Biomedical subjects

Flavia Giorgino

Publications and source records attributed to Flavia Giorgino.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Favorable response to high-dose interferon-alpha in idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome with restrictive cardiomyopathy--case report and literature review.

The idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome is characterized by a prolonged overproduction of eosinophils of unknown cause in addition to specific organ damage due to eosinophil-derivated protein toxicity. Its prognosis is correlated with heart involvement that results in a restrictive cardiomyopathy. This is frequently biventricular. Isolated left ventricular infiltration has rarely been reported. The authors report a case of idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome with cardiac involvement obliterating the left ventricular cavity with a favorable clinical outcome following a combination therapy with interferon-alpha, hydroxyurea and prednisone. Data from other studies dealing with the treatment of idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome with interferon-alpha are reviewed and discussed.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Salmonella enteritidis pericarditis: case report and review of the literature.

A 65-year-old male patient with primary idiopathic dermatomyositis and on regular immunosuppressive therapy was admitted to our Department for fever and dyspnea. A diagnosis of hemorrhagic Salmonella enteritidis pericarditis was made. Treatment necessitated aggressive medical/surgical supervision. A review of the pertinent literature revealed that during the last decade Salmonella enteritidis has been identified as the most frequent agent of pericarditis caused by Salmonella species apart from Salmonella typhi. This, possibly as a consequence of the widespread contamination of poultry foods by this Salmonella species and/or owing to a possible peculiar affinity of Salmonella enteritidis to the pericardium.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Heart rate variability in cluster headache.

Eight patients with cluster headache were studied by evaluating the heart rate variability on the basis of 24-hour ECG monitoring performed during attacks (critic periods) to demonstrate if any imbalance of the autonomic nervous system was present and to determine its temporal correlation, if any, with the attack. The same monitoring allowed us to compare the patients' data during headache-free periods (intercritic periods) with those of normal controls. Our investigation demonstrated a severe sympathovagal imbalance during spontaneous attacks: the parasympathetic drive is at once increased at the onset with a mild reduction of the sympathetic drive, and all these modifications slowly disappear at the end of each attack. Comparison of the average low-frequency and high-frequency values during intercritic periods showed a significant reduction in the low-frequency values in patients, even when the low-frequency/high-frequency ratio was normal. This is highly suggestive of the presence of an autonomic nervous system dysfunction.

Adult↗