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The European Society of Cardiology guidelines on non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes suggest different temporal strategies for the angiographic study depending on the risk profile. The scientific evidence underlying the guideline recommendations and the critical issues currently existing in Italy, that often do not allow either an extended strategy of revascularization within 24 h or the application of the principle of the same day transfer from a spoke to a hub centre, are analysed. The position paper focuses, in particular, on the subgroup of patients with a defined diagnosis of non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction by proposing a timing of coronary angiography/revascularization that takes into account the available scientific evidence and the organizational possibilities of a considerable part of national cardiology services.

The COVID-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented event that has brought deep changes in hospital facilities with reshaping of the health system organization, revealing inadequacies of current hospital and local health systems. When the COVID-19 emergency will end, further evaluation of the national health system, new organization of acute wards, and a further evolution of the entire health system will be needed to improve care during the chronic phase of disease. Therefore, new standards for healthcare personnel, more efficient organization of hospital facilities for patients with acute illnesses, improvement of technological approaches, and better integration between hospital and territorial services should be pursued. With experience derived from the COVID-19 pandemic,new models, paradigms, interventional approaches, values and priorities should be suggested and implemented.

The COVID-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented event that has brought deep changes in hospital facilities with reshaping of the health system organization, revealing inadequacies of current hospital and local health systems. When the COVID-19 emergency will end, further evaluation of the national health system, new organization of acute wards, and a further evolution of the entire health system will be needed to improve care during the chronic phase of disease. Therefore, new standards for healthcare personnel, more efficient organization of hospital facilities for patients with acute illnesses, improvement of technological approaches, and better integration between hospital and territorial services should be pursued. With experience derived from the COVID-19 pandemic, new models, paradigms, interventional approaches, values and priorities should be suggested and implemented.

The European Society of Cardiology guidelines on non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes suggest different temporal strategies for the angiographic study depending on the risk profile. The scientific evidence underlying the guideline recommendations and the critical issues currently existing in Italy that often do not allow either an extended strategy of revascularization within 24 h or the application of the principle of the same day transfer from a spoke to a hub center are analyzed. The position paper focuses, in particular, on the subgroup of patients with a defined diagnosis of non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction by proposing a timing of coronary angiography/revascularization that takes into account the available scientific evidence and the organizational possibilities of a considerable part of national cardiology services.

Bloodstream cholesterol is a central contributor to atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. For several decades, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) has been the main biomarker for the prediction of cardiovascular events and therapeutic target of lipid-lowering treatments. More recently, several findings have supported the greater reliability of non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) as a predictive factor and possible therapeutic target in refining antiatherogenic treatments, especially among patients with lower LDL-C and higher triglyceride values. This article discusses the limits of current standard methods for assessing LDL-C levels and emphasizes the persistent residual cardiovascular risk in patients treated with lipid-lowering agents on the basis of recommended LDL-C targets. It highlights that patients with controlled LDL-C and non-targeted non-HDL-C have a higher cardiovascular risk. The article focuses on the role of non-HDL-C as a better predictor of atherosclerotic disease as compared with LDL-C and as a therapeutic target. Finally, this article includes an executive summary aimed at refining preventive approaches in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

At the end of 2019 a new Coronavirus appeared in China and, from there, it spread to the rest of the world On 24th May, 2020, the confirmed cases in the world were more than 5 million and the deaths almost 350 000 At the end of May, Italy reported more than 27 000 cases among healthcare professionals and 163 deaths among physicians The National Health Systems from almost all over the world, including Italy's, were unprepared for this pandemic, and this generated important consequences of organizational nature All elective and urgent specialized activities were completely reorganized, and many hospital units were partially or completely converted to the care of the COVID-19 patients A significant reduction in hospital admissions for acute heart disease were recorded during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and, in order to gradually resume hospital activities, the Italian National Phase 2 Plan for the partial recovery of activities, must necessarily be associated with a Phase 2 Health Plan In regards to the cardiac outpatient activities we need to identify short term goals, i e reschedule the suspended outpatient activities, revise the waiting lists, review the 'timings' of the bookings This will reduce the number of available examinations compared to the pre-Covid-19 era The GP's collaboration could represent an important resource, a structured telephone follow-up plan is advisable with the nursing staff's involvement It is equally important to set medium-long term goals, the pandemic could be an appropriate moment for making a virtue of necessity It is time to reason on prescriptive appropriateness, telemedicine implementation intended as integration to the traditional management It is time to restructure the cardiological units related to the issue of structural adjustment to the needs for functional isolation Moreover, the creation of 'grey zones' with multidisciplinary management according to the intensity of care levels seems to be necessary as well as the identification of Covid dedicated cardiologies Finally, the pandemic could represent the opportunity for a permanent renovation of the cardiological and territorial medicine activities © 2020 Oxford University Press All rights reserved

Myocarditis is an inflammatory heart disease that can occur acutely, as in acute myocarditis, or persistently, as in chronic myocarditis or chronic inflammatory cardiomyopathy. Different agents can induce myocarditis, with viruses being the most common triggers. Generally, acute myocarditis affects relatively young people and men more than women. Myocarditis has a broad spectrum of clinical presentations and evolution trajectories, although most cases resolve spontaneously. Patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, heart failure symptoms, advanced atrioventricular block, sustained ventricular arrhythmias or cardiogenic shock (the latter known as fulminant myocarditis) are at increased risk for death and heart transplantation. The presentation of chronic inflammatory cardiomyopathy may be more subtle, with progressive symptoms of heart failure or appearance of rhythm disturbance, not rarely preceded by an infective episode. Autoimmune disorder or systemic inflammatory conditions can be another significant predisposing substrate of myocarditis, especially in women. Emerging causes of myocarditis are drug-related like the new anticancer therapies, the immune checkpoint inhibitors. In this Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists (ANMCO) and Italian Society of Cardiology (SIC) expert consensus document on myocarditis, we propose diagnostic strategies for identifying possible causes of the disease and factors associated with increased risk. Finally, we propose potential treatments and when referring patients to tertiary centers, especially for high-risk patients. Even if endomyocardial biopsy is the invasive diagnostic tool for making definitive diagnosis and differentiation of histological subtypes (i.e., lymphocytic vs eosinophilic vs giant cell myocarditis), it is not always readily available in all centers. Thus, we propose when this exam is mandatory or when it can be postponed or substituted by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. This document reflects the Italian perspective on managing patients with myocarditis and their follow-up, considering also current US and European scientific position statements.