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 170,190 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Individuals who survive an acute myocardial infarction (MI) have up to a ninefold greater risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality compared with the general population. The modification of traditional coronary risk factors, including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, tobacco use, and diabetes mellitus, constitutes one of the cornerstones of management after acute MI. Therapies aimed at reversing the pathophysiologic disorders that lead to endothelial dysfunction, thrombosis, and atherosclerotic plaque instability may improve the prognosis for patients after acute MI. Aggressive risk stratification diagnostic testing can identify patients at the highest risk for adverse events. Prior to hospital discharge, patients should have an evaluation of left ventricular systolic function, an assessment for the risk for residual myocardial ischemia, and a clinical assessment of the risk for serious ventricular arrhythmias. An array of pharmaceutical agents is available for the secondary prevention of MI, including antiplatelet agents, beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and statins.
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PMID:Management After Myocardial Infarction. 1179 27

The authors describe five pediatric cases of excessive pemoline ingestion. Based on their experience compared with previously reported cases in the literature, they describe the clinical presentation and rational treatment recommendations for acute pemoline ingestion. Overall, patients experienced a relatively benign clinical course following pemoline ingestion. Symptoms of pemoline ingestion appear to be primarily an accentuation of the drug's pharmacological effects on the central nervous and cardiovascular systems with sinus tachycardia, hypertension, hyperactivity, choreoathetoid movements, and hallucinations being most commonly observed. These findings are consistent with previously reported cases. Possible rhabdomyolysis manifested by evaluation of serum CPK was also observed in 3 of 4 patients in whom this laboratory parameter was measured and appears to be a common finding in acute pemoline poisoning. After acute ingestion, symptoms occurred within 6 hours, lasting up to 48 hours in all patients. Gastric lavage and/or activated charcoal would be effective decontamination measures, whereas ipecac-induced emesis should be avoided after massive ingestion due to the possibility of seizures. Aggressive use of a benzodiazepine appears a reasonable first choice to treat associated involuntary movements, tremor, hyperactivity, irritability, and agitation. Phenothiazines or butyrophenones may also be used especially for serious life-threatening symptoms, including hypertensive crisis and severe hyperthermia, although these serious complications of stimulant overdose have not been reported after pemoline ingestion. If a patient should experience pemoline-induced hypertensive crisis, individual dose titration of labetalol or sodium nitroprusside would appear reasonable pharmacologic approaches for rapid stabilization of blood pressure.
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PMID:Pemoline ingestion in children: a report of five cases and review of the literature. 1186 63

No comprehensive series has evaluated the histologic features of pheochromocytoma to separate benign from malignant pheochromocytoma by histomorphologic parameters only. Fifty histologically malignant and 50 histologically benign pheochromocytomas of the adrenal gland were retrieved from the files of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. The patients included 43 females and 57 males, with an age range of 3-81 years (mean 46.7 years). Patients usually experienced hypertension (n = 79 patients). The mean tumor size was 7.2 cm (weight was 222 g). Histologically, the cases of malignant pheochromocytomas of the adrenal gland more frequently demonstrated invasion (vascular [score = 1], capsular [score = 1], periadrenal adipose tissue [score = 2]), large nests or diffuse growth (score = 2), focal or confluent necrosis (score = 2), high cellularity (score = 2), tumor cell spindling (score = 2), cellular monotony (score = 2), increased mitotic figures (>3/10 high power fields; score = 2), atypical mitotic figures (score = 2), profound nuclear pleomorphism (score = 1), and hyperchromasia (score = 1) than the benign tumors. A Pheochromocytoma of the Adrenal gland Scaled Score (PASS) weighted for these specific histologic features can be used to separate tumors with a potential for a biologically aggressive behavior (PASS > or =4) from tumors that behave in a benign fashion (PASS <4). The pathologic features that are incorporated into the PASS correctly identified tumors with a more aggressive biologic behavior. Application of these criteria to a large cohort of cases will help to elucidate the accuracy of this grading system in clinical practice.
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PMID:Pheochromocytoma of the Adrenal gland Scaled Score (PASS) to separate benign from malignant neoplasms: a clinicopathologic and immunophenotypic study of 100 cases. 1197 86

The abuse of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), flunitrazepam, ketamine hydrochloride, and gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) is discussed. Club drugs are chemical substances used recreationally in social settings. Use is increasingly frequent among young people, especially during all-night dance parties. All four agents have been classified as controlled substances. MDMA ("ecstasy") is available as a tablet, a capsule, and a powder; formulations may contain many adulterants. MDMA increases the release of neurotransmitters. The desired effects are euphoria, a feeling of intimacy, altered visual perception, enhanced libido, and increased energy. The most common adverse effects are agitation, anxiety, tachycardia, and hypertension. More serious adverse effects include arrhythmias, hyperthermia, and rhabdomyolysis. Flunitrazepam is a potent benzodiazepine. At higher doses, the drug can cause lack of muscle control and loss of consciousness. Other adverse effects are hypotension, dizziness, confusion, and occasional aggression. Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic used primarily in veterinary practice. It may be injected, swallowed, snorted, or smoked. Like phencyclidine, ketamine interacts with the N-methyl-D-aspartate channel. Analgesic effects occur at lower doses and amnestic effects at higher doses. Cardiovascular and respiratory toxicity may occur, as well as confusion, hostility, and delirium. GHB, a naturally occurring fatty acid derivative of gamma-aminobutyric acid, was introduced as a dietary supplement. Increasing doses progressively produce amnesia, drowsiness, dizziness, euphoria, seizures, coma, and death. Flunitrazepam, ketamine, and GHB have been used to facilitate sexual assault. Supportive care is indicated for most cases of club drug intoxication. The increasing abuse of MDMA, flunitrazepam, ketamine hydrochloride, and GHB, particularly by young people in social settings such as clubs, should put health care professionals on guard to recognize and manage serious reactions.
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PMID:Club drugs: methylenedioxymethamphetamine, flunitrazepam, ketamine hydrochloride, and gamma-hydroxybutyrate. 1206 92

Early intervention studies have challenged the notion that lowering blood pressure is beneficial in women with mild hypertension. In contrast, results of more recent trials have clearly shown that treatment of hypertension is of benefit in women, particularly in elderly women. Aggressive treatment of hypertension is advisable in this subset of the population that is exposed to a greater risk of hypertension-related cardiovascular diseases because of the greater prevalence of hypertension and of its inadequate treatment. Hypertensive women are preferentially treated with diuretics but the rationale for this therapeutic selection is unclear. Calcium antagonists, beta-blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors exert an antihypertensive action similar to that of diuretics, but their use is limited by the adverse effects that are more frequent in women than in men. Angiotensin II receptor antagonists, being effective in lowering blood pressure and particularly well tolerated, may represent, in the future, the first-line drugs for treating hypertension in women.
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PMID:Treating hypertension in women: open-ended questions and therapeutic options. 1218 51

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in patients with type 2 diabetes. The hyperglycaemia that characterises this disease is often accompanied by a cluster of other risk factors, such as dyslipidaemia and hypertension, and effective management of the patient with diabetes requires treatment directed at correcting all of the abnormalities that increase cardiovascular risk. Approximately 90% of patients with diabetes have type 2 disease, and dyslipidaemia in these patients is characterised by elevated plasma triglycerides and very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL), by reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and by a shift in LDL distribution towards small, dense particles. All of these lipid abnormalities are important risk factors for CHD. Retrospective subgroup analysis and prospective studies have shown that lipid-lowering therapy can slow the progression of atherosclerosis and reduce the risk for cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes, and both the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III and American Diabetes Association have established aggressive treatment goals for lipid-lowering therapy in these patients. All of the major medications used to treat hyperlipidaemia in other populations (niacin, fibrates, bile acid sequestrants and statins) have been used effectively to improve the plasma lipid profile in patients with diabetes. Statins are generally accepted as first-line treatment for these patients, although fibrates also have an important role in patients with pronounced hypertriglyceridaemia. Statins significantly reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in a broad range of patients. These agents also have substantial effects on plasma triglycerides and, in patients with hypertriglyceridaemia, lower very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C) to approximately the same extent as LDL-C. In this regard, the new agent rosuvastatin has been shown, in recent trials, to produce greater decreases in these lipoproteins than currently marketed compounds. Aggressive use of agents that attack the lipid abnormalities characteristic of patients with type 2 diabetes has the potential to significantly reduce CHD risk in these individuals.
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PMID:Management of hypercholesterolaemia in the patient with diabetes. 1229 6

Diabetes is a chronic illness that requires continuing medical care and patient self-management education to prevent acute complications and to reduce the risk of long-term complications. Diabetic people have cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors comparable to those of nondiabetics who have had a myocardial infarction or stroke. Physiologic changes in diabetic hypertensive people include endothelial dysfunction, altered platelet activity, and microalbuminuria, all of which may increase coronary heart disease risk. Hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia have been shown to effect physiologic changes in the vasculature; therefore, establishing normoglycemia, reducing cholesterol levels, and controlling blood pressure are the primary and initial goals in the management of diabetic hypertensive patients. The atherosclerotic risk is greatest in poorly controlled patients, possibly because of associated hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia. Aggressive management of risk factors such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, and platelet dysfunction in diabetics has been shown to reduce morbidity and mortality in prospective randomized controlled clinical trials. In this article we review the impact of diabetes mellitus on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
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PMID:Diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. 1242 9

Aggressive treatment of hypertension is effective in reducing both microvascular and macrovascular complications in type 2 diabetes, and target BP less than 130/85 or 130/80 mmHg are now recommended. Inhibition of renin angiotensin aldosterone system (RAAS) plays an essential role in the treatment of hypertension and diabetes-related complications. Studies focusing on renal end-points suggest that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-I) are more effective than other traditional agents in reducing the onset of clinical proteinuria in both type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients with incipient nephropathy, mainly in normotensive ones (secondary prevention). However, several small trials in type 2 diabetic patients with overt nephropathy (tertiary prevention) failed to demonstrate a specific renoprotective role for ACE-I, at variance with type 1 diabetes. Three recent large trials address the question of whether angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB) prevent the development of clinical proteinuria or delay the progression of nephropathy in type 2 diabetes. The IRMA study showed that irbesartan is more effective than conventional therapy in preventing the development of clinical proteinuria and in favoring the regression to normoalbuminuria for comparable BP control in patients with incipient nephropathy. The IDNT and RENAAL trials showed that ARB are more effective than traditional antihypertensive therapies in reducing progression toward end-stage renal failure (ESRF) in type 2 diabetic patients with overt nephropathy independently of changes in BP. Moreover, a reduction in hospitalizations for heart failure was demonstrated for ARB-treated patients compared with placebo. Furthermore, the LIFE study showed that losartan is more effective than conventional therapy in reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in a cohort of diabetic patients with hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy. In conclusion, ARB seem to be effective in both preventing renal damage and reducing progression toward ESRF in type 2 diabetic patients. Thus, the guidelines for the prevention and treatment of diabetic nephropathy are now changed. In type 1 diabetes ACE-I are the first-choice drug; in type 2 diabetes, ARB are considered first-choice drugs in secondary prevention as well as ACE-I and have been now elected the unique first-choice drug in tertiary prevention of ESRF. Finally, ARB should be considered as the first-choice drug in cardiovascular prevention too, as well as ACE-I.
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PMID:Renal and cardiovascular protection in type 2 diabetes mellitus: angiotensin II receptor blockers. 1246 18

Calcium channel antagonists are used primarily for the treatment of hypertension and tachyarrhythmias. Overdose of calcium channel antagonists can be lethal. Calcium channel antagonists act at the L-type calcium channels primarily in cardiac and vascular smooth muscle preventing calcium influx into cells with resultant decreases in vascular tone and cardiac inotropy and chronotropy. The L-type calcium channel is a complex structure and is thus affected by a large number of structurally diverse antagonists. In the setting of overdose, patients may experience vasodilatation and bradycardia leading to a shock state. Patients may also be hyperglycaemic and acidotic due to the blockade of L-type calcium channels in the pancreatic islet cells that affect insulin secretion. Aggressive therapy is warranted in the setting of toxicity. Gut decontamination with charcoal, or whole bowel irrigation or multiple-dose charcoal in the setting of extended-release products is indicated. Specific antidotes include calcium salts, glucagon and insulin. Calcium salts may be given in bolus doses or may be employed as a continuous infusion. Care should be exercised to avoid the administration of calcium in the setting of concomitant digoxin toxicity. Insulin administration has been used effectively to increase cardiac inotropy and survival. The likely mechanism involves a shift to carbohydrate metabolism in the setting of decreased availability of carbohydrates due to decreased insulin secretion secondary to blockade of calcium channels in pancreatic islet cells. Glucose should be administered as well to maintain euglycaemia. Supportive care including the use of phosphodiesterase inhibitors, adrenergic agents, cardiac pacing, balloon pump or extracorporeal bypass is frequently indicated if antidotal therapy is not effective. Careful evaluation of asymptomatic patients, including and electrocardiogram and a period of observation, is indicated. Patients ingesting a nonsustained-release product should be observed in a monitored setting for 12 hours, while those who ingest a sustained-release preparation should be observed for no less than 24 hours. Charcoal should be given to the asymptomatic patient with a history of calcium channel antagonist overdose.
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PMID:Management of calcium channel antagonist overdose. 1253 24

The treatment of patients with stable angina has three goals: 1) minimize or eliminate ischemia (silent or symptomatic), 2) reduce morbidity, and 3) decrease mortality. Surgical and now angiographic revascularization procedures are increasingly popular approaches to the management of these patients. The results of randomized, controlled trials suggest that revascularization may not improve survival, but is useful to improve symptoms and exercise capacity. However, these trials are of limited value because they do not reflect current state of the art revascularization techniques or optimal medical management. Because many of these studies were conducted more than a decade ago, patients were recruited before the survival benefits of antiplatelet therapy, b-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and aggressive lipid lowering were accepted. The Clinical Outcomes Utilizing Revascularization and Aggressive Drug Evaluation (COURAGE) trial should help us determine the best approach in these patients. It is a multicenter, randomized trial comparing aggressive medical therapy with aggressive medical therapy with current state of the art percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for patients with stable coronary disease. The COURAGE protocol targets global risk reduction emphasizing 1) lifestyle modification, 2) maximal use of drugs to lower blood pressure to Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC) VI goals, 3) maximal use of drugs to lower cholesterol to below National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III goals for secondary prevention, and 4) maximal use of drug to alleviate anginal symptoms with or without the best interventional devices to conduct PCI.
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PMID:Aggressive medical management of coronary artery disease versus mechanical revascularization. 1257 97


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