Ricerc@Sapienza

Background: Bronchiolitis is the most common acute viral infection of the lower respiratory tract in infants. Clinical severity is associated with different risk factors; however, no clinical, laboratory, or radiological findings are able to predict the course of the disease in full-term infants. Lung ultrasound (LUS) is a valid technique for the diagnosis and evaluation of pediatric respiratory diseases.

Several large clinical trials showed a favorable effect of β-blocker treatment in patients with chronic heart failure (HF) as regards overall mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and hospitalizations. Indeed, the use of β-blockers is strongly recommended by current international guidelines, and it remains a cornerstone in the pharmacological treatment of HF.

Mesenchymal cystic hamartoma (MCH) of the lung is a rare disease, with an indolent course in the majority of cases. It can be single or multifocal and it is composed of primitive mesenchymal cells admixed with cystic spaces. Only few cases have been reported in the literature, with variable clinical presentation. We describe the case of a huge MCH, presenting with spontaneous pneumothorax in a 65-year-old man. Further, we provide a brief overview of the literature and discuss the differential diagnosis with other entities, and the possible diagnostic pitfalls.

Histological characteristics and clinical behaviour define lung neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), which are classified into four groups: typical (TC) and atypical carcinoids (AC), large-cell neuroendocrine carcinomas (LCNCs) and small-cell lung cancers (SCLCs). Historically, outcome and treatment of these rare neoplasms have been based on small, usually mono-institutional clinical series. Furthermore, their rarity makes quite impossible to design randomised clinical trial to compare different treatments especially in unusual clinical presentations.

Background: The loco regional relapse is frequent in the lung disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of re-irradiation by SBRT in terms of Local Control (LC) and toxicities. Methods: From April 2011 to December 2016, twenty-two patients received a re-irradiation by SBRT. Twenty- seven lesions were treated. The medium BED(10) of re-irradiation was 100.6 Gy (range: 48-151.2 Gy) and the medium EQD2(10) was 93.8 Gy (range: 40-126 Gy). In the previous treatment the medium BED(10) was 97.2 Gy (range: 40-120 Gy), the medium EQD2(10) was 81 Gy (range: 32.5-100 Gy).

Objectives: To evaluate the local control (LC) and long term adverse effects in a series of patients with lung metastases who received 30 Gy in single dose with stereotactic technique. Materials and Methods: Between December 2008 and April 2016, a total of 166 lung metastases in 129 patients affected by oligometastatic disease were treated at our Institution with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). Mainly, the primary tumors were non small-cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer (45.2% and 28.8%, respectively). Prognostic factors were also assessed.

Dual energy computed tomography is becoming increasingly widespread in clinical practice. It can expand on the traditional density-based data achievable with single energy computed tomography by adding novel applications to help reach a more accurate diagnosis. The implementation of this technology in cardiothoracic vascular imaging allows for improved image contrast, metal artifact reduction, generation of virtual unenhanced images, virtual calcium subtraction techniques, cardiac and pulmonary perfusion evaluation, and plaque characterization.

Background: Obesity was recently identified as a major risk factor for worse COVID-19 severity, especially among the young. The reason why its impact seems to be less pronounced in the elderly may be due to the concomitant presence of other comorbidities. However, all reports only focus on BMI, an indirect marker of body fat. Aim: To explore the impact on COVID-19 severity of abdominal fat as a marker of body composition easily collected in patients undergoing a chest CT scan.