Oxygen uptake efficiency slope in patients with chronic heart failure and coexisting respiratory disease.

Background: Oxygen uptake efficiency slope (OUES) is proposed as an objective index of cardiorespiratory functional reserve. The AIM of the present study was to evaluate the effect of coexisting respiratory diseases on OUES in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) (New York Heart Association class II-III) during incremental exercise testing.

Patients And Methods: Fifty-five males were allocated to three groups: group 1-19 patients with only CHF (CHF); group 2-17 patients with CHF and a history of respiratory disease (CHF-RD); group 3-19 matched controls (C).

Assessment of respiratory compensation phase during graded exercise in patients with chronic heart failure.

Background: The VE-VO2 relationship during graded exercise has an inflection point beyond the ventilatory anaerobic threshold (VAT) termed the respiratory compensation point (RCP). Metabolic variables analyzed at the level of VAT and RCP may contribute to the better understanding of such limiting symptoms in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients as dyspnea and early fatigue. The AIM of the present study was to analyze the RCP during symptom limited ramp exercise testing in CHF patients.

Association between angiographic coronary stenosis morphology and acute coronary syndrome manifestation in patients with ischemic heart disease.

Aim: Patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) often show complex morphology of coronary stenosis at angiography. In the present study we evaluated the association between different clinical forms of manifestation of acute coronary syndrome and the angiographic morphological patterns of coronary stenosis.

Patients And Methods: A total of 112 patients with angiographically verified single vessel coronary artery disease were divided into two groups: a control group of 44 patients with simple coronary stenosis at angiography and a study group of 66 patients with complex coronary stenosis.

Comprehensive assessment of ventilatory functions of patients with chronic heart failure.

A comprehensive assessment of the ventilatory functions of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) both at rest and during a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). We studied 42 males, divided into two groups--patients with CHF (n = 21) and age, weight, height and BMI matched healthy controls (n = 21). All subjects underwent a symptom-limited ramp CPET, arterial blood gas analysis, and complex functional examination of the pulmonary system.

LDL-receptor gene polymorphism in patients with early-onset coronary artery disease.

Simultaneous amplification of the promoter and 17 (out of 18) exons of the LDL-R gene (along with flanking intron sequences) was performed in 36 patients with hypercholesterolemia and early-onset coronary artery disease. The identification of the PCR-products on denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) revealed 34 cases of heteroduplexes in 24 patients. The heteroduplexes in exons 12, 10, and 2 (31%, 28% and 22%, respectively) probably reflect common polymorphism of LDL-R gene, while heteroduplexes in exons 6, 4 and 13 are less frequent (5.