Relationship between Arterial Calcifications on Mammograms and Cardiovascular Events: A Twenty-Three Year Follow-Up Retrospective Cohort Study.

Purpose: Breast arterial calcifications (BAC) have been associated with cardiovascular diseases. We aimed to examine whether the presence of BAC could predict the development of cardiovascular events in the very long term, as evidence has suggested.

Patients And Methods: We conducted a 23-year follow-up retrospective cohort study considering women specifically studied for breast cancer.

Preserved cardiorespiratory function and NT-proBNP levels before and during exercise in patients with recent onset of rheumatoid arthritis: the clinical challenge of stratifying the patient cardiovascular risks.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction and congestive heart failure. In RA patients, elevated NT-proBNP levels have been reported to be a prognostic marker of left ventricular dysfunction. In this study, we evaluated cardiorespiratory functional capacity and NT-proBNP levels before and during cardiopulmonary exercise test in early RA (ERA) patients.

[Occlusion of patent ductus using the Rashkind system. Initial experience].

Three patients were submitted to the Rashkind device technique for closure of a patent ductus arteriosus. The percutaneous transvenous technique was employed in every cases. A 12 mm prosthesis was utilized in one case and 17 mm prostheses in the other two cases.

[Mammary-coronary anastomosis: a new technique of approach through the brachial route for angiographic study and angioplasty].

Purpose: A new technique of mammary artery catheterization, by a brachial artery approach, utilizing a pre-molded conventional Sones catheter is described.

Methods: In a series of 300 patients, 308 procedures were performed. Three hundred internal mammary-coronary anastomosis were studied.

[Analysis of the mechanical properties of the left ventricle in patients with aortic valve disease].

The morphological and functional aspects of the left ventricle (LV) were assessed by echocardiography and cardiac catheterization performed simultaneously in 41 patients. Eleven were normal (N), 14 had aortic stenosis (AS) and 16 had aortic regurgitation (AR). Of the 14 patients with AS, eight were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class I and II (ASA group) and six were in NYHA functional class III and IV (ASB group).

Hemodynamic determinants of coronary constriction in human myocardial bridges.

To study the physiopathology of myocardial bridges, we assessed the degree of systolic coronary artery constriction (%SC) in different hemodynamic situations in six patients submitted for coronary angiograms. There was an increase of %SC (p less than 0.05) with sodium nitroprusside (NP), no modification during fast atrial stimulation (AS), and a decrease (p less than 0.