[Sexual activity and cardiovascular risks].

Sexual activity is a major aspect of the quality of life in the general population as well as in cardiac patients. It can be compromised by the disease itself (endothelial dysfunction, vascular or cardiac impairment) or by the treatments prescribed. An appropriate treatment should be proposed, including phosphodiesterase inhibitors in men with erectile dysfunction.

[Correlation between atrial function and functional capacity in highly trained subjects].

Aim: The aim of the study is to show the relationship existing between tissular Doppler imaging (TDI) parameters and functional capacity in highly trained subjects.

Methods And Patients: We therefore studied 46 patients including 22 untrained and 24 trained subjects. Each subject had pulsed TDI recording of systolic (S) and diastolic (E and A) longitudinal myocardial velocities in the basal portion of the RV free wall (RV), the septum (sep) and the LV free wall (LV) from apical 4C view.

[Long-term clinical benefits of using active stents in diabetic patients: two year follow-up of a consecutive series of 122 patients].

The objective of our study is to evaluate the long-term results of coronary angioplasty using active stents in a population of diabetic patients. This is a single-centre study on a consecutive series of 122 diabetic patients (40% of them insulin dependent) who between January 2003 and June 2004 underwent angioplasty with implantation of an active stent (sirolimus Cypher(R) or paclitaxel Taxus(R)) for one or more de novo coronary lesions. The mean age was 66 +/- 10 years and a total of 171 coronary segments were treated.