Indexing of Left Atrial Volume by Body Surface Area and Height in a Brazilian Population without Previous Heart Disease and with a Normal Heart on Echocardiography. Behavior in Obese and Overweight Patients.

Background: Left atrial (LA) volume indexing for body surface area (BSA) may underestimate LA size in obese and overweight people. Since LA volume is a risk marker for some cardiovascular events, it is suggested that indexing for height would be an alternative more appropriate method. The aims of this study were to find normal and the best cutoff values for LA volume indexed for height in our population.

Mechanisms of mitral valvar insufficiency in children and adolescents with severe rheumatic heart disease: an echocardiographic study with clinical and epidemiological correlations.

We carried out a detailed clinical, epidemiological, and echocardiographic study in 41 patients < or = 14 years of age who were admitted in a public hospital in Salvador, Brazil, with severe rheumatic heart disease. Mitral insufficiency was severe in 90%, and moderate in 10%, of the patients. A posteriorly directed jet was seen in 93% of the patients.