Angioedema Ereditario: aspetti neurobiologici e strategie di coping

The genetic error that prevents the formation of a protein called C1 inhibitor, essential for the human’s life, is the base of pathology known as “Hereditary Angioedema” (HAE). This pathology involves the onset of acute attacks consisting of circumscribed edema of the mucous membranes and of the subcutaneous. An HAE attack can modify suddenly, deforming, the appearance of the patient who has the pathology, when edema affects exposed parts such as the face and the limbs. In other cases, it could be able to cause a serious and painful symptomatology, when it affects the internal organs such as the intestine whose transit is blocked, but also to put at risk, by asphyxiation the life of the patient, when it affects the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract such as the glottis. All this implies for the subject who is the carrier of this pathology, a quality of life dominated by uncertainty, anxiety for a sort of condition of "chronic fear" of the unknown and unpredictable because the attacks arise abruptly, in the absence of causes apparent. From this point of view, we wanted to evaluate how psychological support could contribute to improving the quality of life. In a holistic approach to the patient, the aim of this work was the attempt to identify a correlation between psychological and neurobiological aspects (in detail with inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-6, and cortisol) of the HAE.