Risk of stroke in relation to degree of asymptomatic carotid stenosis: a population-based cohort study, systematic review, and meta-analysis

There is uncertainty around which patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis should be offered surgical intervention. Although stroke rates were unrelated to the degree of stenosis in the medical-treatment-only groups in previous randomised trials, this could simply reflect recruitment bias and there has been no systematic analysis of a stenosis-risk association in cohort studies. We aimed to establish whether there is any association between the degree of asymptomatic stenosis and ipsilateral stroke risk in patients on contemporary medical treatment…

European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS) 2021 Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Management of Venous Thrombosis

The European Society for Vascular Surgery (ESVS) has developed a series of clinical practice guidelines for the care of patients with vascular diseases. Their aim is to assist clinicians in selecting the best management strategies to achieve optimal patient outcomes. These are the first ESVS guidelines on venous thrombosis…

2021 ACC/AHA/SVM/ACP Advanced Training Statement on Vascular Medicine (Revision of the 2004 ACC/ACP/SCAI/ SVMB/SVS Clinical Competence Statement on Vascular Medicine and Catheter-Based Peripheral Vascular Interventions)

Since publication of its first Core Cardiovascular Training Statement (COCATS) in 1995, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) has defined the knowledge, experiences, skills, and behaviors expected of clinical cardiologists…

Venous thromboembolism in patients with COVID-19 (SARS- CoV-2 infection) – a position paper of the German Society of Angiology (DGA)

As observed in other infections with a systemic inflammatory response, severe COVID-19 is associated with hypercoagulability and a prothrombotic state. Currently, there is growing evidence that pulmonary embolism and thrombosis contribute to adverse outcomes and increased mortality in critically ill patients with COVID-19…

The vascular side of COVID-19 disease

The SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) is causing an ongoing pandemic and potentially fatal disease. Development of coagulopathy with thrombotic complications such as deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism are emerging as factors for progression to severe disease and death. Also, a markedly increased level of D-dimer, a protein product of fibrin degradation, has been associated to mortality…

Acute Ischemic Stroke and COVID-19

Acute ischemic stroke may occur in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but risk factors, in-hospital events, and outcomes are not well studied in large cohorts. We identified risk factors, comorbidities, and outcomes in patients with COVID-19 with or without acute ischemic stroke and compared with patients without COVID-19 and acute ischemic stroke.

SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines

Shortly after SARS-CoV emerged at the turn of the 21st century, the spike (S) protein (particularly in its prefusion [native] conformation) was identified as the immunodominant antigen of the virus. Evaluation of patients with SARS-CoV-2 revealed that binding and neutralizing antibodies primarily target the receptor-binding domain of the S1 subunit…

The Heart in COVID-19. Primary Target or Secondary Bystander?

In the throes of the current coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, interest has burgeoned in the cardiovascular complications of this virulent viral infection. As troponin, a biomarker of cardiac injury, often rises in hospitalized patients, its interpretation and actionability require careful consideration. Fulminant myocarditis due to direct viral infection can certainly occur, but in patients with increased oxygen demands due to tachycardia and fever and reduced oxygen delivery due to hypotension and hypoxemia, COVID-19 disease can cause myocardial injury indirectly…

Cardiovascular Considerations for the Internist and Hospitalist in the COVID-19 Era

It is clear that existing cardiovascular disease is a major risk factor for COVID-19 and related adverse outcomes. In addition to acute respiratory syndrome, a large cohort also develop myocardial or vascular dysfunction, in part from inflammation and renin angiotensin system activation with increased sympathetic outflow, cardiac arrhythmias, ischemia, heart failure, and thromboembolic complications that portend poor outcomes related to COVID-19…

Covid e Cuore: le molte facce del problema

L’insufficienza respiratoria acuta configurata dalla SARS CoV2 può determinare danno miocardico ipossico, testimoniato dal rilascio di biomarcatori come la troponina I ed i peptidi natriuretici. Ciò è particolarmente frequente quando i profili di comorbidità condizionano coronaropatie o ipertrofia miocardica o cardiopatie di varia eziologia…

Vascular Disease Patient Information Page: COVID–19-related thrombosis

COVID-19 can vary from causing no symptoms in some people to a life-threatening illness requiring intensive care and mechanical ventilation in others. COVID-19 affects the body in many different ways, including causing blood clots such as DVTs and PEs. Thrombosis in COVID-19 may be due to direct damage to blood vessels, ‘out-of-control’ inflammation, or other mechanisms that are not completely understood…

Cardiology and COVID-19

The initial reports on the epidemiology of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emanating from Wuhan, China, offered an ominous forewarning of the risks of severe complications in elderly patients and those with underlying cardiovascular disease, including the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome, cardiogenic shock, thromboembolic events, and death…