Is troponin I useful for predicting in-hospital risk for unstable angina patients in a community hospital? Results of a prospective study

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Before including troponin I detection in the daily practice of our hospital we performed a prospective study to determine its real usefulness and to establish the best cut-off point. METHODS: We studied 82 consecutive patients admitted with unstable angina to a community hospital. Troponin I was determined (> 10 h after chest pain). Patients were referred to a tertiary hospital for catheterization/revascularization if clinical events developed. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients (31%) suffered events during admission: recurrent angina in 23 cases (28%); heart failure in 5 (6%); exitus in 3 (4%); myocardial infarction in 1 (1%). The cut-off point for troponin I that best predicted events was 0.1 ng/ml. Patients with troponin I > 0.1 (34 patients, 42%) experienced more events [47 vs. 19%; OR = 3.8 (1.4-10.4); p = 0.01] and had higher rates of recurrent angina (42 vs. 19%), heart failure (12 vs. 2%) and exitus (9 vs 0%). Patients with ECG changes and troponin I > 0.1 showed a significantly higher percentage of events (63%) than those with ECG changes alone (23%) or troponin I > 0.1 alone (15%) or those without ECG changes and troponin I < 0.1 (17%) (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Troponin I elevation is useful for predicting in-hospital risk for unstable angina patients admitted to a community hospital. A low cut-off value (0.1 ng/ml) predicts events. The association of ECG changes and high troponin I identifies a population at very high risk; however, the absence of both variables in patients with a diagnosis of unstable angina does not preclude the development of events.     

The role of parenteral nutrition

Patients with acute leukemia who undergo hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) are susceptible to malnutrition caused by several factors including intensive cytotoxic therapy. This paper discusses the significance of malnutrition in these patients and provides an overview of nutrition therapy by the oral, enteral, and parenteral routes. The goal is to investigate whether the use of parenteral nutrition (PN) produces improved clinical outcomes in patients with acute leukemia and to identify criteria for the selection of patients most likely to benefit from this therapy. Although PN may be appropriate for patients suffering from complications such as graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and mucositis, the data available at this time do not support PN as first-line therapy for all recipients of HSCT.     

Prognostic factors in localized invasive cutaneous melanoma: high value of mitotic rate, vascular invasion and microscopic satellitosis

The aim of this study was to determine independent clinical and pathological prognostic factors for overall and disease-free survival in Spanish melanoma patients. Eight hundred and twenty-three patients with localized melanoma and complete clinical and pathological information were evaluated. The age at diagnosis, gender, location, tumour thickness, invasion level, ulceration, histological subtype, inflammatory infiltrate, mitotic rate, vascular invasion, microscopic satellitosis, regression and cell type were all included. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed for overall and disease-free survival. Gender, histological subtype, tumour thickness, invasion level, ulceration, inflammatory infiltrate, microscopic satellitosis, vascular invasion and mitotic rate were related to overall and disease-free survival in univariate analysis. Age and location were only related to disease-free survival. Only tumour thickness, vascular invasion and gender exhibited independent significance for overall survival in multivariate analysis. For disease-free survival, tumour thickness, location, mitotic rate, vascular invasion and microscopic satellitosis were the sole independent factors. It can be concluded that the Breslow thickness remains the most significant prognostic factor for the survival of patients with localized cutaneous melanoma. Our results support the inclusion of microscopic satellitosis and vascular invasion in the current American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system, although further studies evaluating their separate influence are needed. Mitotic rate is confirmed as an objective and independent predictor of disease-free survival for melanoma patients that should be considered in further revisions of the mentioned staging system.     

Optical coherence tomography and confocal scanning laser tomography for assessment of macular edema

PURPOSE: To compare optical coherence tomography (OCT) and confocal scanning laser tomography (cSLT) for quantitative retinal thickness mapping of the macula and their ability to detect macular edema. DESIGN: Prospective, comparative, clinical observational study. METHODS: The study population of 138 eyes (97 patients) was divided into a study group consisting of 45 (32.6%) eyes with macular edema and a control group consisting of 93 (67.4%) eyes without macular edema. All patients underwent OCT and cSLT of the macula. Retinal thickness measurements obtained by OCT were compared with signal width and edema index, determined by cSLT. RESULTS: The OCT measurements and cSLT edema index were significantly (P <.001) correlated with each other. Correlation coefficients decreased (P <.001) with increasing diameter of the measurement circle. In the macular edema group, correlation coefficients were significantly (P <.001) higher than in the control group. To separate the study and control groups, receiver operator characteristic curves covered a larger area for OCT measurements than for cSLT measurements. Retinal thickness measurements and edema index correlate with visual acuity (correlation coefficient r = -.653 for OCT, r = -.608 for cSLT; P <.001). CONCLUSIONS: Macular edema can be quantitatively mapped by OCT and cSLT. The retinal thickness and edema index measurements correlate with visual acuity. The fast and standard examination modes of OCT give similar measurements. Both OCT and cSLT can differentiate between eyes with and without macular edema, with OCT showing a higher predictive value.     

Forced vergence fixation disparity parameters with and without a central fusion lock

The effect of a central fusion lock on forced vergence fixation disparity curve parameters, that is, magnitudes of fixation disparity and associated phoria, curve type and the central slope of the curve, was studied in 84 subjects because of ambiguity in the previous studies. It was found that the magnitudes of exo fixation disparity and exo associated phoria decreased significantly when they were measured with the central fusion lock. The central lock had no noticeable effect on the type of the curve, although, the central slope of the curve was flatter in the presence of the central lock.