The heart is fine but there comes a heart attack: new diagnostic between Rome and the Texas

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 ROME (November 4) - The heart suffers in silence. Especially of women. But even when "screaming" is not heard. And the heart attack is behind the door. Yet know enough to "listen" to avert the worst. Chest pain, routine testing and coronary angiography in the standard "without significant stenosis": everything seems under control and the patient is sent home. But the heart attack can get the same. Because, really, the damage was coronary and there was no evidence in his dangerousness, testing. Today it is possible to intervene early, before the attack arrives, thanks to a highly innovative diagnostic strategy developed by the team in Rome and Paul Pavone Massimo Fioranelli Clinic Mater Dei.
An "integrated diagnostic model" that combines cardiology and diagnostic imaging, clinical and technology. A model that has proved so effective that experts from the Texas Heart Institute in Houston have formed a partnership with the health facility Roman monthly Italian experts of Mater Dei and Texas Heart Institute of U.S. experts will meet at a distance to study the clinical cases more complex, and then bring together the different experiences.
The integrated diagnostic approach will be the focus of an international conference organized by Mater Dei with the St Luke 's Episcopal home of Texas Heart Institute in Houston and Yale University, which opens Monday, November 8 in Rome to the Senate of the Republic Chapter House.
"More and more cases of patients, often women and more young people who present to the emergency room complaining of chest pain - says Massimo Fioranelli, cardiologist, head of the Inner Heart of the Mater Dei in Rome-and in many cases are subjected to routine tests and sent home because everything is normal. In other cases, the framework is examined with coronary angiography, at times, can fail, or rather shows stenosis (narrowing of arteries that is) is not significant and, therefore, she is reassured. However, coronary angiography, while remaining an invaluable examination, proved to have limitations: it allows us, in fact, to see the inside of blood vessels but not the wall and it is precisely here, in the responsible coronary artery disease or stroke. There are cases in which coronary angiography is not classified as hemodynamically significant plaques responsible for future coronary events. In 80 percent of cases of acute myocardial infarction, in fact, the blame can be attributed to non-significant plaques in terms of angiography, therefore, beyond the traditional tests. The integrated diagnostic model enables you to find exactly those patients who appear healthy but in reality, they are not. "
The integrated diagnostic approach. "We have developed a diagnostic strategy - says Paolo Pavone, head of radiology at the Mater Dei Rome - combining cardiology, radiology. Before a patient who complains of chest pain even when the tests are negative, do not stop. The first step is to radiological team, with the 128 Tac Coronary layers, a non-invasive test, given preferably over 50 and very low radiation dosage, equal to 1ms. Suffice it to say that a walk in the mountains or an intercontinental flight puts us at 4-5 ms of radiation. It 's a highly sophisticated examination that in most cases, reveals that the coronary plaque itself does not see. If the Tac Heart reveals the presence of plaques, the team goes to investigate cardiac look directly into the coronary arteries with intracoronary ultrasound probe (IVUS Intravascular Ultrasound Study-) or a test that uses light to an optical fiber and allows you to see perfectly the walls of coronary (Optical Coherence Tomography-OCT). "
The partnership between Mater Dei and Texas Heart Institute. The St Luke 's Episcopal Hospital, home of Texas Heart Institute in Houston is a world leader in cardiovascular research and represents an important landmark in the treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease. Today, thanks to the agreement closely with the Mater Dei in Rome, the Texas Heart Institute is at the service of Italian patients. A mutual exchange of knowledge and experience put into practice the development of symposia medical update, discussing cases and second opinion. More complex cases will accordingly be addressed in the synergy between Rome and Houston in order to develop the best intervention strategy for the patient.
Chest Pain & Acute Myocardial Infarction: The figures in Italy and Lazio. What are coronary heart disease mortality in the first place, even before the cancer is well known. But to get an idea of the magnitude of patients who need help is useful to see the figures of the Ministry of Health on hospital admissions. In 2005 - the latest data available-were over 59 thousand patients hospitalized with chest pain, almost 34 thousand men and women over 25 thousand. Chest pain, in fact, is the 32nd leading cause of hospitalization. In 2005 - the latest data available - in the Lazio region were more than 7 thousand patients hospitalized with chest pain, about 4 thousand more than 3 thousand men and women. Chest pain in Italy is the 32nd leading cause of hospitalization.
I am certain, however, the data of hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction. In Italy: in 2005 there were 123,570 of which 79,725 have affected men and 43,845 women. Data of hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction in the Lazio region in 2005 was 10,642 of which 7014 have affected men and 3,628 women.