Plasma B-type natriuretic peptide in predicting outcomes of elective coronary artery bypass surgery.

The risks of surgery and its clinical outcome are of great importance for both patients and physicians when choosing coronary artery bypass (CABG) surgery for coronary artery disease. The purpose of the current study was to clarify the relationship between serum B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and patient clinical outcome. Seventy-six eligible patients who underwent CABG were enrolled into the prospective study.

The correlation between three-dimensional vena contracta area and aortic regurgitation index in patients with aortic regurgitation.

Objectives: The aims of this study are to explore the correlation between the three-dimensional vena contracta (3D VC) area and the aortic regurgitation (AR) index and to determine AR severity using the 3D VC area.

Background: The geometry of regurgitant jets is complex in patients with AR. The 3D VC area can be easily cropped using any plane and we can obtain the complex geometry of the VC area.

Prediction of severity of isolated aortic regurgitation by echocardiography: an aortic regurgitation index study.

Background: No single precise qualitative method is recommended for evaluating the severity of aortic regurgitation (AR). Quantitative methods for AR assessment are, typically, cumbersome and time-consuming. The purpose of this study was to develop a more comprehensive method for predicting the severity of AR.

Value of parasternal long-axis vena contracta width for predicting severity of aortic regurgitation in left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

Correlations derived for the relations between parasternal long-axis vena contracta width and effective regurgitant orifice area, regurgitant volume, and regurgitant fraction were highly significant. A vena contracta width of <3.0 or >5.