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ObjectivesThis multicentre study aimed to investigate the overall mortality of combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) and to compare CPFE-SSc characteristics with those of other SSc subtypes (with interstitial lung disease—ILD, emphysema or neither).MethodsChest CTs, anamnestic data, immunological profile and pulmonary function tests of patients with SSc were retrospectively collected. Each chest CT underwent a semiquantitative assessment blindly performed by three radiologists. Patients were clustered in four groups: SSc-CPFE, SSc-ILD, SSc-emphysema and other-SSc (without ILD nor emphysema). The overall mortality of these groups was calculated by Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the stratified log-rank test; Kruskal-Wallis test, t-Student test and χ² test assessed the differences between groups. PResultsWe enrolled 470 patients (1959 patient-year); 15.5 % (73/470) died during the follow-up. Compared with the SSc-ILD and other-SSc, in SSc-CPFE there was a higher prevalence of males, lower anticentromere antibodies prevalence and a more reduced pulmonary function (pConclusionsCPFE increases the mortality risk in SSc along with a highly impaired lung function. These findings strengthen the importance to take into account emphysema in patients with SSc with ILD.

Background: Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) is the main cause of death in Systemic Sclerosis (SSc). Serious lung involvement increase the hospitalization rate and sometimes oxygen therapy is required. An prompt treatment in ILD-SSc patients is essential, but nowadays there is not a feasible method to identify patients with poor prognosis. Although chest Computed Tomography (CT) is the gold standard to detect ILD, there is no standardized assessment of its severity. Quantitative CT (QCT) is an innovative and operator independent method to assess ILD-SSc extent and severity. An increasing number of evidences confirm that QCT is extremely useful for detecting SSc-ILD with the worst prognosis. However is not well established if QCT can predict death or comorbidity associated to ILD. Objectives: The main aim of this study is to verify if QCT predict 8-years mortality or clinical worsening (i.e. hospitalization for respiratory complications or chronic oxygen therapy) in SSc. Methods: Consecutive SSc patients (according to ACR/EULAR classification criteria) from ten different centers underwent a chest CT. Their clinical history was carefully recorded in the following 96 months. A rheumatologist post-analyzed every CT with an open source DICOM viewer in order to obtain QCT indexes. Patients were clustered in two subgroups: according to QCT indexes’ cutoff previously found (see Ariani et al., 2017). The survival time of each patient was considered the time interval between the CT date and death, hospitalization related to lung worsening, beginning of chronic oxygen therapy or last medical examination Results: We enrolled 342 patients; during the 8-years follow-up 15.5% (53/342) died and 4,4% (15/342) had a clinical worsening. The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrates a worse survival in patients with QCT indexes above or below the previously observed cutoffs. (p References: The QCT indexes’ cutoffs previously found (see Ariani, et al., 2017) identify the SSc-ILD subjects with an high risk of 8-years mortality and comorbidity. These findings suggest that QCT could became a pivotal assessment in SSc management because its role in identifying patients with poor prognosis and who deserve an early aggressive treatment. Disclosure of Interest: None declared

Objective. In this multicentre study, we aimed to evaluate the capacity of a computer-assisted automated QCT method to identify patients with SSc-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) with high mortality risk according to validated composite clinical indexes (ILD-Gender, Age, Physiology index and du Bois index). Methods. Chest CT, anamnestic data and pulmonary function tests of 146 patients with SSc were retrospectively collected, and the ILD-Gender, Age, Physiology score and DuBois index were calculated. Each chest CT underwent an operator-independent quantitative assessment performed with a free medical image viewer (Horos). The correlation between clinical prediction models and QCT parameters was tested. A value of P

Purpose. Interstitial lung disease (ILD) related to systemic sclerosis (SSc) is assessed with pulmonary functional tests (PFTs) and semi-quantitative scores based on extent of ILD detectable on chest computed tomography (CT). CT quantitative indexes (QCTIs) are promising tools to assess extent of ILD. This study's aim is to evaluate the validity of QCTI compared with that of chest CT standard evaluation and PFTs. Moreover, QCTI differences between patients subgroups according to prognostic stratifications were investigated. Methods. ILD-SSc of patients from six rheumatological clinics was routinely assessed with chest CT and PFTs. Patients were clustered according to prognosis based on functional and/or radiological examinations. Finally, chest CTs were processed with OsiriX in order to obtain QCTI. Results. Two hundred fifty-seven SSc patients were enrolled. QCTI correlation between extent of ILD and PFTs range from - 0.60 to 0.58 and from - 0.54 to 0.52, respectively. The majority of QCTI have a different distribution in patients subgroups based on prognosis. Most of QCTI discriminate patients with an ILD severity leading to a poor prognosis. Conclusions. QCTI assessment of ILD-SSc is comparable to the evaluation based on chest CT and/or PFTs. QCTI values corresponding to severe ILD were identified. QCTIs are excellent candidates for a new and more reliable SSc-ILD assessment.

Background Quantitative Computed Tomography (QCT) is an innovative method to assess the severity of interstitial lung disease (ILD) related to systemic sclerosis (SSc). QCT is correlated to semi-quantitative radiological scores (SQs) and functional outcomes (e.g. FVC, DLco, oxygen desaturation after exercise) in SSc patients. However, the autoimmune profile can deeply influence the respiratory system9s involvement. Objectives The main aim of this study is to verify the correlation between SQs, FVC, DLco and QCT in SSc patients clustered according to their autoimmunity. Methods Three hundred three (303) SSc patients were enrolled and underwent functional and radiological assessment. Chest CTs of each patient were evaluated with both SQs and Horos (a software up to perform voxel-wise analysis) in order to obtain QCT indexes. Results Patients were divided in three groups (94 with ACA, 93 with antiScl70, 116 with other autoantibodies). QCT indexes taken into account were kurtosis (Kurt), skewness (Skew), Standard Deviation (SDev), Mean Lung Attenuation (MLA) and fibrosis ratio (FR). Except for the last one, all QCT indexes were assessed both in the parenchymal (pQCT) and in the whole lung (tQCT). The statistically significant (p In ACA patients there are not correlations between DLco and QCT indexes. Conclusions Our results confirm that the majority of QCT indexes are correlated to SQS and functional outcomes. The strongest correlation coefficients were in the antiScl70 subgroup while the weakest ones were in ACA patients. This relevant difference, possibly due to the different prevalence of ILD and type of lung involvement in these two subgroups, should be taken into account when applying the QCT assessment to SSc patients. Disclosure of Interest None declared

Camporese G, Bernardi E, Scarano L, Ghirarduzzi A, Imberti D and Prandoni P, on behalf of The PALIST Study Group. Outcome of patients with suspected lower limb symptomatic deep vein thrombosis and a normal ultrasound-based initial diagnostic workup: a prospective study. J Thromb Haemost 2012; 10: 2605–6.

Les auteurs rapportent deux cas de kyste du choledoque, respectivement du type III et I selon la classification de Alonso Lej. Le premier patient etait asymptomatique, tandis que le second fut hospitalise pour des douleurs abdominales recurrentes. Dans les deux cas, le diagnostic a ete pose par la cholangiographie retrograde endoscopique (CPRE), ce qui a permis, une sphincterotomie therapeutique dans le cas du choledococele. Par contre, ľintervention du premier patient fut inefficace.

Background Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Systemic Sclerosis (SSc). Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) and chest Computed Tomography (CT) are the main exams to assess ILD severity. In particular, FVC 20%, has an unfavourable prognostic value [Goh et al., 2008]. Preliminary evidence supports the usefulness of an automated quantitative CT (QCT) assessment performed with a medical software, OsiriX, in identifying patients with more severe SSc-ILD [Ariani et al. 2014] Objectives The aim of this work is to investigate whether QCT can predict ILD-SSc radiological and functional worsening over time. Methods One hundred forty-nine patients with SSc according to EULAR/ACR criteria underwent chest CTs and pulmonary functional tests at baseline (t0) and after 1 year (t1). A VS was evaluated for each chest CT; the quantitative assessment, in order to obtain QCT indexes (QCTI), was performed only in chest CT done in t0. Patients were clustered in 3 groups: 1) VS 20% values); 3)VS>20% both at t0 and t1. A similar subdivision in other three groups was performed on the basis of FVC values (with 70% as cutoff).The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to investigate QCTI distribution in the above mentioned groups. A p-value Results In group 1 (clustered according to VS variation) QCTI were different from the ones of the other two groups (p Conclusions In spite of the limitations of this study (short follow up compared with the slow ILD-SSc progression) our results support the predictivity of a QCTI in terms of future radiological and functional ILD worsening. Given its reliability and easy access, quantitative CT assessment of ILD is a promising candidate in the assessment and prognostic stratification of SSc-ILD, even in clinical practice. Disclosure of Interest None declared

From January 1984 to December 1991 we carried out a prospective surveillance of the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in 200 cirrhotic patients, monitored from the first histologic diagnosis of cirrhosis. Real-time ultrasonography (US) and serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) assays were performed every 3-6 months. During this period we detected HCC in 38 patients. The overall cumulative incidence of HCC in the 8 years was 41%, with a yearly incidence of 5.1%. Eighteen of 38 patients (48%) had a tumor5 cm in diameter. AFP reached diagnostic levels (500 ng/ml) in eight cases only (21%). Patients with initial AFP values20 ng/ml developed HCC more frequently than patients with valuesor = 20 ng/ml; the percentage of HCC was statistically higher (p0.01) in patients in Child's B and C than in Child's A class. A periodic follow-up, using US and AFP, is suggested for the early diagnosis of HCC in cirrhotic patients.

An ultrasonographic study about the prevalence of cholelithiasis was performed in 410 cirrhotic patients and in 414 controls matched for age and sex. Gallstone disease was found more often in cirrhotic patients (31.9%) than in controls (20.7%) (P less than 0.001). The female-to-male ratio of gallstones prevalence in cirrhotic patients approached to 1:1. Gallstone disease in cirrhotic patients vs controls was significantly higher (30.2% vs 16.5%) (P less than 0.001) in males only. No difference was found, for gallstone disease prevalence in cirrhosis of different etiology. The prevalence of cholelithiasis increased from Child's A to Child's C with a significant trend (P less than 0.001); this difference was significant in males (12.3% vs 40.5%) (P less than 0.001) but not in females. This study shows that cirrhosis represents a risk factor for the development of cholelithiasis in males. We suggest that high levels of estrogens could play a role in these patients, by an impairment of gallbladder emptying similar to that observed in pregnant women.

Patients with suspected deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE) are frequently admitted to an Emergency Department (ED) for initial evaluation. However, management of patients with suspicion of acute venous thromboembolism (VTE) in this clinical setting can be difficult; in fact symptoms and signs of DVT are non-specific and can be found in a broad spectrum of non-thrombotic disorders. An accurate and timely objective diagnosis is necessary for immediate and correct identification of patients with acute VTE, while avoiding the bleeding risk associated with unnecessary anticoagulant therapy in patients where DVT or PE have been ruled out. The diagnostic approach to patients with suspected VTE includes clinical evaluation, diagnostic imaging and D-dimer testing [1, 2]. In a recent issue of Internal and Emergency Medicine, Siragusa [3] exhaustively discussed the currently used assays, clinical indications and limitations of D-dimer testing for managing acute VTE in emergency medicine. Measurement of D-dimer values, a degradation product of cross-linked fibrin, is a simple laboratory test, and has been extensively studied in numerous prospective cohort studies in cases of suspected DVT or PE, showing a high negative predictive value. The author [3] shows that D-dimer testing has sufficient diagnostic accuracy for ruling out acute VTE if used in combination with standardised clinical judgement. The review is important for at least three reasons. First, many physiological and pathological conditions can increase plasma D-dimer levels (pregnancy, age, trauma, cancer, inflammation and several other clinical conditions); on the other hand D-dimer levels may fail to increase in patients with acute VTE for multiple reasons (impaired fibrinolytic activity, use of heparin or oral anticoagulants, onset of symptoms more than two weeks before blood sampling). For these reasons, D-dimer testing has a high sensitivity but a low specificity in the diagnosis of acute VTE; in clinical practice it may be associated with frequent “false positive” results, but also more rarely with “false negative” findings. However, its use should always be associated with a careful clinical assessment to rule out the presence of acute VTE only in symptomatic patients. Overuse or misuse of the D-dimer screen for VTE may have negative consequences, in terms of a burden both for patients and for healthcare costs; in fact, despite clinical guidelines, inappropriate and unnecessary measurement of D-dimer is a significant clinical problem [4]. Second, commercially available assays are very differ

Background: Real-world data on non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are essential in determining whether evidence from randomised controlled clinical trials translate into meaningful clinical benefits for patients in everyday practice. RIVER (RIVaroxaban Evaluation in Real life setting) is an ongoing international, prospective registry of patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) and at least one investigator-determined risk factor for stroke who received rivaroxaban as an initial treatment for the prevention of thromboembolic stroke. The aim of this paper is to describe the design of the RIVER registry and baseline characteristics of patients with newly diagnosed NVAF who received rivaroxaban as an initial treatment. Methods and results: Between January 2014 and June 2017, RIVER investigators recruited 5072 patients at 309 centres in 17 countries. The aim was to enroll consecutive patients at sites where rivaroxaban was already routinely prescribed for stroke prevention. Each patient is being followed up prospectively for a minimum of 2-years. The registry will capture data on the rate and nature of all thromboembolic events (stroke / systemic embolism), bleeding complications, all-cause mortality and other major cardiovascular events as they occur. Data quality is assured through a combination of remote electronic monitoring and onsite monitoring (including source data verification in 10% of cases). Patients were mostly enrolled by cardiologists (n = 3776, 74.6%), by internal medicine specialists 14.2% (n = 718) and by primary care/general practice physicians 8.2% (n = 417). The mean (SD) age of the population was 69.5 (11.0) years, 44.3% were women. Mean (SD) CHADS2 score was 1.9 (1.2) and CHA2DS2-VASc scores was 3.2 (1.6). Almost all patients (98.5%) were prescribed with once daily dose of rivaroxaban, most commonly 20 mg (76.5%) and 15 mg (20.0%) as their initial treatment; 17.9% of patients received concomitant antiplatelet therapy. Most patients enrolled in RIVER met the recommended threshold for AC therapy (86.6% for 2012 ESC Guidelines, and 79.8% of patients according to 2016 ESC Guidelines). Conclusions: The RIVER prospective registry will expand our knowledge of how rivaroxaban is prescribed in everyday practice and whether evidence from clinical trials can be translated to the broader cross-section of patients in the real world. Funding: This work is supported by an unrestricted research grant from Bayer AG (Berlin, Germany) to the Thrombosis Research Institute (London, UK), which sponsors the RIVER registry. The funding source had no involvement in the data collection, data analysis or data interpretation.

Background The optimal dose of low-molecular-weight-heparin (LMWH) to prevent venous thromboembolism (VTE) after bariatric surgery remains controversial. Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate the pharmacodynamic parameters of two doses of the LMWH parnaparin administered to patients undergoing bariatric surgery. Methods Patients were enrolled in a multicentre, open label, pilot study and were randomised to receive 4250 IU/day [n = 36; 30 females; median age: 38 years (23-56); median BMI: 46.7 Kg/m2 (36.5-58.8)] or 6400 IU/day [n = 30; 24 females; median age: 42 years (22-63); median BMI: 43.7 Kg/m2 (36.1-64.1)] of parnaparin s.c. for 7-11 days. The pharmacodynamic effects of parnaparin were analysed by measuring the anti Factor Xa activity on day 0 (12 hours after the first parnaparin injection), day 4 and day 6 after surgery (before and 4 hours after parnaparin administration). Results In 98.3% of patients receiving 4250 IU/day the peak anti-Xa levels were in the range of 0.1-0.4 IU/ml. Higher anti-Xa levels were observed in patients receiving 6400 IU/day: in 62.3% of these patients the peak anti-Xa levels were greater than 0.4 IU/ml. The anti-Xa levels measured 4 hours after injection on days 4 and 6 were not statistically correlated with BMI for either dose of-parnaparin (p = 0.077 and p = 0.401 for 4250 or 6400 IU/day, respectively). Conclusion The dose of 4250 IU/day seems adequate to achieve prophylactic anti-Xa levels in morbid obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery. Conversely, most of the patients receiving 6.400 IU/day show anti-Xa levels higher than the recommended prophylactic values.