October 2023
33 ArticlesA year later
Immune regulators for the treatment of COVID-19: A critical appraisal after two years
More than three years have elapsed since the onset of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Following the identification of this novel and intricate disease, clinicians and scientists... more
Beyond the Guidelines
2023 ESH Guidelines. What are the main recommendations?
Generally, Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) are evidence-based recommendations, presented as summaries of the best available literature, which are aimed to assist doctors and other health care... more
Commentary
AMA-positivity in AIH-patients with bile duct lesions running in between. Novel findings and perspectives
Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic, progressive inflammatory liver disease characterized by circulating autoantibodies and elevated serum globulin levels. If left untreated, AIH may progress to... more
Gastrointestinal bleeding, a preventable cause of hospital admission: Time for specific studies in patients on antithrombotic therapy
Gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) is a major cause of hospital admission, and in most cases has a iathrogenic cause. Administrative data from the United States report more than 400,000 hospital... more
Inflammatory puzzle: Unveiling the role of D-Dimer in acute pericarditis and thromboinflammation
In this issue of the European Journal of Internal Medicine, Lazaros et al. present the results of a prospective clinical study conducted in a tertiary referral center to investigate the potential... more
Corrigendum
Corrigendum to ‘Clinical outcomes associated with the emergency treatment of hyperkalaemia with intravenous insulin-dextrose’ [European Journal of Internal Medicine 95C (2021) 87-92]
The authors regret that the supplementary material was not published with their above article.
Corrigendum to ‘Creatinine: From physiology to clinical application’[European Journal of Internal Medicine 72C (2020) 9-14]
The authors regret that there was an error in Figure 1 of the above published article. In this figure, the second yellow box from the top reads "Creatinine Phosphate," while it should read "Creatine... more
Internal Medicine Flashcard
Ring-like late gadolinium enhancement
Dear Editor,
Unusual cause of chronic cough and bloody phlegm with Atypical pulmonary CT findings
A 42-year-old man with 3-month history of chronic dry cough and bloody phlegm was presented to our respiratory outpatient department. He had no previous significant medical history. He also denied... more
Continuous annular calcification of intestinal wall
A 49-year-old female patient received peritoneal dialysis (PD) for six years but has switched to hemodialysis for two years due to poor peritoneal ultrafiltration. She was admitted because of nausea... more
Letter to the Editor
The higher the serum albumin, the better? Findings from the PRACTICE study
The relation between hypoalbuminemia and coronary artery disease (CAD) has been established. However, the association of increased albumin level and outcomes of CAD has not been investigated.
Autoantibodies against an immunodominant epitope from apolipoprotein B and risk of cardiovascular events in subjects with type 2 diabetes
Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) have accelerated atherosclerosis progression and increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Therefore, patients with type 2 DM (T2DM) are increasing in the... more
Risk factors for high-risk human papillomavirus cervical infection and clearance in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus
Women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are at higher risk of high grade cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions [1]. Inadequate immune response may impair the clearance of cervical human... more
Ethics of death pronouncement
Death is the only certainty we have in life. While everyone knows that human life is supposed to end but no one is fully prepared to embrace it, neither his own nor his loved ones. The death of a... more
Causal diagrams to compare randomized trials: The case of Early Goal-Directed Therapy for sepsis
Performing a randomized controlled trial (RCT) is considered the best way to answer a causal question in clinical research [1]. While RCTs are frequently designed in close collaboration by physicians... more
B-cell depletion with obinutuzumab for the treatment of IgG4-related disease
IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is an increasingly recognized fibro-inflammatory disorder that can lead to end-stage organ damage if left untreated [1]. Glucocorticoids have been historically... more
Inotropes administration in patients with acute infective endocarditis and indication for urgent cardiac surgery
Heart failure (HF) is the most common complication of acute infective endocarditis (IE), occurring in 42–60% of patients [1–2]. HF is mainly related to aortic or mitral regurgitation, but associated... more
Persistently raised blood pressure following coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines: Implication for future systematic research and monitoring
During the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, an extensive immunisation programme was initiated worldwide. Subsequent to a comprehensive vaccination campaign, emerging evidence... more
Acute venous thromboembolism in the emergency department: Inpatient versus outpatient management trends from 2016 to 2019
Venous thromboembolism (VTE), which includes deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), poses a significant public health concern [1]. It stands as the primary cause of morbidity and... more
Prevalence and characteristics of post COVID-19 condition five months after SARS-COV-2 infection in inpatients and outpatients.
We are well aware of the worldwide problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and thanks to health measures such as vaccination this situation has been positively controlled.
Original Article
Six-month cardiovascular prognostic impact of type 1 And type 2 myocardial infarction in patients hospitalized for gastrointestinal bleeding
Gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) is a major healthcare concern that poses significant clinical and economic burden. It is associated with high morbidity, mortality, and healthcare expenditure. In the... more
Intravenous continuous home inotropic therapy in advanced heart failure: Insights from an observational retrospective study
Advanced heart failure (AHF) represents 1 to 10% of the overall heart failure (HF) spectrum, with prevalence increasing due to the improvement of survival provided by guideline directed medical... more
Multiple autoimmune syndrome: Clinical, immunological and genotypic characterization
Autoimmune diseases (AIDs) are a heterogeneous group [1–13] with different phenotypes (organ-specific vs. systemic or non-organ specific) [14] and an estimated world prevalence of 3–9.4% [14–17].... more
D-dimer as a diagnostic and prognostic plasma biomarker in patients with a first episode of acute pericarditis
Acute pericarditis (AP) is the most common inflammatory heart disorder [1]. AP has recently attracted increasing attention from the medical community and social media during the COVID-19 pandemic... more
Safety and efficacy of non-insulin therapy in non-critically ill hospitalized patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Clinical guidelines recommend insulin as the mainstay of therapy for hospitalized patients with diabetes mellitus. The aim of the current study is to evaluate safety and efficacy of non-insulin anti-... more
Pulmonary rehabilitation and endothelial function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A prospective cohort study
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an increasing cause of global morbidity and mortality [1], and cardiovascular (CV) disease accounts for approximately 30% of excess mortality in this... more
Histamine elevation in familial Mediterranean fever: A study from the Juvenile Inflammatory Rheumatism cohort
Autoinflammatory diseases (AID) are defined according to the International Society of Auto-Inflammatory Diseases as abnormal activation of the innate immunity in the absence of infection or... more
Recurrence rates and risk factors for recurrence after first episode of acute pancreatitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Acute pancreatitis (AP) has become a prevalent gastrointestinal disorder over the past few decades, with a growing impact on healthcare [1,2]. While most patients with AP experience mild symptoms and... more
Impact of thoracoabdominal imaging on diagnosis and management in patients with suspected infective endocarditis
A common feature of infective endocarditis (IE) is the risk of organ embolization with approximately 30% of IE patients presenting at least one embolic event (EE), with the most common site of... more
Prevalence and significance of antimitochondrial antibodies in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH): Results from a large multicentre study of the International AIH Group
Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic progressive liver disease leading to end-stage liver disease and/or death, if left untreated [1–3]. Within the spectrum of AIH, some patients exhibiting... more
Review Article
A new strategy for anticoagulation: The factor XI inhibitors
In the last decade, new oral anticoagulant agents with a direct inhibition of specific clotting factors (DOACs) have been claimed as first-choice therapy for the prevention of cardioembolic events in... more
Management of thyroid dysfunction and thyroid nodules in the ageing patient
Nowadays, people worldwide are living longer, and every country in the world is experiencing growth in both the size and the proportion of older persons in the population. In line with this, by 2030... more
Ultrasonography as a diagnostic tool for sarcopenia in patients with cirrhosis: Examining the pros and cons
Skeletal muscle abnormalities, including sarcopenia (pathological muscle mass depletion) and myosteatosis (abnormal fat accumulation in the muscles) are common features in patients with cirrhosis.... more