Reviews on Recent Clinical Trials - Volume 13, Issue 3, 2018

Background: A close relationship between rheumatic diseases and cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been reported, accounting for the higher mortality and morbidity observed in these patients. In the last years, it has been clearly reported that patients affected by primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) experienced an increased risk of CVD. Objective: This review aimed at investigating CVD, traditional cardiovascular (CV) Read More

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most commonly described cardiac arrhythmia found in the general population and can lead to adverse outcomes. Its onset and maintenance requires the presence of an arrhythmogenic substrate that predisposes the patient for risk of these types of arrhythmias and the occurrence of a trigger event. A major characteristic of AF-related structural remodelling is atrial fibrosis, a process closely relat Read More

Background: Obesity is a debilitating growing condition and represents a challenge for every surgeon. It is associated with the activation of the inflammatory pathway and this may have a negative impact on the natural history of some rheumatic diseases. Bariatric surgery, reducing obesity, could bring to a minor activation of the well-known inflammatory pathway with improvement of these diseases. The aim of this review is Read More

Background: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) has been associated with insulin resistance (IR), a well-established pathophysiological feature of Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM). Inconsistent literature evidence suggests that IR could be ameliorated by biological medications targeting TNFα. Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effect of TNFα inhibitors (TNFi) on IR in RA patients. Methods: We performed a system Read More

Background: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is characterised by increased mortality secondary to Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD). Despite being common in SLE, traditional cardiovascular risk factors cannot entirely justify such increase in CVD-associated mortality. The endothelium is a key regulator of the vascular homeostasis; lupus-associated persistent systemic inflammation may impair endothelium functionality, thu Read More

Background: Psoriatic arthritis is a chronic inflammatory arthropathy that affects 14%- 30% of patients with skin and/or nail psoriasis, leading to severe physical limitations and disability. It has been included in the group of spondyloarthropathy with which it shares clinical, radiologic, and serologic features in addition to familial and genetic relationship. Beyond skin and joint involvement, psoriatic arthritis is characterized b Read More

Background: Although in the past, prevention of the joint destruction and disability was strongly emphasised in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), at present, a growing body of evidence is focused at identifying the best management of associated comorbidities, such as Type 2 Diabetes (T2D). Recently, the hypothesis that blocking pro-inflammatory activity may be helpful in the treatment of some comorbidities has been propos Read More

Background: Recent evidence demonstrated a potential role of complement C3 as a candidate biomarker of cardiometabolic risk in the general population. Objective: Aim of the present study was to investigate the correlation between complement C3 levels and comorbid Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients. Methods: For the present study, 40 consecutive diabetic RA patients (RA/T2DM+ group) an Read More

Background: Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy (TC), also called transient left ventricular (LV) ballooning syndrome, resembles myocardial infarction and is characterized by LV dysfunction in the absence of coronary artery disease. Hypothesis described for TC has been an intense social stressor, pheochromocytoma, thyrotoxicosis among others. We performed this study to analyze the association of hypothyroidism with TC. Metho Read More

Introduction: To compare the efficacy of abiraterone acetate, enzalutamide, cabazitaxel and Radium-223 in the treatment of castration-resistant, docetaxel-resistant metastatic prostate cancer. Methods: An indirect comparison of Overall Survival (OS) and time to PSA progression among abiraterone acetate, enzalutamide, cabazitaxel and Radium-223 was performed with a network metaanalysis. OS in the entire populatio Read More