[The role of diastolic transthoracic stress echocardiography with incremental workload in the evaluation of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: indications, methodology, interpretation. Expert consensus developed under the auspices of the National Medical Research Center of Cardiology, Society of Experts in Heart Failure (SEHF), and Russian Association of Experts in Ultrasound Diagnosis in Medicine (REUDM)].

Diagnosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is associated with certain difficulties since many patients with HFpEF have a slight left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and normal filling pressure at rest. Diagnosis of HFpEF is improved by using diastolic transthoracic stress-echocardiography with dosed exercise (or diastolic stress test), which allows detection of increased filling pressure during the exercise. The present expert consensus explains the requirement for using the diastolic stress test in diagnosing HFpEF from clinical and pathophysiological standpoints; defines indications for the test with a description of its methodological aspects; and addresses issues of using the test in special patient groups.

[Relationship between the structure-functional state of the heart and brain natriuretic peptide level in patients with arterial hypertension].

We studied relationship between structure-functional parameters of left and right cardiac chambers and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) level in 118 patients with arterial hypertension (AH) (35 men, 83 women) and 17 healthy volunteers. Methods comprised 24-hour arterial pressure monitoring (APM), two-dimensional echocardiography (echoCG), Doppler echoCG, and tissue echoCG of mitral and tricuspid atrioventricular annuli, treadmill test, 6-min walk test, and measurement of NT-proBNP level in blood plasma. In patients with AH blood plasma NT-proBNP level was significantly higher than in a group of healthy persons of similar age.

[Efficacy of shock-wave therapy in the treatment of chronic ischemic heart failure].

Introduction: Shock-wave therapy (SWT) has proved its efficacy and safety in a number of studies in stable effort angina.

Methods: Twenty-four patients (20 men, 4 women; mean age 63.3 +/- 6.