Echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular dyssynchrony and correlation with QRS width in chronic heart failure.

Background: Echocardiographic parameters of mechanical dyssynchrony may improve patients selection for cardiac resynchronisation therapy in chronic heart failure.

Aim: This study aimed to define the prevalence of inter, intra and atrio-ventricular dyssynchrony in heart failure patients with different QRS duration and to evaluate inter and intra-observer variability in collecting different echocardiographic dyssynchony parameters.

Methods: Twenty patients with chronic heart failure of any origin, NYHA functional class II-III with LVEF < 40%, were evaluated by complete echocardiographic examination including tissue Doppler imaging (DTI) and Tissue Tracking.

[Determination of mitral valve area in patients with mitral stenosis by the flow-convergence method: clinical application].

Background: Classic echocardiographic methods to estimate mitral valve area (MVA) in the mitral stenosis (MS) has several limitations. Recently, the proximal isovelocity surface area (PISA) method has been shown to be accurate for calculating MVA.

Aims: This study sought to 1) compare the accuracy of the PISA method to planimetry and Doppler pressure half-time (PHT) methods for echocardiographic estimation of MVA and 2) to evaluate the effect of atrial fibrillation (AF) and significant mitral regurgitation (MR) on the accuracy of the PISA method.

[Cardiac amyloidosis].

Unlabelled: PREREQUIS: Amyloidosis is a rare infiltrative disease characterized by multiple clinical features. Various organs are involved and the cardiovascular system is a common target of amyloidosis. Cardiac involvement may occur with or without clinical manifestations and is considered as a major prognostic factor.

[Cardiovascular complications of sleep apnea syndromes].

The high incidence of association between sleep apnea syndrome and cardiac disturbance was widely descripted during the last decade and has been the target of intensive investigation. Our retrospective study included 12 patients with sleep apnea syndrome diagnosed by polysomnography. 7 patients had HTA with left ventricular hypertrophy (5 cases).