Shortened head-up tilt testing potentiated with sublingual nitroglycerin in patients with unexplained syncope.

Background: Head-up tilt testing is extensively used to determine the vasovagal origin of syncope in patients with otherwise unexplained loss of consciousness, although issues remain regarding the method of the test. The diagnostic value of a shortened head-up tilt test potentiated with sublingual nitroglycerin was assessed in patients with unexplained syncope.

Methods: Two hundred two patients (mean age 49+/-19 years) with syncope of unknown origin and 34 subjects in a control group (mean age 45+/-17 years) were studied.

[Unstable angina in coronary intensive care units without hemodynamics: is admissible a strategy limiting the indications for coronarography?].

In coronary care units (CCU) without cardiac catheterization facilities, coronary angiography is rarely carried out when a successful medical treatment in the acute phase of unstable angina has been obtained. However, the unstable angina still has an uncertain prognosis when the remission of pain is obtained with drugs. This study presents a follow-up of 147 consecutive patients (aged 66.

Asymmetric septal hypertrophy in uremic-normotensive patients on regular hemodialysis. An M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiographic study.

We have observed a high incidence (36.4%) of asymmetric septal hypertrophy (ASH), detected with the use of M-mode (MME) and two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE), in normotensive patients with chronic renal failure on maintenance hemodialysis without signs of cardiac diseases. ASH was detected by conventional MME in 11 cases and was confirmed with the use of 2DE in 8 cases showing a diagnostic concordance of 72.

[Relation between asymmetrical hypertrophy of the interventricular septum and plasma levels of catecholamines in normotensive chronic uremic patients undergoing hemodialysis treatment].

Sympathetic-adrenergic activity has been evaluated in 23 chronic uremic, normotensive patients on regular hemodialysis, 7 of which (30.4%) with M-mode and bidimensional echocardiographic finding of asymmetric septal hypertrophy. The sympathetic function has been assessed by measuring arterial plasma norepinephrine and epinephrine levels before and after postural activation, just before and after dialysis.