Incidental Diagnosis After a Car Accident: A Rare Case of Asymptomatic Uncorrected Tetralogy of Fallot.

Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is a heterogeneous congenital heart disease that is occasionally diagnosed during adulthood. However, although they are often asymptomatic, adult patients with uncorrected TOF often have a poor prognosis. Poor outcomes indicate the importance of the identification and management of these patients, especially in the context of intercurrent disease or noncardiac surgery.

Prevalence and prognostic impact of left ventricular non-compaction in patients with thalassemia.

A high incidence of isolated left ventricular non-compaction (LVNC) has been reported in previous studies on smaller cohorts of patients with thalassemia by cardiac MRI but the clinical impact of the finding is unknown. This prospective cohort study evaluates the prevalence and clinical implication of the finding. Prospective cohort study with enrollment of all consecutive cases with thalassemia referred for cardiac MRI from September 2007 to November 2014.

Nonobstructive Versus Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease in Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis.

Background: Differences in prognosis and baseline clinical presentation have been documented among patient with acute coronary syndrome and coronary artery disease with obstructive (ObCAD) or nonobstructive arteries (NObCAD), but the rates of events largely varied across single studies. We carried out a meta-analysis to compare the clinical presentation and prognosis of NObCAD versus ObCAD acute coronary syndrome patients, as well as of the subjects with zero versus mild occlusion.

Methods And Results: Searches were made in MedLine, EMBASE, Cochrane databases, and proceedings of international meetings up to June 30, 2015.

Stepwise ablation approach versus pulmonary vein isolation in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: Randomized controlled trial.

Background: Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is a central procedure for the treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). However, in patients with PAF and structural atrial disease, PVI may fail and cause progressive atrial remodeling, often leading to persistent/permanent atrial fibrillation.

Objective: We performed a prospective, single-blind, 2-center randomized controlled trial to compare the efficacy of PVI alone with that of PVI plus stepwise ablation in achieving sinus rhythm and nonatrial arrhythmia inducibility in patients with PAF refractory to antiarrhythmic therapy.

Mitral valve anatomy and function: new insights from three-dimensional echocardiography.

Integrating volumetric rendering with motion in real-time, three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography is the most suitable imaging technique for assessing heart valves. Today, the rapidly advancing 3D technology allows us to perform a virtual 'dissection' of the heart intra vitam and to discover unprecedented, realistic views of cardiac valves in just a few minutes. The mitral valve is the cardiac structure easiest to visualize by transthoracic or transoesophageal approach.

Heart rate variability today.

Heart rate variability (HRV) non-invasively assesses the activity of the autonomic nervous system. During the past 30 years, an increasing number of studies have related the imbalance of the autonomic nervous system (as assessed by HRV) to several pathophysiogical conditions, particularly in the setting of cardiovascular disease. Sudden death, coronary artery disease, heart failure, or merely cardiovascular risk factors (smoking, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension) are the best-known clinical circumstances that can affect and/or be affected by the autonomic nervous system.

Weight is an independent predictor of vascular injury in healthy volunteers with aspartate allele.

Background: Endothelial dysfunction and carotid intima-media thickeness (IMT) are currently considered key early events in atherogenesis and markers of arterial damage. We investigated whether endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) glutamate (Glu)298-aspartate (Asp) polymorphism may influence the vascular response to weight, as measured by BMI, in young, healthy individuals.

Methods: One hundred young (30.

Sex differences in biomarkers for predicting cardiovascular and coronary events.

Introduction: Primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular Disease (CVD) are major concerns and priorities. The best tools that we actually have to prevent CVD are the biomarkers. Numerous studies have shown that the presentation of cardiac disease in women is quite different from the presentation in men.

Diagnosis and treatment of heart disease: are women different from men?

Key questions concerning strategies for diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of heart disease in women remain unanswered. Thrombolytic therapy has been shown to reduce mortality similarly in men and women. In addition, percutaneous coronary intervention for acute coronary syndromes is as effective in women as in men.