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Biomedical subjects

G Cinotti

Publications and source records attributed to G Cinotti.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of enalapril plus hydrochlorothiazide plus methyldopa vs standard triple therapy in the treatment of moderate to severe hypertension: results from a multicentre study.

We report the results of a randomized, double-blind, parallel group multicentre study in 120 patients with moderate to severe hypertension, comparing two different types of antihypertensive treatment: a) the standard 'triple therapy' with hydrochlorothiazide, propranolol and hydralazine, and b) the combination of an ACE inhibitor, enalapril with hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) and methyldopa. The two regimens caused similar degrees of blood pressure reductions. The only significant difference between the two groups was heart rate due to the bradycardiac effect of propranolol in the group treated with the standard 'triple therapy'. Only 3.4% of patients receiving the regimen of enalapril, HCTZ and methyldopa were withdrawn from the study for adverse reactions, against 10% of patients on HCTZ, propranolol and hydralazine. Four cases of hypokalaemia in the enalapril group and 19 in the propranolol group were reported: so enalapril seemed to ameliorate the hypokalaemic effect of HCTZ. The overall analysis of the study results shows that the treatment based on enalapril, HCTZ and methyldopa is as efficient and better tolerated than the established regimen of HCTZ, propranolol and hydralazine.

Blood Pressure↗

Plasma renin activity does not predict the antihypertensive efficacy of chlorthalidone.

It has been established that angiotensin II stimulation may limit the antihypertensive potential of diuretic therapy in some patients. It is less clear, however, whether renin-angiotensin II stimulation is the cause of the flat blood pressure dose-response relationship to diuretics. To investigate this, 75 out-patients with essential hypertension were treated with chlorthalidone 12.5, 25 or 50 mg o.d. for 3 weeks, in a double-blind, placebo controlled cross-over study. Chlorthalidone significantly reduced blood pressure in all the groups, a plateau being reached at 25 mg o.d. Similarly, plasma renin activity was increased by each dose level of chlorthalidone, but it showed a different trend, being increased to a comparable extent at 12.5 mg and 25 mg o.d., and still higher at 50 mg o.d. Thus, greater stimulation of renin was coincident with the levelling of the blood pressure response to chlorthalidone. However no significant correlation was found between interindividual plasma renin activity and change in blood pressure, either in the entire series, or in each treatment subset. The data suggest overall that renin stimulation may influence the characteristic dose-hypotensive response relationship to diuretic agents in antihypertensive therapy, but it is unlikely that measurement of individual plasma renin activity will provide an useful guide to the optimal dose of a diuretic agents.

Adult↗

Multicentre comparison of the antihypertensive effect of acebutolol and hydrochlorothiazide in uncomplicated mild-moderate hypertension in the elderly.

To evaluate the efficacy of acebutolol, 400-600 mg/day in elderly hypertensive patients, and to compare it with hydrochlorothiazide 25-50 mg/day, 45 patients with mild-moderate uncomplicated hypertension were treated for 6 weeks in a multicentre, single-blind, randomized, crossover trial. Acebutolol decreased supine systolic blood pressure from 186.5 to 162.7 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure from 107.4 to 92.4 mmHg. Hydrochlorothiazide decreased systolic blood pressure from 185.0 to 166.4 and diastolic blood pressure from 107.2 to 96.4. There was no difference between the effects of acebutolol and hydrochlorothiazide on blood pressure during the trial. Both drugs proved to be safe and effective antihypertensive agents, provided the major contraindications for their use were taken into account. Beta-blockade by acebutolol was highly effective in treating mild-moderate arterial hypertension in the elderly.

Acebutolol↗

Anterior shoulder dislocation in adolescents.

Of 780 patients treated for primary anterior shoulder dislocations, 33 (4.2%) were aged 12 to 17 years at the time of the dislocation. We clinically evaluated 28 of these patients a mean of 7.1 years after the initial dislocation. All patients were radiographed, and 15 underwent magnetic resonance imaging or computed arthrotomography of the shoulder. The primary dislocation had been traumatic in 21 patients (75%) and atraumatic in 7 patients (25%). Recurrent dislocations had occurred in 24 cases (86%), the number of recurrences ranging from 1 to 30. In the group with traumatic primary dislocations, the rate of recurrences was 92% and the mean number of redislocations was 7 in the patients who had been 14 to 17 years of age at the time of the initial injury, whereas the corresponding figures were 33% and 0.3 in the patients who had been 13 years of age or less at the time of the initial injury. Imaging studies showed a Bankart lesion in 80% of cases; each of these patients had had a traumatic primary dislocation and was 14 to 17 years old at the time of injury. During the follow-up period, operative stabilizing procedures had been performed in 7 cases. At follow-up evaluations, all nonoperated patients showed clinical evidence of anterior or multidirectional instability of the involved shoulder; of the operated patients, each of those with traumatic primary dislocations reported no recurrences and had a satisfactory result, whereas both of the patients with atraumatic primary dislocations continued to have subluxation and/or dislocations of the operated shoulder. In the 14- to 17-year-old adolescents with traumatic primary dislocations in whom imaging studies show Bankart lesions, there is an indication for prophylactic stabilizing surgery at the time of the initial injury.

Adolescent↗

Classification and pathomorphology of lumbar stenosis.

A classification system based on pathologic anatomy distinguishing between three types of lumbar stenosis is reported: stenosis of the spinal canal, isolated stenosis of the nerve root canal, and stenosis of the intervertebral foramen. Each type of stenosis is classified as primary, secondary, combined or mixed. Pathomorphological pictures which may represent the vertebral bodies, the neural arch and the discoligamentous structures in the various forms of stenosis, among which degenerative spondylolisthesis, are examined. Finally, the authors describe the pathologic modifications occurring in the nervous structures as the possible consequence of a lumbar stenosis.

Humans↗