Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0004153 (atherosclerosis)
 77,401 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

COPD is a highly prevalent disease and one of the most common reasons for hospitalization in Internal Medicine departments. COPD also has significant associated morbidity and mortality. In recent years, multiorgan clinical ultrasonography (pulmonary, cardiac and vascular) has emerged as a tool of considerable usefulness in managing patients with COPD in numerous situations, including the differential diagnosis of dyspnoea of uncertain origin, the assessment of the aetiology in episodes of exacerbation, detecting concomitant heart failure or associated pulmonary hypertension and as support in managing cardiovascular risk factors such as subclinical atherosclerosis. This study summarises the most important evidence regarding this approach and proposes future scenarios for the use of ultrasonography that will help improve the diagnosis, prognostic estimations and the selection of the optimal treatment for this type of patient.
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PMID:Clinical ultrasonography in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 3144 7

Chronic Mesenteric ischemia is an episodic hypoperfusion of small intestine due to atherosclerotic narrowing of mesenteric vessels. Typically, patients report postprandial epigastric pain. The association of abdominal pain with eating results in fear of eating and weight loss. Some patients present atypically with nausea, vomiting and/or GI bleeding likely from gut ischemia. We present here a case of 67-yearold male with history of COPD, Coronary artery disease and atrial fibrillation presented with hematemesis and black stools for one day. Patient reports no abdominal pain or weight loss. He was dizzy and nauseous. He was vitally stable and physical exam including abdominal exam was unremarkable except for the rectal exam which revealed black stools. Investigations revealed Haemoglobin of 16.1 and hematocrit of 45, WBCs of 34000 with 83% neutrophils and bicarbonate of 20. Patient underwent EGD for localizing the site of bleeding and showed stomach lumen completely filled with thrombus which prevented the accurate assessment if gastric mucosa. Repeat EGD was recommended and it revealed gangrenous appearing gastritis throughout with multiple clean ulcers which raised the suspicion of vascular compromise. CT angiography abdomen revealed complete proximal occlusion of Superior Mesenteric artery and near complete occlusion of celiac artery. He underwent successful SMA bypass from left iliac to mid SMA with PTFE graft. Symptoms of mesenteric ischemia can be non-specific and can mimic other aetiologies. Clinicians should consider this diagnosis in elderly patient with risk factors of atherosclerosis as early diagnosis reduces complication associated with serious life-threatening disease.
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PMID:Gangrenous Gastritis: Unusual Cause Of Upper Gi Bleeding. 3193 27

Multimorbidity is increasingly common and current healthcare strategies are not always aligned to treat this complex burden of disease. COPD, type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and cardiovascular disease, especially atherosclerosis, occur more frequently together than expected, even when risk factors such as smoking, obesity, inactivity and poverty are considered. This supports the possibility of unifying mechanisms that contribute to the pathogenesis or progression of each condition.Neutrophilic inflammation is causally associated with COPD, and increasingly recognised in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and T2D, potentially forming an aetiological link between conditions. This link might reflect an overspill of inflammation from one affected organ into the systemic circulation, exposing all organs to an increased milieu of proinflammatory cytokines. Additionally, increasing evidence supports the involvement of other processes in chronic disease pathogenesis, such as cellular senescence or changes in cellular phenotypes.This review explores the current scientific evidence for inflammation, cellular ageing and cellular processes, such as reactive oxygen species production and phenotypic changes in the pathogenesis of COPD, T2D and atherosclerosis; highlighting common mechanisms shared across these diseases. We identify emerging therapeutic approaches that target these areas, but also where more work is still required to improve our understanding of the underlying cellular biology in a multimorbid disease setting.
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PMID:Shared mechanisms of multimorbidity in COPD, atherosclerosis and type-2 diabetes: the neutrophil as a potential inflammatory target. 3219 15

The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of FDG-PET/CT imaging to detect pulmonary artery atherosclerosis and to assess the correlation between pulmonary function testing (PFT) results and the overall pulmonary artery metabolic activity. Twenty-nine subjects between the ages of 57-75, with a history of clinical suspicion of lung cancer, underwent PET/CT imaging at 3 hours following the administration of FDG. Global FDG uptake in the central pulmonary artery branches was determined. Average SUVmax, SUVmean, and tissue-to-background (TBR) mean and maximum were calculated within each vessel. The degree of FDG uptake in non-COPD and COPD patients and its correlation with PFT were examined in this population. Furthermore, the results from patients were compared with those of 10 age-matched controls. Based on these data, the number of lesions with varying degrees of FDG uptake among patients was higher than that in the normal control group. However, there was no statistically significant difference in average SUVmax, average SUVmean, average TBRmax, or average TBRmean between non-COPD and COPD patients. This indicates that the atherosclerotic process is focal and is not diffuse in nature. Although the global quantitative data generated did not reveal evidence for diffuse artery inflammation in patients with COPD, qualitative examination showed clear-cut evidence for focally increased FDG uptake in the pulmonary arteries. This observation indicates the presence of atherosclerotic plaques which are prevalent in patients with COPD. Future prospective studies with larger numbers of subjects are needed to confirm this important observation.
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PMID:Detection of pulmonary artery atherosclerosis by FDG-PET/CT: a new observation. 3270 3


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