Aims The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical course of COVID-19 in patients who had recently undergone a cardiac procedure and were inpatients in a cardiac rehabilitation department. Methods All patients hospitalized from 1 February to 15 March 2020 were included in the study (n = 35; 16 men; mean age 78 years). The overall population was divided into two groups: group 1 included 10 patients who presented with a clinical picture of COVID-19 infection and were isolated, and group 2 included 25 patients who were COVID-19-negative. In group 1, nine patients were on chronic oral anticoagulant therapy and one patient was on acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) and clopidogrel. A chest computed tomography scan revealed interstitial pneumonia in all 10 patients. Results During hospitalization, COVID-19 patients received azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine in addition to their ongoing therapy. Only the patient on ASA with clopidogrel therapy was transferred to the ICU for mechanical ventilation because of worsening respiratory failure, and subsequently died from cardiorespiratory arrest. All other patients on chronic anticoagulant therapy recovered and were discharged. Conclusion Our study suggests that COVID-19 patients on chronic anticoagulant therapy may have a more favorable and less complicated clinical course. Further prospective studies are warranted to confirm this preliminary observation.

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Aims: We aim at exploring whether severe chronic kidney disease (CKD) may modify the impact of acute kidney injury (AKI) post-transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) on early, mid, and long-term mortality. Methods and results: The analysis included 2,733 TAVI patients from the Italian Clinical Service Project. The population was stratified in four groups according to the presence of baseline severe CKD and postprocedural AKI. All-cause mortality was the primary end point. Postprocedural AKI is associated with an increased risk of early and mid-term mortality after TAVI regardless of baseline severe CKD. Preprocedural severe CKD is associated with an increased risk of long-term mortality after TAVI regardless of postprocedural AKI. No interaction between preprocedural severe CKD and postprocedural AKI was observed in predicting mortality at both 30-day

Stroke is the second largest cause of European cardiovascular and total mortality, largely due to atherosclerotic carotid artery narrowing or thromboembolism consequent to internal carotid artery stenosis. Current therapeutic indications suggest lifestyle interventions (smoking cessation, healthy diet and physical activity), adequate control of LDL-cholesterol and glycemic balance. It is nonetheless established that the most important factors in preventing stroke are antiplatelet therapy and blood pressure regulation. In fact, many physiological parameters, including age, drugs' effects and especially systemic blood pressure, can be involved in maintaining cerebral blood flow through compensation for impairment of flow within carotid arteries. Many studies demonstrate the benefits of blood pressure lowering in terms of prevention of stroke, but there are conflicting data about a specific pressure target to achieve, with some evidence in favor of "the lower the better" idea, while other identifying a too low systolic blood pressure as a cause of cerebral ischemia worsening, especially in symptomatic patients. In summary, the available data suggest the need of a tailored blood pressure treatment without inflexible targets, according to the assessment of the cardiovascular risk of each patient, the benefits of an intensive antihypertensive therapy and the comorbidities-related response to the treatment.