Clinical Research Directory

Recombinant Human Brain Natriuretic Peptide for the Recovery Stage of Septic Shock

As infection control improves and circulation stabilizes, treatment de-escalation of septic shock begins, accompanied by fluid redistribution from interstitial spaces to the vasculature, increasing cardiac volume load. Synthetic recombinant human BNP (rh-BNP) plays a role in inducing vasodilation, particularly in the venous system, alleviating cardiac congestion, and enhancing natriuresis and diuresis. Thus the investigators designed a single-center, prospective physiological study to evaluate the efficacy of standard rh-BNP infusion in reducing venous return and enhancing fluid removal, with a secondary objective of assessing the maintenance of perfusion pressure and tissue perfusion.

Characterization of priMary And sEcondary STress Related takOtsubo

Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is an acute and reversible form of myocardial injury often preceded by a physical or emotional trigger. Although TTS was generally considered a benign disease for its reversible nature, it is now clear that hemodynamic and electrical instability during the acute phase exposes patients to frequent serious adverse in-hospital complications. However, the pathophysiology of TTS is far from being completely understood. Consistent evidence demonstrated that the environmental events experienced by most of these patients and perceived as stressful (both physical or emotional) induce a brain activation and a stress-related response, with increasing bioavailability of local and circulating stress mediators, such as catecholamine and cortisol, which showed to play a major role in the etiology of to the "neurogenic stunning myocardium" responsible for this clinical condition. Primary and secondary TTS showed an important clinical heterogeneity identifying two different subtypes of patients with different outcomes and risk profiles. the invastigators hypothesize that a different activation of the brain structures involved in acute stress response, as well as a different exposure to chronic stress, may subtend the different clinical and risk profiles observed in primary vs. secondary TTS patients. Moreover, the invastigators hypothesize that distinct signatures of circulating biomarkers may be associated with these two categories of TTS patients. Therefore, identifying these specific signatures may help in the diagnosis of these patients and pave the way for the identification of specific pathophysiologic pathways and the development of future therapies.