Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is an unexpected and dramatic event. It draws special attention especially in young, seemingly healthy athletes. Our scientific paper is based on the death of a young, 23-year-old professional footballer, who died on the football field after a two-year history of cardiac symptoms. In this study we analyzed clinical, ECG and laboratory data, as well as results of genetic testing analysis in family members. To elucidate potential genetic etiology of SCD in this family, our analysis included 294 genes related to various cardiac conditions.

Aim: To explore the clinical presentation and epidemiological history of the subjects who underwent SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing.Methods: We included 1,000 consecutive subjects who presented themselves at the diagnostic clinic in Croatia and analyzed their symptoms and epidemiological history. All subjects were classified into three groups, according to their reason of arrival; symptomatic, contacts of confirmed patients, and those who were tested due to administrative reasons.Results: On average, there were 24% of positive antigen results; the positivity rate was 51% among symptomatic, 16% in contacts, and 5% of administrative patients. The commonest symptoms of the disease included febrility and anosmia. We developed a clinical score to predict SARS-CoV-2 positivity, which had an area under the curve of 79.3 [95% confidence intervals (CI) 75.8–82.8]. Contact with the isolated person [odds ratio 0.54 (95% CI 0.31–0.94)] and international travel had a protective effect [0.20 (0.09–0.43)], suggesting that risk perception and mandatory pretravel measures had a key role in the determination of the infection risk.Conclusions: A combination of clinical symptoms can have reasonable predictive power for an antigen-positive test result. Risk perception seems to have a role in the epidemic spread, probably via stricter adherence to personal preventative measures.

In a relatively short period of time new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a global threat, both to human health and to the functioning of human society in general. This pandemic is certainly neither the first nor is it likely to be the last disease episode in human history. At the moment, it is still too early to make a reliable assessment of its total effect on human civilization, but it can already be stated that this disease, and its causative agent SARS-CoV-2 virus, have caused a strong scientific response all around the World. For the first time in this magnitude, it has united the resources of large scientific institutions and companies with the aim of finding solutions for fast and accurate virus detection procedures, effective and safe vaccine, reliable medical treatments, etc. It is astonishing that only a month has passed from the first officially detected case to the complete sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus genome and the creation of the first detection systems based on RT-PCR method. After that, numerous scientific teams and companies worked together, or independently, to improve the detection methods. Their work included further optimization of PCR and other genetic approaches, as well as the development of detection methods based on the analysis of specific antibodies and viral antigens. The aim of this paper is to review the results that were achieved in this area so far, analyze the strategies currently used in the world and the region, and to predict future steps in the process of optimizing and improving methods for SARS CoV-2 detection in individual patients and the global human population.

Cilj: Kompjutorizirana tomografska angiografija (CTA) zlatni je standard za otkrivanje endoleaka nakon endovaskularnog liječenja aorte (EVAR). Cilj je ovog rada utvrditi može li kontrastni ultrazvuk (CEUS) zamijeniti CTA u dijagnostici endoleaka nakon EVAR-a. Materijali i metode: Pregled literature na engleskom jeziku proveden je u bazama podataka: PubMed/MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar. Ključne riječi bile su: “Computed tomography angiography”, “Contrast enhanced ultrasound”, “Endovascular aneurysm repair”, “Endoleak”. Studije koje su odgovarale kriterijima uključivanja recenzirane su u cijelosti te je odabrano 39 studija. Rezultati: Pacijenti su u analiziranim studijama najvećim dijelom bili muškarci (86 %). Medijan dobi iznosio je 74 godine. Endoleak nakon EVAR-a promatran je u infrarenalnih (79 %), jukstarenalnih (17 %) i suprarenalnih aneurizama (4 %). Stopa endoleaka kretala se između 3 i 52 %. Najčešći endoleak bio je po tipu II te se u 15 % slučajeva javljao unutar prvih šest mjeseci, odnosno u manje od 10 % slučajeva unutar dvije godine nakon EVAR-a. Za sve tipove endoleaka CEUS je pokazao uravnoteženu osjetljivost, specifičnost i područje ispod krivulje od 94 %, 88 % i 96 %. U odnosu na CTA, CEUS ima veću osjetljivost (94/83 %), ali lošiju specifičnost (94,8/99 %). Specifično za tip II endoleaka, CEUS je imao veću stopu detekcije (36,88/20,88 %). Visoka osjetljivost (97 %) i specifičnost (100 %) obilježje su CEUS-a u prikazu endoleaka tipa I i III, bez prednosti u odnosu na CTA. Zaključci: CEUS je slikovna metoda ravnopravna CTA u probiru pacijenata za endoleak nakon EVAR-a. CEUS ne može u potpunosti nadomjestiti CTA, no sigurna je i efikasna alternativa za korištenje u pacijenata bez CTA komplikacija nakon jednogodišnjeg kontrolnog intervala.

Liver transplantation is a method that allows treating of various liver pathological conditions. Interventional radiology (IR) focuses on oncology patients, primarily those with hepatocellular carcinoma. The importance of interventional radiology techniques is in preventing the progression of current liver disease in those patients awaiting liver transplantation and downstaging in patients with unresectable liver tumors to the stage where transplantation is possible. Chemoembolization (TACE), i.e., conventional transarterial chemoembolization (cTACE) or with drug particles (DEB-TACE), radioembolization (SIRT), BLAND embolization, radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and microwave ablation (MWA) are the most widely used IR methods in the treatment of liver cancer. cTACE is a form of TACE in which a high dose of cytostatic is injected into the feeding vessel and the tumor's microenvironment, and then the blood vessels that feed the tumor are embolized. DEB-TACE is a form of TACE in which a cytostatic bind to bead particles that gradually release the drug within the liver tumor itself after injection. BLAND embolization is an IR method of TACE based on ischemia of tumor tissue by IR procedure of embolization and occlusion of the feeding vessel that supplies the tumor, without the use of chemotherapeutics. Transarterial radioembolization is a method that uses endovascular techniques to bring radiospheres containing a radioactive substance near the tumor. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is an IR percutaneous method of treatment in which an RF needle inserted into a liver tumor releases heat that causes coagulation necrosis of tumor cells. MWA is an IR percutaneous method of treatment that uses molecules with an internal dipole moment, which move kinetic energy and then heat inside the tumor via a percutaneously inserted MWA needle into the tumor.