Effectiveness and safety of a home-based cardiac rehabilitation programme of mixed surveillance in patients with ischemic heart disease at moderate cardiovascular risk: A randomised, controlled clinical trial.

Background: Previous studies have documented the feasibility of home-based cardiac rehabilitation programmes in low-risk patients with ischemic heart disease, but a similar solution needs to be found for patients at moderate cardiovascular risk. The objective of this study was to analyse the effectiveness and safety of a home-based cardiac rehabilitation programme of mixed surveillance in patients with ischemic cardiopathology at moderate cardiovascular risk.

Methods: A randomised, controlled clinical trial was designed wherein 28 patients with stable coronary artery disease at moderate cardiovascular risk, who met the selection criteria for this study, participated.

Hereditary patterns of bicuspid aortic valve in a hundred families.

Background: To study the following characteristics of bicuspid aortic valves (BAVs): 1) the recurrence rate in our population, 2) patterns of hereditary transmission in different BAV morphologies and 3) the aortic dimensions of BAVs in first-degree relatives (FDRs).

Methods: A cross-sectional, prospective study of 100 consecutive families of BAV patients attending a university hospital. The following aortic valve morphologies were analysed and categorised: fusion of the right and left coronary cusps (BAV type A), right and noncoronary cusps (type B) and of the left and noncoronary cusps (type C).

Influence of cardiac rehabilitation on natriuretic peptides.

Objective: Cardiac rehabilitation programmes result in reduced morbidity and mortality and improvement of functional class. Behaviour of natriuretic peptides coupled to these programmes is not well established. Our study's objective is to evaluate the behaviour of natriuretic peptides in a sample of patients undergoing a cardiac rehabilitation programme.

Dobutamine stress echocardiography identifies patients with angina and dynamic left ventricular outflow obstruction in physiological exercise.

To determine whether patients with no heart disease who develop dynamic left ventricular outflow obstruction (DLVOTO) during dobutamine echocardiography (DE) reproduce the phenomenon during exercise echocardiography (EE), DE and EE were performed in 78 patients (59 +/- 9 years) with effort angina and no alterations in SPECT. Thirty-eight (48.7%) patients had DLVOTO during DE and 15 (19.

[Treatment of heart failure due to systolic dysfunction].

Heart failure due to systolic dysfunction is a clinical syndrome that is characterized by the appearance of the signs or symptoms of heart failure in the presence of structural heart disease that has led to decreased left ventricular contractility. Current clinical practice guidelines emphasize the importance of diagnosing and treating left ventricular dysfunction in patients without symptoms of heart disease. It is essential that currently available scientific findings are taken into account when treating all patients seen with this condition, from dietary advice to use of the most sophisticated devices.

Beta-blocker therapy for dynamic left ventricular outflow tract obstruction induced by exercise.

Background: In patients who present with angina, dynamic left ventricular outflow tract obstruction may be responsible of symptoms. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of negative inotropic therapy on ventricular physiology and symptoms of patients with dynamic left ventricular outflow tract obstruction induced by exercise in the absence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Methods: Seventy eight patients with symptoms of angina, normal exercise SPECT test and normal resting left ventricular systolic function were prospectively analysed with exercise echocardiography.