Lung Ultrasound Improves Outcome Prediction over Clinical Judgment in COVID-19 Patients Evaluated in the Emergency Department.

In the Emergency Department (ED), the decision to hospitalize or discharge COVID-19 patients is challenging. We assessed the utility of lung ultrasound (LUS), alone or in association with a clinical rule/score. This was a multicenter observational prospective study involving six EDs (NCT046291831).

A 4C mortality score based dichotomic rule supports Emergency Department discharge of COVID-19 patients.

Background: For COVID-19 patients evaluated in the Emergency Department (ED), decision on hospital admission vs. home discharge is challenging. The 4C mortality score (4CMS) is a prognostication tool integrating key demographic/clinical/biochemical data validated for COVID-19 inpatients.

Temporal changes in the current practice of primary angioplasty: a real life experience of a single high-volume center.

Background: In the last years, new techniques, drugs and devices have been introduced in the current practice of primary angioplasty (PPCI) and validated by pivotal studies The objective of our study was to evaluate if these studies have led to significant changes on the current practice of primary PCI in our center.

Methods: From March 2003 to December 2013 1980 patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction underwent PPCI within 12-hours of onset of symptoms. We considered 2 periods of our activity: from 2003 to 2009 (P1) with 1078 patients and from 2010 to 2013 (P2) with 902 patients, and compared them in terms of pharmacological and arterial access strategies and of devices utilization.

[MGuard Dacron mesh-covered stent implantation in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction and high thrombotic burden: in-hospital and long-term outcome in a single high-volume center].

Background: The MGuard (MG) is a stainless-steel closed cell stent covered with an ultra-thin polymer mesh sleeve, which has the purpose of ensuring reduced distal embolization of thrombotic material, thus lowering the risk of no-reflow/slow-flow phenomena. Only few data are available that evaluated the usefulness of the MG stent in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) with a high thrombotic burden.

Methods: We prospectively collected data of patients presenting with STEMI and high thrombotic burden (thrombus burden grade 4 or 5 according to the TIMI score) who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with MG stent implantation in our center.