Asociación Mexicana de Hepatología A.C. Guía Clínica de Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection continues to be a worldwide public health problem. In Mexico, at least three million adults are estimated to have acquired hepatitis B (total hepatitis B core antibody [anti-HBc]-positive), and of those, 300,000 active carriers (hepatitis B surface antigen [HBsAg]-positive) could require treatment. Because HBV is preventable through vaccination, its universal application should be emphasized. HBV infection is a major risk factor for developing hepatocellular carcinoma. Semi-annual liver ultrasound and serum alpha-fetoprotein testing favor early detection of that cancer and should be carried out in all patients with chronic HBV infection, regardless of the presence of advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis. Currently, nucleoside/nucleotide analogues that have a high barrier to resistance are the first-line therapies.     

Situación de la ecografía en la reumatología española 2012

ObjectiveTo know the situation of ultrasound in Spanish rheumatology.MethodsA National survey addressed to all rheumatology units in hospitals with at least 200 beds. The questionnaire studied: a) the availability and the model of the ultrasound equipment, b) the degree of training, c) the purpose and areas of ultrasound examination, d) the usefulness, and e) the relevance of ultrasound in the training of residents.Results169 units of the 234 surveyed physicians answered the questionnaire. The availability of ultrasound equipment was high (90%), 38.7% of rheumatologists use ultrasound, although half of the units had a rheumatologist especially dedicated to performing them. Training plans have enabled the incorporation of ultrasound, but there are areas that could be improved. The utility in routine clinical practice was scored at 7.8 (0-10), and ultrasound was integrated in the diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. There is a broad consensus on the need to include ultrasound in the training of residents. Administration is adding ultrasound to the portfolio of specialty services.ConclusionsIn just 15 years, ultrasound has become available in 90% of rheumatology units from being previously inexistent. Its use is extensive, integrated into clinical practice and linked to the decision making processes. Training plans have been effective, but areas for improvement were identified, and there is a broad consensus on the need to integrate ultrasound in residents’ training.     

Cirugía torácica 2009

Started with tuberculosis and developed in parallel with smoking and cancer and under the protection of anaesthesia, thoracic surgery appeared in the 1980's as a specialty with a difficult long-term survival.However, with the development of lung transplant, tracheal surgery, the appearance of video-assisted thoracic surgery, along with the confirmation that despite the excellent progress of chemoradiotherapy, surgery continues to be the best option for curing lung cancer, means that it is currently a specialty of great growth and a wider scope in the future.     

Epidemiología molecular de la tuberculosis

The application of genotyping tools allowed us to discriminate between the Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates obtained in the laboratory. The differentiation between single strains opened the door to molecular epidemiology studies, which had helped us to progress in our knowledge of how this pathogen is transmitted in the progressively more complex socio-epidemiological scenario. The genetic stability of this microorganism led to develop specific methodologies, which are thoroughly revised in this chapter. In addition to their application in epidemiology, we review, how they can offer a response to different diagnostic and clinical challenges. Finally, we focus on describing the novel genomic revolution we are experiencing in the analysis of tuberculosis, the methodology in which it is based and the novel possibilities it offers, including new routes of integrating both the molecular and genomic languages in innovative post-genomic proposals, better suited to our real-life context.     

Myo-Spain: Registro de pacientes con miopatía inflamatoria idiopática de España. Metodología

ObjectivesTo describe the methods of the Spanish Registry of patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) (Myo-Spain), as well as its strengths and limitations. The main objective of the project is to analyse the evolution and clinical management of a cohort of patients with IIM.MethodsObservational, longitudinal, ambispective and multicentre study of a cohort of patients with IIM seen in rheumatology units in Spain. All patients with a diagnosis of IMM will be included in the regular follow-up of the participating centres, regardless of age on initiation of the process. Incident cases will be all patients who at the beginning of the study have been diagnosed for less than 12 months and prevalent cases for more than 12 months. The registry will include data from the visit at baseline, one year and two years. Socio-demographic, clinical, analytical variables, complications, comorbidities, association with other rheumatic diseases, hospital admissions, mortality and treatments will be collected. In addition, indices, scales and questionnaires of activity, muscle involvement, damage, disability, and quality of life will be determined. The recruitment period will be 23 months. The purpose is to obtain a cohort of 400 patients with IMM.ConclusionsMyo-Spain registry provides the opportunity to develop a cohort of incident and prevalent patients with IMM in Spain. Myo-Spain will be able to assess in detail the clinical characteristics of the disease at different times. The comprehensive information collected during the visits is expected to provide a broad source of data for future analysis.     

Revista del a?o de Archivos de Neumología en neumología intervencionista,enfermedades intersticiales y trasplante pulmonar

A review has been made of original articles on invasive pneumology techniques, interstitial diseases and lung transplantation, published in the Archivos de Bronconeumología during the year 2008. We have selected the publication by Martínez-Olondrins et al on the mediastinal staging of bronchogenic carcinoma by «blind» transbronchial needle aspiration to highlight the role of this simple, safe and cost-effective technique at a time when aspiration by ultrasound-guided bronchoscopy is profiled as an alternative to staging by mediastinoscopy. Besides its usefulness in the study of lymph nodes, transbronchial needle aspiration increases the overall performance of bronchoscopy by 20%, which means that it should be considered as a basic tool in the study of lung cancer. We also comment on the work by Galvis-Caravajal et al, who describe percutaneous radiofrequency as an alternative to radiotherapy in small lung or metastasic tumours.In diffuse interstitial disease, Morell et al analysed the diagnostic methods in 500 patients with this clinical-radiological presentation in which a definitive diagnosis was achieved in 85%, with 25% of them being obtained by non-invasively. Baloira et al analysed the characteristics of 19 patients with desquamative interstitial pneumonia and respiratory bronchiolitis associated-interstitial lung disease obtained from the National register of Interstitial Diseases.     

Novedades en cardiología clínica: nuevos enfoques de viejos retos

This article provides cardiologists with a broad overview of recent advances in clinical cardiology that could affect their daily practice in the near future. It discusses new ways of interacting with primary care physicians, the most recent findings on the remote monitoring of chronic disease, and the latest publications on the drugs used in routine clinical practice. The article ends with a summary of the work carried out by the Clinical Cardiology Section of the Spanish Society of Cardiology during the last year.     

Actualización en cardiología intervencionista

This article contains a review of the most important studies on interventional cardiology reported in either publications or presentations. In the area of coronary interventions, ST-elevation myocardial infarction continues to take center place: recent studies have confirmed the importance of timely intervention and the safety of drug-eluting stents. The numerous studies that have compared different generations of drugeluting stents indicate that there has been a steady improvement in safety and efficacy. In addition, the use of stents in the left main coronary artery and in multivessel disease have also been investigated in major studies. Of the different intracoronary diagnostic techniques, optical coherence tomography is highlighted by this review, particularly for its use in the study of drug-eluting stents. There is increasing interest in the percutaneous treatment of structural heart disease, specifically percutaneous aortic valve implantation, especially following the publication of the first randomized trial, which produced encouraging results.