Predictive value of computed tomography coronary angiography for the evaluation of acute chest pain: single center preliminary experience.

Aim: To assess the predictive value of CT coronary angiography (CT-CA) in the stratification of patients with acute chest pain.

Materials And Methods: We enrolled 48 patients (31 males and 17 females, mean age 61.0 +/- 14yrs) with acute chest pain of suspected coronary origin, without diagnostic alterations of the ECG and/or increase of the myocardial biomarkers.

Diagnostic accuracy of computed tomography coronary angiography in a high risk symptomatic population.

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of 64-slice computed tomography (CT) coronary angiography (CA) for the detection of significant coronary artery stenosis (> or = 50% lumen reduction) as compared to invasive coronary angiography (ICA) in a population of patients with chest pain and high risk.

Materials And Methods: 44 patients (30 male; mean age 60.2+/- 12.

Stented versus stentless bioprostheses in aortic valve stenosis: effect on left ventricular remodelling.

Background: Whether the use of stentless aortic bioprostheses improves hemodynamics more than stented bioprostheses in the small aortic root is still a matter of debate.

Methods: Early- and mid-term effects were compared between 2 different types of stentless bioprotheses and 1 type of stented bioprosthesis for left ventricular remodelling. The effects of the bioprotheses were studied by echocardiography in 68 patients (age, 74 +/- 7 years) with aortic annulus diameter < or =23 mm who were undergoing prosthesis implantation due to aortic isolated stenosis.

Surgical coronary revascularization with or without mitral valve repair of severe ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Background: Because patients with dilated cardiomyopathy tend to have a poor prognosis with medical therapy, surgery with coronary bypass alone or associated with mitral valve repair should be a promising feasible therapeutic option. We evaluated the early effects of surgical coronary revascularization with or without mitral valve repair in patients with severe dilated ischemic cardiomyopathy.

Methods: The study group consisted of 38 patients aged 65 +/- 8 years with severe dilated ischemic cardiomyopathy, chest pain, and heart failure.

Effects of the reduction of preload on left and right ventricular myocardial velocities analyzed by Doppler tissue echocardiography in healthy subjects.

Aims: Previous studies using Doppler Tissue Echocardiography (DTE) have suggested that the early-diastolic myocardial velocity behaves as a relatively load-independent index of left ventricular relaxation in patients with cardiac diseases; it is not ascertained if this holds true also in normal human hearts.

Methods And Results: We assessed the influence of a progressive reduction of preload, obtained by Lower Body Negative Pressure (LBNP), on the diastolic and systolic myocardial waves compared to the inflow patterns estimated in left and right ventricles in nine healthy subjects. LBNP caused a significant decrease in end-diastolic volume, stroke volume and systolic arterial pressure, whilst heart rate increased only at maximum preload reduction; meridional end-systolic stress did not change significantly.

Left and right ventricular adaptation assessed by Doppler tissue echocardiography in athletes.

Background: Changes induced by intensive training in the morphology and kinetics of both ventricles in athletes (soccer players) were assessed by 2-dimensional echocardiography and Doppler tissue echocardiography (DTE). DTE has yet to find widespread application in sports medicine, and the right ventricle (RV) is often neglected in the examination of athletes. DTE-determined velocities were measured along the short and long axis in the left ventricle (LV) and over the long axis in the RV.

Surgical treatment of the left circumflex coronary artery from the pulmonary artery in an adult patient.

We report an exceptional case of ischemic heart disease due to the origin of the left coronary circumflex artery from the pulmonary artery in a 50-year-old woman. She had undergone surgery for aortic coarctation when she was 16 years old. This abnormality was associated with other congenital defects such as tunnel subaortic stenosis, small aortic valve annulus, numerous left ventricular false tendons, and aortic bicuspid valve.

Marked improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction during long-term beta-blockade in patients with chronic heart failure: clinical correlates and prognostic significance.

Background: Some patients with heart failure (HF) may have a marked improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) after long-term beta-blockade. We compared the clinical characteristics and the prognosis of these patients with those of other patients.

Methods: One hundred seventy-one patients with chronic HF were assessed before and after 9 to 12 months of maintenance therapy with metoprolol or carvedilol.