Enhancing Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy Detection and Risk Stratification: Insights from Advanced Echocardiographic Techniques.

Introduction: The echocardiographic diagnosis criteria for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) are highly specific but sensitivity is low, especially in the early stages of the disease. The role of echocardiographic strain in ARVC has not been fully elucidated, although prior studies suggest that it can improve the detection of subtle functional abnormalities. The purposes of the study were to determine whether these advanced measures of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction on echocardiogram, including RV strain, increase diagnostic value for ARVC disease detection and to evaluate the association of echocardiographic parameters with arrhythmic outcomes.

Changes in supramaximal M-wave amplitude at different regions of biceps brachii following eccentric exercise of the elbow flexors.

Purpose: Previous evidence from surface electromyograms (EMGs) suggests that exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) may manifest unevenly within the muscle. Here we investigated whether these regional changes were indeed associated with EIMD or if they were attributed to spurious factors often affecting EMGs.

Methods: Ten healthy male subjects performed 3 × 10 eccentric elbow flexions.

Prior exercise training and experimental myocardial infarction: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Exercising prior to experimental infarction may have beneficial effects on the heart. The objective of this study was to analyze studies on animals that had exercised prior to myocardial infarction and to examine any benefits through a systematic review and meta-analysis. The databases MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and Cochrane were consulted.

Quantifying steatosis in the liver and pancreas with MRI in patient with chronic liver disease.

Aim: To compare pancreatic and hepatic steatosis quantified by proton density fat fraction (PDFF) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with chronic liver disease.

Material And Methods: This cross-sectional study included 46 adult patients who underwent liver biopsy for chronic viral hepatitis (n=19) or other chronic non-alcoholic liver diseases (NALD) (n=27). Liver biopsy was used as the gold standard for diagnosing and grading hepatic steatosis.

Brain Metastasis in Papillary Serous Adenocarcinoma of the Endometrium.

Background:  Most endometrial cancers (75%) are diagnosed in early stages (stages I and II), in which abnormal uterine bleeding is the most frequent clinical sign. When the diagnosis is performed in stage IV, the most common sites of metastasis are the lungs, liver and bones. Central nervous system (CNS) metastasis is a rare condition.

Ultrasound imaging in women's arm flexor muscles: intra-rater reliability of muscle thickness and echo intensity.

Background: Different ultrasound parameters have been frequently used to assess changes associated with training, aging, immobilization, and neuromuscular diseases. However, an exploratory reliability analysis of the echo intensity (EI) and muscle thickness (MT) of the forearm flexors is scarce, especially in women.

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to determine the intra-rater reliability of MT and EI assessed by ultrasound in young women.

A sonographic technique to evaluate the anterior bundle of the ulnar collateral ligament of the elbow: imaging features and anatomic correlation.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to test a sonographic technique used to view the anterior bundle of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), describe its sonographic characteristics in healthy volunteers, and verify these characteristics by determining interobserver variability and their correlations in cadavers.

Methods: Sonographic studies of the anterior bundle of the UCL were performed on 48 elbows of asymptomatic healthy volunteers. The participants were examined by 3 experts, who identified the insertion sites of the anterior bundle and subjectively evaluated its echogenicity and echo texture.

Cardiac mechanics evaluated by speckle tracking echocardiography.

Natural myocardial markers, or speckles, originated from constructive and destructive interference of ultrasound in the tissues may provide early diagnosis of myocardial changes and be used in the prediction of some cardiac events. Due to its relatively temporal stability, speckles can be tracked by dedicated software along the cardiac cycle, enabling the analysis of the systolic and diastolic function. They are identified by either conventional 2D grey scale and by 3D echo, conferring independence of the insonation angle, thus allowing assessment of cardiac mechanics in the three spatial planes: longitudinal, circumferential, and radial.

[Perinatal and pediatric follow up of children with increased nuchal translucency and normal karyotype].

Purpose: To analyze the perinatal and pediatric outcome of fetuses that showed nuchal translucency (NT) above the 95th percentile (P95) and a normal karyotype in order to obtain data allowing better maternal prenatal counseling.

Methods: fetuses from a tertiary obstetric service with an NT above P95 and a normal karyotype were analyzed between 2005 and 2011. We analyzed gestational ultrasound follow-up, fetal and postnatal echocardiography (ECHO), weight, length and Apgar score at birth, and neuropsychomotor development by the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) up to July 2012.

3D Echo pilot study of geometric left ventricular changes after acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Left ventricular remodeling (LVR) after AMI characterizes a factor of poor prognosis. There is little information in the literature on the LVR analyzed with three-dimensional echocardiography (3D ECHO).

Objective: To analyze, with 3D ECHO, the geometric and volumetric modifications of the left ventricle (VE) six months after AMI in patients subjected to percutaneous primary treatment.

Impact of continuous positive airway pressure treatment on right ventricle performance in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea, assessed by three-dimensional echocardiography.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a predictor of right ventricle (RV) impairment. However, there is scant information on the effect of OSA treatment on RV performance. We sought to evaluate the impact of OSA treatment with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device on RV volume and function, as well as on variables related to pulmonary vascular haemodynamics.

New equation for prediction of reverse remodeling after cardiac resynchronization therapy.

Objectives: To integrate data from two-dimensional echocardiography (2D ECHO), three-dimensional echocardiography (3D ECHO), and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) for prediction of left ventricular (LV) reverse remodeling (LVRR) after cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). It was also compared the evaluation of cardiac dyssynchrony by TDI and 3D ECHO.

Methods: Twenty-four consecutive patients with heart failure, sinus rhythm, QRS ≥ 120 msec, functional class III or IV and LV ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 0.

T1rho MRI of menisci and cartilage in patients with osteoarthritis at 3T.

Objective: To assess and compare subregional and whole T1rho values (median±interquartile range) of femorotibial cartilage and menisci in patients with doubtful (Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade 1) to severe (KL4) osteoarthritis (OA) at 3T.

Materials And Methods: 30 subjects with varying degrees of OA (KL1-4, 13 females, 17 males, mean age±SD=63.9±13.

Assessment of subchondral bone marrow lipids in healthy controls and mild osteoarthritis patients at 3T.

The compartment-specific lipid changes in femoral-tibial bone of healthy controls and mild osteoarthritis (OA) patients were quantified at 3.0 T. Healthy volunteers [Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade = 0; n = 15, 4 females, 11 males, mean age 39 ± 16 years, age range = 24-78 years] and mild OA patients (KL = 1, 2; n = 26, 12 females, 14 males, mean age 61 ± 14 years, age range = 27-80 years) were scanned on a 3 T scanner.

[Echocardiographic assessment of cardiac resynchronization therapy: two-year follow-up period].

Background: The cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is an effective option for patients with advanced heart failure (HF). Clinical, electrocardiographic and echocardiographic criteria have been studied in an attempt to find the patients that will benefit from the CRT, considering that the echocardiogram is the method that is used both in the selection and in the assessment of such therapy.

Objective: The objective of this work is to analyze the use of echocardiogram to assess the CRT, in a ten-day follow-up period and after two years of evolution.

Relation between three-dimensional and two-dimensional echocardiography and biochemical analysis in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction percutaneously treated.

Objective: The prognosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction depends on multiple features that can demonstrate myocardial injury degree (such as serum markers of cardiac necrosis), and also on adaptive mechanisms relative to the acute event. The aim of the study was to assess the relation between biochemical and echocardiographic findings from three-dimensional echocardiographic (3D Echo) analysis and echocardiographic two-dimensional (2D Echo) left ventricular ejection fraction in patients with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction, submitted to primary percutaneous treatment.

Methods: A prospective study with 2D Echo and 3D Echo of 23 patients (17 males, mean age of 57 ± 13 years) with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction, primarily percutaneously treated (stent).

MRI of the wrist at 7 tesla using an eight-channel array coil combined with parallel imaging: preliminary results.

Purpose: To determine the feasibility of performing MRI of the wrist at 7 Tesla (T) with parallel imaging and to evaluate how acceleration factors (AF) affect signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and image quality.

Materials And Methods: This study had institutional review board approval. A four-transmit eight-receive channel array coil was constructed in-house.

Impact of continuous positive airway pressure treatment on left atrial volume and function in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea assessed by real-time three-dimensional echocardiography.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) has been reported as a predictor of left ventricle (LV) diastolic dysfunction and left atrium (LA) remodelling. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of OSA treatment with a continuous positive airway pressure device (CPAP) on the LA volume and function, as well as on the LV diastolic function.

Methods: In total, 56 OSA patients were studied.

Left ventricular ejection fraction and volumes as measured by 3d echocardiography and ultrafast computed tomography.

Background: Real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT-3D-Echo) and ultrafast computed tomography (CT) are two novel methods for the analysis of LV ejection fraction and volumes.

Objective: To compare LVEF and volume measurements as obtained using RT-3D-Echo and ultrafast CT.

Methods: Thirty nine consecutive patients (27 men, mean age of 57+/-12 years) were studied using RT-3D-Echo and 64-slice ultrafast CT.

Ventricular dyssynchrony index: comparison with two-dimensional and three-dimensional ejection fraction.

Background: Left ventricular (LV) electromechanical coupling (synchrony) is important in the analysis of the systolic performance, especially for the indication of cardiac resynchronization therapy in patients with advanced CHF.

Objective: To compare LV synchrony as analyzed by real-time three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography (ECHO) with LVEF measurements as obtained with 2D and 3D ECHO.

Methods: Prospective study of 92 individuals (56 men, 47 +/- 10 years of age), of which 60 had normal heart structure (ECHO) and ECG (N group), and 32 had dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM group).

Ross Operation with decellularized pulmonary allografts: medium-term results.

Objective: To evaluate the medium-term results (4 years) of decellularized allografts during Ross Operation.

Methods: From January 2003 to February 2007, 68 patients underwent Ross Operation with decellularized allografts. Forty eight were male and the mean age was 30.

Anterograde balloon dilatation in neonatal critical aortic stenosis.

Introduction: Percutaneous valvotomy is an alternative therapy to surgery in newborns with critical aortic stenosis. However, the retrograde technique commonly used has significant morbidity and mortality. We decided to introduce anterograde percutaneous aortic valvotomy in newborns in a Pediatric Cardiology Unit and assess the immediate and follow-up results.

Magnetic resonance imaging and endometriosis: deeply infiltrating endometriosis does not originate from the rectovaginal septum.

The goal of this study was to describe the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging signs of deeply infiltrating endometriosis (DIE) lesions and above all to find out if MR imaging can pinpoint the location of these lesions. We made a retrospective study of 8 patients presenting with histologically proven DIE lesions. The MR imaging results were compared with intraoperative findings.

[EPI-FLAIR sequence in the evaluation of mesial temporal sclerosis].

The purpose of this study is to evaluate morphological and signal intensity changes in the hippocampus in patients with medically intractable temporal lobe epilepsy. We studied 8 patients with mesial temporal sclerosis using a 1.5 -T MR and the following sequences Spin Eco- SE, Fast Spin Echo- FSE, Fluid Attenuation Inversion Recovery Echo Planar Imaging--FLAIR-EPI.