February 2020
30 ArticlesCommentary
A half-century of developments in the field of antithrombotics–A tribute to Jack Hirsh
Nobody could be more qualified than Jack Hirsh [1] to comment five decades of progress in the field of antithrombotic therapy, as he did in an authoritative review in the December issue of this... more
2019 ESC guidelines on pulmonary embolism: Novelties and unanswered questions
The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of acute pulmonary embolism (PE), developed in collaboration with the European Respiratory Society (ERS), were... more
Death from, with, and without pulmonary embolism
Sudden death can be the initial presentation of pulmonary embolism and early fatality is substantial among patients who present with haemodynamic instability [1,2]. Death from pulmonary embolism,... more
Editorial
The guidelines they are a changin’
The association of cancer with a clinical hypercoagulable state has been known for over 140 years but continues to be an important clinical problem. Despite rapid changes in cancer treatments, venous... more
Impact of mobile intensive care units on STEMI delays and outcomes–Is it simply a matter of time?
Ischemic heart disease (IHD) remains the leading cause of death worldwide [1], regardless of the income level of the country [2]. Mortality trends for IHD slowly but progressively declined over the... more
Internal Medicine Flashcard
A mysterious lesion on the chest X-Ray
A 87 year old Lady presented to her General Practitioner with gradual onset and rapidly progressive shortness of breath and right sided chest pain. Observations in the GP surgery were within normal... more
Rapidly progressive gangrene on the scrotum
A 35-year-old man presented at our hospital with high fever (up to 39.7 °C), and progressive edema and pain of the scrotal and perineal region for 7 days. He had received intravenous levofloxacin at... more
Joint pain, black urine… and a heart murmur
A 64-year-old man, with history of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, presented with chronic polyarthralgias and backache. He had brown-colored deposits in sclera and blueish pigmentation in... more
Beware of the dog
A 24-years old male complained new-onset urinary retention during a return flight from a 1-month trip to Thailand, needed to be urgently catheterized. His past medical history was unremarkable. He is... more
Letter to the Editor
Atrial fibrillation in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Systematic review and meta-analysis
The impact of proton pump inhibitors on levothyroxine absorption: The good, the bad and the ugly
Levothyroxine (LT4) and proton pump inhibitors (PPI) are two of the most prescribed drugs particularly in elderly population [1,2]. As they are frequently co-ingested, the effect on levothyroxine... more
Key decision-making around hospitalization in patients with acute heart failure
We appreciate the commentary of Moliner and Comin-Colet [1] regarding our previously published article in the EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF INTERNAL MEDICINE. In our study, the LORHCA study, we tested the... more
Time-based clinical and functional achievements in real-life HF patients on ARNI treatment
The prevalence of chronic heart failure (CHF) in the general population is gradually increasing mainly due to prolonged life expectancy of the general population and effective interventional and... more
Could Duplex carotid ultrasound be useful in the assessment of volume status and fluid responsiveness?
Although the ultrasound assessment of inferior vena cava diameters and their respiratory variations have been suggested as a tool for fluid management, recent reports do not confirm its validity in... more
THE role of metabolic syndrome in blood pressure control and pulse wave velocity progression over a 3.5 years in treated hypertensive PATIENTS.
Metabolic Syndrome (MS) is a cluster of elevated Blood Pressure (BP) and glucose, lipids alterations (elevated triglycerides or low HDL-cholesterol) and abdominal obesity that has been associated... more
Antibiotic treatment in patients that present with solely non-specific symptoms and positive serology at a Lyme centre
Lyme Borreliosis (LB) is a tick-borne disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.). Patients present with several specific manifestations, of which an erythema migrans (EM) occurs most... more
Annual screening of comorbidities for people living with HIV in a single day hospitalization: A one-year experience
The HIV-infected population faces more comorbidities than the general population, with increased incidence of viral hepatitis, renal disease, cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis and malignancies [1... more
Comprehensive heart failure assessment: A challenge to modify the course of heart failure. Author's reply
We read with great interest the article by JF Martín-Sánchez [1] commenting on our article "Comorbidities in chronic heart failure: An update from Italian Society of Cardiology (SIC) Working Group on... more
Prognostic significance of the modified Barthel index in elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
The modified Barthel index (mBI) is widely used to measure performance in activities in daily living (ADL), especially in elderly patients [1]. It consists of the following 10 items: feeding,... more
In stroke patients, lower LDL-cholesterol is actually better
Internists often treat patients with dyslipidemia or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD); however, there remain questions regarding what degree of reduction in low density lipoprotein... more
More research and clinical attention is needed on nutrition to prevent influenza incidence and mortality
I read with interest your 12/24/19 Papadimitriou paper on factors affecting influenza mortality in a Swiss hospital [1]. One factor that I found especially interesting was the huge influence on... more
Thrombocytopenia in primary antiphospholipid syndrome, a marker of high-risk patients?
As recently written by Cruz and coll., antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) are frequently found in immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and are not associated with specific clinical feature [1]. Similarly,... more
Giant cell arteritis incidence in La Reunion island, a particularly cosmopolite region of south hemisphere
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is classified as a large vessel vasculitis according to the Chapel Hill nomenclature [1]. GCA is present worldwide but the reported incidence rates are highly variable... more
Comparison between arterial and peripheral-venous blood gases analysis in patients with dyspnoea and/or suspected acute respiratory failure
Withdrawal of blood for arterial blood gases analysis (ABGA) has formed the mainstay of treatment in patients with dyspnoea and suspected acute respiratory failure for the past 50 years [1]. The... more
Original Article
Computed tomography assessment of evolution of interstitial lung disease in systemic sclerosis: Comparison of two scoring systems
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disease characterized by extensive skin fibrosis and abnormalities in large and small vessels. Although cutaneous manifestations are the most frequent... more
Clinical outcomes and need for intensive care after non-ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction
The decision on whether non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) patients should be admitted to intensive care units (ICU) takes into account clinical presentation, hemodynamic status... more
Why optional inferior vena cava filters are not always retrieved? A real world 19 years experience in a Swiss tertiary care university hospital.
Venous thromboembolism (VTE), including pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT), is a serious and potentially fatal disease, with an estimated annual incidence of 104–183 per 100,000... more
Review Article
Inhalation therapy devices for the treatment of obstructive lung diseases: the history of inhalers towards the ideal inhaler
When a drug is administered orally, intravenously or intramuscularly, it enters the blood stream and it can reach most organs and tissues including the airways.
NAFLD and autoimmune hepatitis: Do not judge a book by its cover
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome and is defined by the accumulation of fat in > 5% of hepatocytes at the histological level or by... more
Treat-to-target in systemic lupus erythematosus: Where are we?
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by affecting predominantly woman of childbearing age in a chronic, relapsing-remitting course. It is also notable for its... more