different left ventricular filling patterns were observed on Doppler echocardiography. Some patients showed a "restrictive filling pattern," similar to that associated with restrictive cardiomyopathy, characterized by predominant E waves and a shortened E deceleration time.
METHODS: Pulsed Doppler transmitral curves were analyzed in 79 consecutive patients with dilated cardiomyopathy assigned to two study groups according to E deceleration time: group 1 (n = 36) had a restrictive left ventricular filling pattern (E deceleration time or = 115 ms.
RESULTS: Patients in group 1 were significantly younger, in a higher New York Heart Association functional class, more frequently had a third heart sound and had a higher left ventricular filling pressure at catheterization. In addition, they showed more severe left and right ventricular dysfunction and dilation, a larger left atrium and more severe mitral regurgitation. A restrictive filling pattern was associated at Doppler study with a higher E wave velocity, lower A wave velocity and higher E/A ratio. During a follow-up interval of 22 +/- 14 months, all 14 patients who subsequently died or required heart transplantation showed a restrictive left ventricular filling pattern. At multivariate analysis, E deceleration time was the most powerful independent prognostic indicator of poor outcome or transplantation.
CONCLUSIONS: Restrictive left ventricular filling pattern is frequent in dilated cardiomyopathy, is associated with more severe disease and is a powerful indicator of increased mortality risk and need for heart transplantation
Sulle modificazioni anatomopatologiche conseguenti alla stimolazione endocardica permanente. Nota II: le alterazioni endomiocardiche
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