Long-term prognostic role of CA-125 in noncongestive patients undergoing a cardiac transplantation.

Aim: To evaluate the possible relationship between high levels of CA-125 and long-term prognosis in chronic heart failure patients after they undergo a cardiac transplantation (CT).

Materials & Methods: We retrospectively studied all patients who underwent a CT and had a previous determination of CA-125. Congestive patients and those whose survival was <1 year after CT were excluded.

Clinical and echocardiographic course in tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy: Long-term follow-up from a multicenter study.

Objectives: To jointly describe clinical characteristics, ECG and echocardiographic findings, and adverse cardiovascular events in patients with tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy (TC) in the long-term.

Methods: Longitudinal multicenter study including retrospective analysis of clinical and ECG data, and follow-up evaluation with clinical interview, electrocardiogram and echocardiogram.

Results: Data from 66 cases of TC were available for analysis of clinical and adverse cardiovascular events, and 56 of them completed the follow-up visit including electrocardiogram and echocardiogram.

Spontaneous coronary dissection and its long-term prognostic implications in a cohort of 19 cases.

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is a rare cause of acute coronary syndrome. It mainly affects women with no significant cardiovascular risk factors and its presentation varies from unstable angina to sudden death. Knowledge of the condition is based only on individual case reports and the lack of large case series means that its treatment and prognostic implications have not been fully established.

Value of NT-ProBNP level and echocardiographic parameters in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction treated by primary angioplasty: relationships between these variables and their usefulness as predictors of ventricular remodeling.

Introduction And Objectives: To assess the value of N-terminal fragment of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) measurement and echocardiography for predicting ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction and to investigate relationships between the NT-proBNP level and echocardiographic parameters at discharge and in the medium term.

Methods: The study involved 159 patients with myocardial infarction treated by primary coronary angioplasty. The NT-proBNP level was measured on admission, at discharge and after 6 months.

Patent foramen ovale not so patent.

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) with agitated saline contrast is the most sensitive tool for diagnosing patent foramen ovale (PFO), but false positives can result. We report a patient who underwent a TEE during the study of a cryptogenic stroke. Contrast appeared in the left atrium with the Valsalva maneuver.

A heart inside the heart: blood cyst of mitral valve.

We report a case of giant blood cyst originating from the anterior mitral valve leaflet, which was discovered during a two-dimensional echocardiography examination performed for investigation of a systolic murmur in a 34-year-old healthy man. Three-dimensional microbubble-enhanced images showed a heart-shape appearance that may be pathognomonic for blood cyst of the mitral valve.

[How many patients admitted for heart failure are eligible for cardiac resynchronization therapy? Analysis of the Andalusian Heart Failure Registry (RAIC) study].

Introduction And Objectives: The objective was to determine what percentage of patients admitted for heart failure met criteria for cardiac resynchronization therapy.

Methods: The study involved registry data on heart failure admissions at 16 public hospitals in Andalusia, Spain between May and July 2004. Criteria for cardiac resynchronization therapy from American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines were applied: a left ventricular ejection fraction < or = 0.

Brain natriuretic peptide in patients with congestive heart failure and central sleep apnea.

Study Objective: To assess the possible relationship between Cheyne-Stokes respiration (CSR) associated with central sleep apnea (CSA) syndrome and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in an outpatient population presenting with stable congestive heart failure (CHF).

Measurements And Results: Ninety patients with CHF due to systolic dysfunction (left ventricular ejection fraction View Article and Find Full Text PDF

[Combined treatment with intravenous prostacyclin and sildenafil in patients with pulmonary hypertension: report of 4 cases].

Background And Objective: Here we report the experience obtained from a combined treatment with intravenous (i.v) prostacyclin and oral sildenafil in patients with severe pulmonary hypertension (PHT) who had a poor response to prior treatment with prostacyclin alone.

Patients And Method: Sildenafil was added to the treatment in four patients with PHT (primary in two patients and secondary to collagenosis in the other two) with no adequate response to i.

[Utility of cardiac event recorders in diagnosing arrhythmic etiology of palpitations in patients without structural heart disease].

Objective: To determine the diagnostic yield of transtelephonic event monitors for identifying the reason for palpitations in patients with no structural heart disease.

Patients And Method: For 20 months we enrolled all patients reporting palpitations in whom heart disease had been ruled out by medical history, physical examination, ECG and transthoracic echocardiography. All patients underwent 24 h Holter monitoring, which did not provide diagnostic information.