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Biomedical subjects

A Vandelli

Publications and source records attributed to A Vandelli.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Intracranial haemorrhage in patients on antithrombotics: clinical presentation and determinants of outcome in a prospective multicentric study in Italian emergency departments.

BACKGROUND: Intracranial haemorrhage (ICH) is the type of stroke associated with the highest death rate, and about 30% of ICH occurs in patients on antithrombotic treatment. This study relates clinical presentations and outcome of ICH patients on oral anticoagulant (OA) or antiplatelet (AP) therapy admitted to 33 Italian emergency departments (ED). METHODS: Consecutive patients were enrolled after cranial computed tomography (CT). Primary outcome was the Modified Rankin Scale (MRS) score at 3 months of follow-up. Common descriptive statistics were computed after stratification for traumatic or spontaneous ICH and identification of the anatomical location of bleeding. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess predictors of death. RESULTS: We recruited 434 patients on AP therapy and 232 on OA. There were 432 spontaneous and 234 traumatic ICH patients. The proportions of AP and OA patients undergoing neurosurgery were 21.8 and 19.4%, respectively, while < 30% underwent procoagulant medical treatment. At the 3-month follow-up, the case fatality rate was 42.0%, while disability or death (MRS 3-6) was 68.1%. The odds ratio for death in OA versus AP patients was 2.63 (95% CI 1.73-4.00) in the whole population and 2.80 (95% CI 1.77-4.41) in intraparenchymal event patients. Glasgow Coma Scale, age, spontaneous event and anticoagulant use were found to be predictors of death both in traumatic and spontaneous events. CONCLUSION: This study confirms the high prevalence of death or disability in OA and AP patients with ICH. As far as the determinants of mortality and disability are concerned, the results of this study might be useful in the clinical management and allocation of resources in the ED setting. The observed low use of procoagulant therapy highlights the need for ED educational programmes to heighten the awareness of available and effective haemostatic treatments.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2004

A combined HPLC-immunoenzymatic comprehensive screening for suspected drug poisoning in the emergency department.

OBJECTIVE: To review the results of a comprehensive drug screening as first line diagnostic tool in patients attending an emergency department for suspected drug poisoning. METHODS: A comprehensive drug screening was carried out in plasma or urine, or both, of 310 patients combining an HPLC multidrug profiling system and a fluorescence polarisation immunoassay. RESULTS: In 64.2% of cases the screening confirmed the diagnosis of drug poisoning, in 13.9% suspected drugs were measurable at non-toxic concentrations, and in 21.9% no drugs were found. The suspected drugs were fully confirmed in a minority of cases, (symptomatic patients: 28.2% compared with asymptomatic: 16.5%). Symptomatic patients were less likely to have at least one suspected drug (29.6% compared with 57.7%; p<0.001), and more likely to have at least one unsuspected drug found at analysis (17.4% compared with 3.1%; p = 0.005). In 5% of patients, asymptomatic when first observed, one or more unsuspected drugs were found. In 6 of 29 patients, with suspected poisoning of an unspecified drug, the screening identified the specific drug and excluded acute intoxication in the remaining cases. CONCLUSION: A rapid comprehensive drug screening adds to the diagnosis of patients with suspected drug poisoning, identifying unsuspected drugs in symptomatic patients and excluding drugs in asymptomatic subjects.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2004

Prospective validation of a proposal for diagnosis and management of patients attending the emergency department for mild head injury.

BACKGROUND: In mild head injury, predictors to select patients for computed tomography (CT) and/or to plan proper management are needed. The strength of evidence of published recommendations is insufficient for current use. We assessed the diagnostic accuracy and the clinical validity of the proposal of the Neurotraumatology Committee of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies on mild head injury from an emergency department perspective. METHODS: In a three year period, 5578 adolescent and adult subjects were prospectively recruited and managed according to the proposed protocol. Outcome measures were: (a) any post-traumatic lesion; (b) need for neurosurgical intervention; (c) unfavourable outcome (death, permanent vegetative state or severe disability) after six months. The predictive value of a model based on five variables (Glasgow coma score, clinical findings, risk factors, neurological deficits, and skull fracture) was tested by logistic regression analysis. FINDINGS: At first CT evaluation 327 patients (5.9%) had intracranial post-traumatic lesions. In 16 cases (0.3%) previously undiagnosed lesions were detected after re-evaluation within seven days. Neurosurgical intervention was needed in 71 patients (1.3%) and an unfavourable outcome occurred in 39 cases (0.7%). The area under the ROC curve of the variables in predicting post-traumatic lesions was 0.906 (0.009) (sensitivity 70.0%, specificity 94.1% at best cut off), neurosurgical intervention was 0.926 (0.016) (sensitivity 81.7%, specificity 94.1%), and unfavourable outcome was 0.953 (0.014) (sensitivity 88.1%, specificity 95.1%). INTERPRETATION: The variables prove highly accurate in the prediction of clinically meaningful outcomes, when applied to a consecutive set of patients with mild head injury in the clinical setting of a 1st level emergency department.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Comprehensive drug screening in decision making of patients attending the emergency department for suspected drug overdose.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of a comprehensive drug screening method as a first line diagnostic tool on clinical decision making in patients attending an emergency department for suspected drug overdose in terms of agreement between physicians on patients' disposal. METHODS: Five emergency physicians retrospectively evaluated the records of 142 adult patients, admitted to the emergency department of a community hospital for suspected drug overdose. They were asked for an expert opinion on patients' disposal at the end of the observation period, based on paired records, with/without the results of a comprehensive drug screening. RESULTS: In the absence of the drug screening, a very poor agreement (kappa statistics) was observed between physicians. When the drug screening was available, the interobserver agreement for decision on patients' disposal increased to the fair to good range (global agreement: from 0.238 (0.019) to 0.461 (0.020) (mean(SE)); p<0.001). The agreement also increased when admission to an intensive care unit, to a general ward, and discharge from hospital were separately analysed. The availability of drug screening would have saved 21.7% of hospital admissions and 53.3% of high dependency and/or intensive care unit admissions. CONCLUSION: Comprehensive drug screening adds to decision making for patients attending an emergency department for suspected drug overdose, improving agreement among physicians on patients' disposal and potentially saving hospital resources.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Positive blood alcohol concentration and road accidents. A prospective study in an Italian emergency department.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To examine if a positive blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at the time of crash (>or=0.50 g/l), independently of any clinical evidence and laboratory results indicating acute alcohol intoxication, is associated with specific features of patients involved, specific types of injury, and characteristics of the accident. METHODS: In this prospective cohort study, the BAC was measured in adult patients who had been injured and who were admitted to an Italian emergency department within four hours after a road accident. Altogether 2354 trauma patients were included between January to December 1998 out of 2856 eligible subjects. RESULTS: BAC exceeded 0.50 g/l in 425 subjects (18.1%), but was in a toxic range (>1.00 g/l) in only 179 subjects (7.6%). BAC positivity was significantly more common in men, in young subjects, in subjects driving cars or trucks, and in persons involved in a crash during night time and at weekends. It was associated with higher trauma severity, but no differences were found in injury body distribution according to vehicle type. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, the risk of a positive BAC in injured patients at the time of crash was independently associated with night time (odds ratio: 3.48; 95% confidence intervals: 2.46 to 4.91), male sex (3.08 (2.36 to 4.01)), weekend nights (1.21 (1.05 to 1.41)), and age (0.92 (0.86 to 0.99) per decades). CONCLUSION: In injured patients after a road accident, a BAC at the time of crash in a non-toxic range (>or=0.50 g/l) is associated with specific characteristics of crash, as well as increased risk of higher trauma severity. More careful monitoring is needed in young men during weekend nights for highest risk of BAC positivity after a road accident.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2001

Blood alcohol concentration and management of road trauma patients in the emergency department.

BACKGROUND: The effects of blood alcohol on injury after crash are controversial, and safe limits are not settled. We examined if a positive blood alcohol concentration, even in a nontoxic range, affects management and outcome of injured patients after road crashes. METHODS: In this prospective cohort study, we recruited all adult subjects admitted to an emergency department within 4 hours after a road crash. Outcomes were mortality or expected permanent disability, and data related to patients' management. RESULTS: Alcohol-positive trauma patients were more frequently critical at admission (odds ratio [OR], 1.89; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.18-3.02), and had an increased risk of combined mortality or expected permanent disability (OR, 1.67; 95% CI, 1.08-2.58), need for intensive care (OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.01-3.46), surgery (OR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.37-2.66) and blood transfusions (OR, 2.09; 95% CI, 1.20-3.64), and acute medical complications (OR, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.33-2.85). All these events were explained by higher trauma severity. Only the risk of unsuspected injuries, diagnosed only at final evaluation, was independently associated with a positive blood alcohol concentration (OR, 4.98; 95% CI, 3.62-6.87), in addition to trauma severity and preexisting chronic conditions. Blood alcohol measurement significantly improved the accuracy in predicting unsuspected injuries, from 81.3% to 86.2%. CONCLUSION: In injured patients after a road crash, a positive blood alcohol concentration increases the chance that the final diagnosis will include more injuries than initially documented. More careful monitoring is needed in alcohol-positive trauma patients, independent of clinical status, injury severity, and overt symptoms of alcohol intoxication.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1991

Exocrine pancreatic involvement in Wegener's granulomatosis. A case report.

A rare case of exocrine pancreatic damage in a patient with Wegener's granulomatosis is reported. The pancreatic amino acid consumption test, a new tubeless technique, revealed exocrine pancreatic insufficiency before and after immunosuppressive therapy. The presence of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency in this patient raises the possibility of pancreatic involvement in Wegener's granulomatosis.

Aged↗
PubMed1978

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) through artificial endoscopic choledocho-duodenal fistula.

A new endoscopic method for retrograde cholangiography in cases of unsuccessful cannulation of the papilla is described. In 1 patient with obstructive jaundice, severe diabetes and a previous history of biliary pain traditional ERC failed. An endoscopic artificial choledocho-duodenal fistula by means of a diathermic cutter (needle type) was performed at the lower end of the intramural portion of the common bile duct for retrograde cholangiography. X-ray showed an obstruction of the common bile duct due to a carcinoma of the head of the pancreas. Complications did not occur during the procedure and in the post-operative period. It is concluded that the described method may be helpful when traditional selective ERC fails, moreover it may permit an endoscopic choledocho-duodenostomy for choledocholithiasis in cases of unsuccessful endoscopic papillo-sphincterotomy.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Adenomyoma of the stomach. Report of a case and review of the literature.

A case of adenomyoma of the prepyloric antrum and a review of the previous reported in the literature are presented. The tumor is composed of cysts and glandular structures lined by cuboidal-to-columnar epithelium surrounded by hypertrophic smooth muscle bundles. Furthermore, glands resembling Brunner's and/or heterotopic pancreatic tissue are present in some patients. The endoscopic characteristics of the lesion are discussed, as well as the diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

Adult↗