The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) released the "2024 ESC guidelines for the management of elevated blood pressure and hypertension" on August 30, 2024. This guideline updates the 2018 "Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension." One notable update is the introduction of the concept of "elevated blood pressure" (120-139/70-89 mm Hg). Additionally, a new systolic blood pressure target range of 120-129 mm Hg has been proposed for most patients receiving antihypertensive treatment. The guideline also includes numerous additions or revisions in areas such as non-pharmacological interventions and device-based treatments for hypertension. This article interprets the guideline's recommendations on definition and classification of elevated blood pressure and hypertension, and cardiovascular disease risk assessment, diagnosing hypertension and investigating underlying causes, preventing and treating elevated blood pressure and hypertension. We provide a comparison interpretation with the 2018 "Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension" and the "2017 ACC/AHA guideline on the prevention, detection, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in adults."
The American Thoracic Society Committee Task Force on Standards for Pulmonary Function had recommended a standardized reporting format for pulmonary function tests due to considerable variability in pulmonary function reports presented to end users, which might lead to potential confusion and miscommunication. This recommendation includes seven parts: overview, introduction, methods, report format, selecting and reporting reference values, grading the quality of pulmonary function tests and conclusions. This document presents a reporting format in test-specific units for spirometry, lung volumes, and diffusing capacity that can be assembled into a report appropriate for a laboratory’s practice. Recommended reference sources are updated, with especially emphasizing to adapt lower limit of normal (LLN) or z score instead of percent of prediction to estimate the abnormal results. This document provides detail and clear explanation on the recommendations, which might improve the interpretation, communication, and understanding of test results. However, parts of recommendation might not be used directly in our clinical practice owing to some specific conditions in China. We suggest to use appropriate normal predictions from Chinese population, to include small airway parameters such as mid-maximal expiratory flow for early detection of pulmonary function deterioration, and to include inspiratory flow volume curve, as well as strengthen the quality control data and figures in the report format.
Abstract: Objectives To evaluate the accuracy of four existing risk stratification models including the Society of Thoracic Surgeons(STS) 2008 Cardiac Surgery Risk Models for Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG), the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE), the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) model, and the initial Parsonnet’s score in predicting early deaths of Chinese patients after CABG procedure. Methods We collected clinical records of 1 559 consecutive patients who had undergone isolated CABG in the Fu WaiHospital from November 2006 to December 2007. There were 264 females (16.93%) and 1 295 males (83.06%) with an average age of 60.87±9.06 years. Early death was defined as death inhospital or within 30 days after CABG. Calibration was assessed by the Hosmer-Lemeshow (H-L) test, and discrimination was assessed by the receiveroperatingcharacteristic (ROC) curve. The endpoint was early death. Results Sixteen patients(1.03%) died early after the operation. STS and ACC/AHA models had a good calibration in predicting the number of early deaths for the whole group(STS: 12.06 deaths, 95% confidence interval(CI) 5.28 to 18.85; ACC/[CM(159mm]AHA:20.67deaths, 95%CI 11.82 to 29.52 ), While EuroSCORE and Parsonnet models overestimated the number of early deaths for the whole group(EuroSCORE：36.44 deaths，95%CI 24.75 to 48.14；Parsonnet：43.87 deaths，95%CI 31.07 to 56.67). For the divided groups, STS model had a good calibration of prediction(χ2=11.46, Pgt;0.1)，while the other 3 models showed poor calibration（EuroSCORE：χ2=22.07，Plt;0.005；ACC/AHA：χ2=28.85，Plt;0.005；Parsonnet：χ2=26.74，Plt;0.005）.All the four models showed poor discrimination with area under the ROC curve lower than 0.8. Conclusion The STS model may be a potential appropriate choice for Chinese patients undergoing isolated CABG procedure.
With the publication of a vast amount of clinical research on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and the National Health Commission of China have all updated their diagnostic and treatment guidelines for HCC. There are no differences in the definition of HCC risk populations among the AASLD 2023, NCCN 2024, and China Liver Cancer Staging and Treatment Guideline (CNLC) 2024. Notably, CNLC 2024 has updated its guidance on high-risk factors and prospective surveillance for HCC based on the characteristics of HCC patients in China. The four guidelines have seen significant updates in the areas of neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies, local treatments, and systemic treatments for HCC. CNLC 2024 refines the indications for local treatment, improves systemic treatment, and introduces new first-line therapy, including camrelizumab combined with rivoceranib or tislelizumab. The second-line therapy nivolumab plus ipilimumab for advanced HCC are recommended by AASLD 2023, NCCN 2024, and ASCO 2024, which may become a new first-line therapeutic option for patients with advanced HCC. We compare and interpret these four guidelines in this paper.
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is highly heterogeneous and is diagnosed according to the 2016 World Health Organization Classification of Tumours of Haematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues. The decision of treatment should be upon age, International Prognostic Index score and the tolerability of chemotherapy. High-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation is the standard care for relapsed, chemotherapy sensitive patients. Clinical trials are recommended in specific conditions.
The International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis (ISTH) recently released the first ISTH guideline for antithrombotic treatment of COVID-19, which provides recommendations on anticoagulant and antiplatelet agents for patients with COVID-19 in different clinical settings. The target audience includes clinicians in internal medicine, intensive care, infectious diseases, hematology, vascular medicine, residents, family physicians, and other health care providers providing inpatient or outpatient care to COVID-19 patients. This article interprets the important parts of ISTH guideline.
The diagnosis and management of congenital heart disease (CHD), the most common inborn defect, has been a tremendous success of modern medicine. With the development of diagnostic techniques, surgical procedures and interventional techniques, more than 90% of CHD children can survive to adulthood. Consequently, the prevalence of patients with CHD has shifted away from infancy and childhood towards adulthood. Adult CHD cardiology is now encompassing not only young or middle-aged adults but also patients aged above 60 years. Standardized guidelines can provide good theoretical support for the comprehensive management of adult CHD. Ten years after the European Society of Cardiology guidelines for the management of grown-up CHD released in 2010, the new version was officially released in August 2020. The new version of guidelines updated the classification and stratification of diseases, comprehensive intervention methods and intervention timing, and put forward some new concepts, new intervention standards and methods. For adult CHD that has not been repaired or needs to be repaired again, the indication and mode of surgical intervention and perioperative management have a great impact on the prognosis. The new version of the guidelines provides a detailed description of the surgical and intervention indications and methods for different diseases, and clarifies the management methods for high-risk groups. This article attempts to interpret this newly updated guideline from the perspective of a surgeon, sort out several key diseases introduced by the guideline, and strives to provide a concise and actionable guideline for domestic counterparts.
Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide. A large body of epidemiologic evidence suggests that regular physical activity (PA) and high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness can prevent the progression of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events. "Physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, and cardiovascular health: a clinical practice statement of the ASPC" released in December, 2022 by the American Society for Preventive Cardiology (ASPC) and provided the most up-to-date guidance on the associations and mechanisms between PA and cardiorespiratory fitness, the development of exercise prescriptions, and exercise-associated cardiovascular risk. In this article, the main content of this guideline was interpreted, aiming to develop a more scientific exercise prescription for patients with cardiovascular disease.
In order to guide diagnosis and treatment in children with sleep disordered breathing aged 1 to 23 months, the European Respiratory Society(ERS) summarized the evidence and released the European Respiratory Society statement based on clinical experience in 2016. This article aims to interpret the ERS statement. Children with apparent upper airway obstruction during wakefulness and those with SDB symptoms and complex conditions requires treatment. Adenotonsillectomy and continuous positive airway pressure are the most frequently used treatment measures along with interventions targeting specific conditions. Obstructive SDB in children aged 1 to 23 months is a multifactorial disorder that requires objective assessment and treatment of all underlying abnormalities.
This paper interprets clinical practice guideline for abdominal aortic aneurysm of American Society for Vascular Surgery in 2018.