Systolic and diastolic function in renal replacement therapy: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Heart disease is the main cause of death among uremic patients (pts). Our study aimed to assess left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function in all of our pts on renal replacement therapy (RRT), investigating any differences between hemodialysis (HD), peritoneal dialysis (PD) and transplantation (TX) pts.

Methods: All pts on RRT at our nephrology unit were enrolled in the study and evaluated once over a period of 6 months: 125 pts were studied: 61 pts on HD, 30 pts on PD and 34 TX pts.

Transesophageal echocardiographic follow-up of pulmonary veins in patients undergoing ostial radiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation.

Background: Ostial radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) of pulmonary veins (PVs) is a promising invasive approach for the non-pharmacologic treatment of atrial fibrillation, but PV stenosis has been reported as a possible complication of this intervention. The aim of this study was to assess PV anatomy and stenosis (i.e.