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Biomedical subjects

A Marchesoni

Publications and source records attributed to A Marchesoni.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Treatment of Raynaud's phenomenon with captopril.

The efficacy of captopril in the treatment of Raynaud's phenomenon was observed in an open study in 53 patients with primitive Raynaud's disease and in 18 patients with Raynaud's associated with scleroderma. Each patient was given captopril 25 mg three times a day for three months. The drug significantly decreased the frequency and the severity of ischaemic attacks in patients with Raynaud's disease, but did not affect the attacks in patients with scleroderma. These subjective ratings were supported by the results of digital strain gauge plethysmography during cold challenge. The therapy was discontinued in six patients (one because of an allergic skin reaction and five owing to orthostatic hypotension), but no serious side-effects were noticed.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Case report: rheumatoid arthritis and large granular lymphocytes syndrome].

Felty's syndrome (FS) is a rare complication (less than 1%) of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), with the clinical feature of splenomegaly and neutropenia. Approximately 10-40% of FS patients have an expansion of peripheral blood large granular lymphocytes (LGL). This cell population mainly consists of two subsets: cytotoxic T cells (CD8+, CD57+) and natural killer cells (CD3-,CD8-,CD56+). It has been hypothesised that LGL expansion could be responsible for neutropenia by suppressing neutrophil precursors in the bone marrow, but various mechanisms have been proposed to explain this association. We report a case of a 60-year-old woman with rheumatoid factor positive RA who developed LGL expansion responsible for splenomegaly, but without neutropenia. In conclusion, LGL expansion is an uncommon complication of RA and may be responsible for both FS and clinical pictures resembling FS.

Felty Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Recommendations of the Italian Society for Rheumatology for the use of biologic (TNF-alpha blocking) agents in the treatment of psoriatic arthritis.

AIM: To propose recommendations for the use of biologic (TNF-alpha blocking) agents in the treatment of psoriatic arthritis (PsA). METHODS: We developed these recommendations by reviewing the evidence published in medical journals and in abstracts of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and of the European League against Rheumatism. A draft of the recommendations was circulated to a group of Italian Rheumatologists with a special interest in PsA and in therapy with biologic agents, and their suggestions were incorporated in the final version. RESULTS: A consensus was achieved regarding the initiation and the monitoring of anti-TNF-alpha agents in PsA. More specifically, we propose that anti-TNF-alphaagents be considered in active PsA resistant to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, to at least two local steroid injections and at least 2 conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic agents (in cases of oligo/monoarthritis and/or enthesitis), and to at least two conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic agents (in patients with peripheral joints synovitis). Disease activity monitoring should be based on a variety of outcome measures including the ACR response criteria modified for use in PsA, the Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index (BASDAI), and the Maastricht ankylosing spondylitis enthesis score (MASES). A favorable Expert opinion, based on evaluation of clinical symptoms and signs, of laboratory investigations (particularly acute phase reactants), and of imaging studies (whenever appropriate) should also be obtained. CONCLUSION: These recommendations may be used for guidance in deciding which patients with PsA should receive biologic therapy. Regular updates of these recommendations will be implemented on the basis of the results of new clinical studies and of data from post-marketing surveillance.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pulmonary hypertension and systemic lupus erythematosus.

Various pleuropulmonary manifestations are reported to occur in the course of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Among these, pulmonary hypertension is one of the most uncommonly observed. The natural course of this involvement can be independent of the primary disease, and resembles primitive pulmonary hypertension. Various pathogenetic mechanisms might be responsible for this picture. In the case here reported, the pathological data were strongly suggestive of pulmonary vasculitis, emphasizing that SLE, like other connective tissue diseases, can be responsible for fatal pulmonary hypertension.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The Italian version of the Functional Disability Index of the Health Assessment Questionnaire. A reliable instrument for multicenter studies on rheumatoid arthritis.

A working group of ten rheumatology institutes (UNIREUM) was formed in Italy to promote multicenter therapeutic studies on rheumatoid arthritis. The Functional Disability Index (FDI) of the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) was chosen as a measure of disability. This paper reports the results of a multicenter study to validate an Italian translation of the instrument and to assess its reliability and validity. Two questions were modified to achieve cross-cultural equivalence. Back-translation into English showed agreement with the American instrument. Reproducibility was high: the test-retest correlation coefficient was 0.989 and ranged from 0.81 to 0.99 for the centers taken separately. Validity was confirmed by a correlation coefficient of 0.95 between the patient self-attributed and the physician-attributed FDI scores. We conclude that our Italian version of the HAQ FDI is a reliable and valid self-administered instrument.

Adult↗