Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with cardiovascular disease morbimortality. However, it is not clear if NAFLD staging may help identify early or subclinical markers of ...cardiovascular disease. We aimed to evaluate the association of liver stiffness and serum markers of liver fibrosis with epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) and coronary artery calcium (CAC) in an observational cross-sectional study of 49 NAFLD patients that were seen at Clínica Universidad de Navarra (Spain) between 2009 and 2019. Liver elastography and non-invasive fibrosis markers were used to non-invasively measure fibrosis. EAT and CAC, measured through visual assessment, were determined by computed tomography. Liver stiffness showed a direct association with EAT (r = 0.283, p-value = 0.049) and CAC (r = 0.337, p-value = 0.018). NAFLD fibrosis score was associated with EAT (r = 0.329, p-value = 0.021) and CAC (r = 0.387, p-value = 0.006). The association of liver stiffness with CAC remained significant after adjusting for metabolic syndrome features (including carbohydrate intolerance/diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, visceral adipose tissue, and obesity). The evaluation of NAFLD severity through liver elastography or non-invasive liver fibrosis biomarkers may contribute to guide risk factor modification to reduce cardiovascular risk in asymptomatic patients. Inversely, subclinical cardiovascular disease assessment, through Visual Scale for CAC scoring, may be a simple and effective measure for patients with potential liver fibrosis, independently of the existence of other cardiovascular risk factors.
Radioembolization (RE) with yttrium-90 (
Y) microspheres, a transcatheter intraarterial therapy for patients with liver cancer, can be modeled computationally. The purpose of this work was to ...correlate the results obtained with this methodology using in vivo data, so that this computational tool could be used for the optimization of the RE procedure. The hepatic artery three-dimensional (3D) hemodynamics and microsphere distribution during RE were modeled for six
Y-loaded microsphere infusions in three patients with hepatocellular carcinoma using a commercially available computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software package. The model was built based on in vivo data acquired during the pretreatment stage. The results of the simulations were compared with the in vivo distribution assessed by
Y PET/CT. Specifically, the microsphere distribution predicted was compared with the actual
Y activity per liver segment with a commercially available 3D-voxel dosimetry software (PLANET Dose, DOSIsoft). The average difference between the CFD-based and the PET/CT-based activity distribution was 2.36 percentage points for Patient 1, 3.51 percentage points for Patient 2 and 2.02 percentage points for Patient 3. These results suggest that CFD simulations may help to predict
Y-microsphere distribution after RE and could be used to optimize the RE procedure on a patient-specific basis.
Background and objective
The availability of chest computed tomography (CT) imaging can help diagnose comorbidities associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Their systematic ...identification and relationship with all‐cause mortality have not been explored. Furthermore, whether their CT‐detected prevalence differs from clinical diagnosis is unknown.
Methods
The prevalence of 10 CT‐assessed comorbidities was retrospectively determined at baseline in 379 patients (71% men) with mild to severe COPD attending pulmonary clinics. Anthropometrics, smoking history, dyspnoea, lung function, exercise capacity, BODE (BMI, Obstruction, Dyspnoea and Exercise capacity) index and exacerbations rate were recorded. The prevalence of CT‐determined comorbidities was compared with that recorded clinically. Over a median of 78 months of observation, the independent association with all‐cause mortality was analysed. A ‘CT‐comorbidome’ graphically expressed the strength of their association with mortality risk.
Results
Coronary artery calcification, emphysema and bronchiectasis were the most prevalent comorbidities (79.8%, 62.7% and 33.9%, respectively). All were underdiagnosed before CT. Coronary artery calcium (hazard ratio HR 2.09; 95% CI 1.03–4.26, p = 0.042), bronchiectasis (HR 2.12; 95% CI 1.05–4.26, p = 0.036) and low psoas muscle density (HR 2.61; 95% CI 1.23–5.57, p = 0.010) were independently associated with all‐cause mortality and helped define the ‘CT‐comorbidome’.
Conclusion
This study of COPD patients shows that systematic detection of 10 CT‐diagnosed comorbidities, most of which were not detected clinically, provides information of potential use to patients and clinicians caring for them.
This multicentric study shows that chest computed tomography (CT) to evaluate the presence of 10 comorbidities detects important pathologies not diagnosed in the clinical management of those patients. While emphysema, coronary artery calcification (CAC) and bronchiectasis were the most prevalent CT‐detected comorbidities, CAC, bronchiectasis and low Psoas muscle density were independently associated with all‐cause mortality.
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Introduction: Microvascular rarefaction, the functional reduction in perfused microvessels and structural reduction of microvascular density, seems to be an important mechanism in the pathophysiology ...of small blood vessel-related disorders including vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) due to cerebral small vessel disease and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Both diseases share common risk factors including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, and ageing; in turn, these comorbidities are associated with microvascular rarefaction. Our consortium aims to investigate novel non-invasive tools to quantify microvascular health and rarefaction in both organs, as well as surrogate biomarkers for cerebral and/or cardiac rarefaction (via sublingual capillary health, vascular density of the retina, and RNA content of circulating extracellular vesicles), and to determine whether microvascular density relates to disease severity. Methods: The clinical research program of CRUCIAL consists of four observational cohort studies. We aim to recruit 75 VCI patients, 60 HFpEF patients, 60 patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) undergoing surgical aortic valve replacement as a pressure overload HFpEF model, and 200 elderly participants with mixed comorbidities to serve as controls. Data collected will include medical history, physical examination, cognitive testing, advanced brain and cardiac MRI, ECG, echocardiography, sublingual capillary health, optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTa), extracellular vesicles RNA analysis, and myocardial remodelling-related serum biomarkers. The AS cohort undergoing surgery will also have myocardial biopsy for histological microvascular assessment. Discussion: CRUCIAL will examine the pathophysiological role of microvascular rarefaction in VCI and HFpEF using advanced brain and cardiac MRI techniques. Furthermore, we will investigate surrogate biomarkers for non-invasive, faster, easier, and cheaper assessment of microvascular density since these are more likely to be disseminated into widespread clinical practice. If microvascular rarefaction is an early marker of developing small vessel diseases, then measuring rarefaction may allow preclinical diagnosis, with implications for screening, risk stratification, and prevention. Further knowledge of the relevance of microvascular rarefaction and its underlying mechanisms may provide new avenues for research and therapeutic targets.
Pulmonary artery enlargement (PAE) is associated with exacerbations in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and with survival in moderate to severe patients. The potential role of PAE in ...survival prediction has not been compared with other clinical and physiological prognostic markers.
In 188 patients with COPD, PA diameter was measured on a chest CT and the following clinical and physiological parameters registered: age, gender, smoking status, pack-years history, dyspnea, lung function, exercise capacity, Body Mass Index, BODE index and history of exacerbations in year prior to enrolment. Proportional Cox regression analysis determined the best predictor of all cause survival.
During 83 months (±42), 43 patients died. Age, pack-years history, smoking status, BMI, FEV1%, six minute walking distance, Modified Medical Research Council dyspnea scale, BODE index, exacerbation rate prior to enrollment, PA diameter and PAE (diameter≥30mm) were associated with survival. In the multivariable analysis, age (HR: 1.08; 95%CI: 1.03-1.12, p<0.001) and PAE (HR: 2.78; 95%CI: 1.35-5.75, p = 0.006) were the most powerful parameters associated with all-cause mortality.
In this prospective observational study of COPD patients with mild to moderate airflow limitation, PAE was the best predictor of long-term survival along with age.
Citrus intake has been suggested to increase the risk of skin cancer. Although this relation is highly plausible biologically, epidemiologic evidence is lacking. We aimed to examine the potential ...association between citrus intake and skin cancer risk. EPIC is an ongoing multi-center prospective cohort initiated in 1992 and involving ~ 520,000 participants who have been followed-up in 23 centers from 10 European countries. Dietary data were collected at baseline using validated country-specific dietary questionnaires. We used Cox proportional hazards regression models to compute hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). During a mean follow-up of 13.7 years, 8448 skin cancer cases were identified among 270,112 participants. We observed a positive linear dose–response relationship between total citrus intake and skin cancer risk (HR = 1.10, 95% CI 1.03–1.18 in the highest vs. lowest quartile; P
trend
= 0.001), particularly with basal cell carcinoma (BCC) (HR = 1.11, 95% CI 1.02–1.20, P
trend
= 0.007) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (HR = 1.23, 95% CI 1.04–1.47, P
trend
= 0.01). Citrus fruit intake was positively associated with skin cancer risk (HR = 1.08, 95% CI 1.01–1.16, P
trend
= 0.01), particularly with melanoma (HR = 1.23, 95% CI 1.02–1.48; P
trend
= 0.01), although with no heterogeneity across skin cancer types (P
homogeneity
= 0.21). Citrus juice was positively associated with skin cancer risk (P
trend
= 0.004), particularly with BCC (P
trend
= 0.008) and SCC (P
trend
= 0.004), but not with melanoma (P
homogeneity
= 0.02). Our study suggests moderate positive linear dose–response relationships between citrus intake and skin cancer risk. Studies with available biomarker data and the ability to examine sun exposure behaviors are warranted to clarify these associations and examine the phototoxicity mechanisms of furocoumarin-rich foods.
Purpose
To determine which imaging method used during radioembolization (RE) work-up: contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT),
99m
Tc-MAA-SPECT/CT or cone beam-CT (CBCT), more accurately ...predicts the final target volume (TgV) as well as the influence that each modality has in the dosimetric calculation.
Methods
TgVs from
99m
Tc-MAA-SPECT/CT, CECT and CBCT were consecutively obtained in 24 patients treated with RE and compared with
90
Y PET/CT TgV. Using the TgVs estimated by each imaging modality and a fictitious activity of 1 GBq, the corresponding absorbed doses by tumor and non-tumoral parenchyma were calculated for each patient. The absorbed doses for each modality were compared with the ones obtained using
90
Y PET/CT TgV.
Results
99m
Tc-MAA-SPECT/CT predicted
90
Y PET/CT TgV better than CBCT or CECT, even for selective or superselective administrations. Likewise,
99m
Tc-MAA-SPECT/CT showed dosimetric values more similar to those obtained with
90
Y PET/CT. Nevertheless, CBCT provided essential information for RE planning, such as ensuring the total coverage of the tumor and, in cases with more than one feeding artery, splitting the activity according to the volume of tumor perfused by each artery.
Conclusion
The joint use of
99m
Tc-MAA-SPECT/CT and CBCT optimizes dosimetric planning for RE procedures, enabling a more accurate personalized approach.
To evaluate the vasodilator effect of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) compared with adenosine in stress perfusion cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) examinations. A total of thirty-three patients ...underwent clinically indicated stress/rest perfusion CMR examination following intravenous injection of a total dose of 0.2 mmol/kg of gadobutrol. Individuals were randomly assigned to ATP (160 mcg/kg/min) or adenosine (140 mcg/kg/min). The vasodilator effect of both drugs was analyzed by comparing differences in heart rate, symptoms during stress, and semiquantitative myocardial and splenic perfusion parameters, including time, time to peak, upslope, myocardial perfusion reserve index, tissue perfusion values, splenic and myocardial signal intensity ratios, and splenic-to-myocardial signal intensity ratios. No significant difference was found in heart rate variation between the stressors (26.1 ± 19.1 bpm for ATP vs. 21.7 ± 17.3 bpm for adenosine, p = 0.52). Patients receiving ATP referred less pronounced clinical symptoms. Semiquantitative myocardial perfusion parameters were comparable, and patients in the adenosine and ATP groups showed similar myocardial perfusion reserve index values (2.34 1.62–2.73 vs 1.63 1.29–2.10, p = 0.07). Splenic switch off was visually confirmed in all patients and estimated spleen to myocardium ratio was similar (0.92 0.53–1.09 vs 0.81 0.53–0.86 with ATP and adenosine, respectively, p = 0.12). Both ATP and adenosine are potent coronary vasodilators that can be safely employed in stress-CMR. Both stressor cause similar hyperemic response. Splenic switch-off can be used to assess stress adequacy in patients undergoing stress-CMR with either adenosine or ATP.
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