Cardiorespiratory parameters of exercise capacity in a healthy Lithuanian population: the pilot study.

Introduction: The normative values of exercise capacity used for the interpretation of exercise testing results are influenced by a variety of internal and external factors specific to certain populations. Therefore, in clinical practice it is recommended that population-specific reference values be employed. Cardiorespiratory fitness norms have not yet been established for a healthy Lithuanian population over a wide age span.

Age-dependent heterogeneity of familiar hypertrophic cardiomyopathy phenotype: a role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

In this case report, we present familiar hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with age-dependent heterogeneity of the disease phenotype among the members of one family who carry the same mutation of the myosin-binding protein C gene. Phenotypic heterogeneity is common in patients with familial forms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, both in clinical expression and outcome. Compared with other noninvasive cardiac imaging modalities, cardiovascular magnetic resonance provides an opportunity to more accurately characterize the varying phenotypic presentations of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Non-invasive evaluation of myocardial reperfusion by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography and single-photon emission computed tomography in patients with anterior acute myocardial infarction.

Background: The study was designed to evaluate whether the preserved coronary flow reserve (CFR) 72 hours after reperfused acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is associated with less microvascular dysfunction and is predictive of left ventricular (LV) functional recovery and the final infarct size at follow-up.

Methods: In our study, CFR was assessed by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TDE) in 44 patients after the successful percutaneous coronary intervention during the acute AMI phase. CFR was correlated with contractile reserve assessed by low-dose dobutamine echocardiography and with the total perfusion defect measured by single-photon emission computed tomography 72 hours after reperfusion and at 5 months follow-up.

Patient education significantly improves quality of life, exercise capacity and BNP level in stable heart failure patients.

Unlabelled: The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of complex ambulatory education on quality of life, exercise capacity and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) level in chronic stable heart failure patients.

Material And Methods: Heart failure patients in NYHA class II/III (n = 31) on optimal medical treatment were recruited from the outpatient department. The following data were evaluated before and 2 months after the patient education: quality of life (evaluated by the Minnesota questionnaire), peak exercise oxygen consumption (VO2) and BNP level.

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging for detection of myocardial viability in chronic ischemic left ventricular dysfunction.

Chronic ischemic left ventricular dysfunction is present in number of clinical syndromes in which myocardial revascularization results in an improvement of left ventricular function, patients' functional class, and their survival. Coronary arteriography is of limited value in diagnosis of viability. Noninvasive testing, traditionally nuclear imaging, stress echocardiography and (stress) electrocardiography have been the clinical mainstays for assessing myocardial viability as well as to detect myocardial ischemia.

Is post-systolic motion the optimal ultrasound parameter to detect induced ischaemia during dobutamine stress echocardiography?

Aims: Doppler myocardial imaging (DMI) has been suggested as a method of quantifying induced ischaemia during dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE). The aim of the present study was to investigate both standard systolic and diastolic parameters, but more specifically to address the phenomenon of post-systolic motion (PSM) as a marker of acquired ischaemia during DSE using pulsed-wave DMI.

Methods And Results: We examined 60 patients without previous myocardial infarction who underwent DSE.