Assessment of arterial distensibility in patients with cardiac syndrome X.

This study aims to investigate arterial distensibility by using carotid-femoral (aortic) pulse wave velocity measurements in patients with cardiac syndrome X. The authors studied 10 patients with cardiac syndrome X (mean age 49.4 +/-7.

Hypercoagulopathy in stroke patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation: hematologic and cardiologic investigations.

The coagulation system is activated and coagulation activation markers are elevated in acute ischemic stroke with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). The etiology, severity, and prognosis of the ischemic stroke might be estimated with the level of the activation of the coagulation system. In this study, prothrombin F1+2 (F1+2), D-dimer, and fibrinogen levels were measured in patients with acute ischemic stroke with and without NVAF, and stroke severity was compared with these hemostatic parameters.

Effect of obesity on coronary collateral vessel development in patients with coronary artery disease.

The purpose of this study was to compare coronary collateral circulation and with other risk factors in patients with coronary artery disease and different body mass index. Between January 1999 and December 2001, of 867 patients who underwent angiography for the first time, 90 patients (24 women and 66 men), with occlusion in only 1 coronary artery participated in the study. Information regarding age, body mass index, sex, smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, preinfarction angina, and use of oral beta blockers and nitrates were recorded for all patients.

Differentiating the infarct-related artery on initial electrocardiogram in single or multi-vessel disease in acute inferior myocardial infarction and evaluating involvement of vessels using correspondence analysis.

Initial electrocardiography changes were compared prospectively with the findings of coronary angiography to predict the infarct-related artery (IRA) in cases of single- and multi-vessel disease and to demonstrate the relationship between other coexisting coronary involvements and IRA in patients who presented with acute inferior myocardial infarction (AMI). ST elevations or depressions of at least 1 mm (0.1 mV) were evaluated in the leads I, aVL, and V1-V6.

Loratidine improves ischemic parameters of exercise stress test in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Background: This study sought to determine whether adding an anti-histaminic medication, loratidine, to anti-ischemic treatment would ameliorate or improve ischemic parameters induced by exercise stress test in patients who suffered an acute myocardial infarction.

Methods: Twenty stable patients with acute inferior myocardial infarction who had a positive EST were randomly allocated into 2 groups, A and B. Patients in group A and B received a 10 mg loratidine tablet added daily to their anti-ischemic regimen for 7 days during the second and third week post-event, respectively.

Normalization of negative T waves in the chronic stage of Q wave anterior myocardial infarction as a predictor of myocardial viability.

We investigated whether spontaneous normalization of negative T waves (TWN) on infarct-related ECG leads (IRLs) in the chronic phase of Q wave anterior myocardial infarction (MI) could be a predictor of residual viability in infarct areas. We prospectively studied 35 patients (age 60 +/- 8.6 years) in the chronic phase of Q wave anterior MI.

Increased pulse wave velocity and shortened pulse wave propagation time in young patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic immune and inflammatory disease associated with excess cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is an index of arterial stiffness and a marker of cardiovascular events.

Objective: To investigate arterial stiffness using carotid-femoral (aortic) PWV measurements in young patients with RA.

Arterial distensibility as determined by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity in patients with Behçet's disease.

Behçet's disease (BD) is a chronic, multisystem disorder characterized by genital and oral aphthae, skin lesions, uveitis, and tendency to thrombosis. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is an important factor in determining cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. It is an index of arterial wall stiffness and inversely related to the arterial distensibility.

Inferolateral myocardial perfusion defect caused by right ventricular outflow tract pacing.

This case report describes a patient who was free of coronary artery disease and showed reversible inferolateral myocardial perfusion defect after having undergone a permanent dual chamber pacemaker implantation and an active-fixation ventricular lead insertion in the right ventricular outflow tract.

Acute myocardial infarction in a patient with essential thrombocythemia treated with glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor.

Essential thrombocythemia (ET) rarely causes obstruction of coronary arteries or acute myocardial infarction. Treatment of acute myocardial infarction in patients with ET may be a problem due to the important role of platelets in the pathogenesis of infarction. There is no reported case of acute myocardial infarction with essential thrombocythemia treated with a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor.

Relationship with plasma neurohormones and dyssynchrony detected by Doppler echocardiography in patients undergoing permanent pacemaker implantation.

Objective: To determine whether isovolumic relaxation flow (IRF) and isovolumic contraction flow (ICF) resulted from asynchrony and asynergy due to VVI and DDD pacemakers modulated neurohormones, we measured neurohormone levels in plasma and investigated the characteristics of IRF and ICF using Doppler echocardiography.

Methods And Results: We studied 11 patients with dual-chamber pacemakers (DDD) and 11 patients, with ventricular inhibiting mode (VVI). All patients underwent Doppler echocardiography of the left ventricle.

C-reactive protein and immunoglobulin-E response to coronary artery stenting in patients with stable angina.

Recent reports indicate that inflammatory mechanisms play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and neointimal proliferation as well as coronary restenosis. To provide baseline data for further studies regarding stenting, restenosis and inflammatory response. we prospectively conducted a clinical study to investigate the time related response of plasma levels of immunoglobulin-E (IgE) and C-reactive protein (CRP) which are two different inflammatory markers mediated by different cytokines in stable patients who underwent elective coronary artery stenting.

Automatic backscatter analysis of regional right ventricular systolic function using colour kinesis in patients with inferior wall acute myocardial infarction with or without right ventricular involvement.

Background: In patients with inferior acute myocardial infarction (AMI), right ventricular (RV) function is an important determinant of global cardiac performance, prognosis, and exercise capacity. Several echocardiographic methods for quantifying RV function have been developed over the years but the usefulness of colour kinesis (CK) and acoustic quantification (AQ) have not yet been investigated.

Aim: To test whether AQ and CK may provide quantitative assessment of global and regional RV function in patients with inferior AMI.

Specific tissue Doppler predictors of preserved systolic and diastolic left ventricular function after an acute anterior myocardial infarction.

The degree of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction determines the outcome of patients suffering an acute anterior myocardial infarction (AAMI). Many recent studies have utilized tissue Doppler echocardiography (TDE) parameters in the assessment of LV function. We sought to investigate whether some variables easily obtained from TDE profiles of mitral annulus corners would predict a relatively preserved LV global function traditionally assessed with ejection fraction (EF) and deceleration time (DT), within the acute phase of AAMI.

Management of a patient with active rheumatoid arthritis and suspected tuberculosis causing effusive-constrictive pericarditis.

In the following case report we present a patient who has been admitted for pericardial effusion causing cardiac compression with active rheumatoid arthritis and suspected tuberculosis. The patient was successfully treated with intravenous pulse steroid for active rheumatoid arthritis, with prophylactic anti-tuberculosis agents for suspected tuberculosis and with surgical pericardiectomy for the thickened pericardium as well as recurrent pericardial effusion.

Decreased nocturnal synthesis of melatonin in patients with coronary artery disease.

In human beings, cardiovascular activity has a distinct circadian variation: Heart rate, blood pressure, and vascular tone decrease at night. Nocturnal cardiovascular blunting is at least partially linked to the autonomic activity and increased risk of cardiac and cerebral events. To assess whether decreased nocturnal melatonin synthesis and secretion in coronary artery disease (CAD), we investigated nocturnal secretion pattern of melatonin in patients with CAD and healthy subjects.

Increased immunoglobulin E response in acute coronary syndromes.

The role of inflammation and mast cell activation has been implicated in atherosclerotic plaque destabilization and rupture. To investigate the role of immunoglobulin E (IgE) in acute coronary syndrome, a prospective clinical study was conducted in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), unstable angina pectoris (UAP), stable angina pectoris (SAP), and healthy controls. IgE levels were serially measured and compared in consecutive patients with AMI (n = 16) and UAP (n = 14) on days 1, 3, 7, 21 after admission and 3 months later and only once in stable angina pectoris (n = 15) and healthy controls (n = 14).

Right ventricular function in patients with acute anterior myocardial infarction: tissue Doppler echocardiographic approach.

Objective: Our purpose was to investigate the right ventricular (RV) performance of patients with a first acute anterior myocardial infarction (AAMI) by using pulsed wave Doppler tissue (PWDT) samplings of tricuspid annulus and RV free wall.

Methods And Results: The study group included 31 patients with AAMI and 20 age-matched controls. Conventional indexes of RV functions were the magnitude of tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), and the transpulmonary and transtricuspid Doppler parameters.

Increased P wave dispersion: a new finding in patients with syndrome X.

The present clinical study was undertaken in patients with syndrome X, namely angina with normal coronary arteries, to investigate the presence of increased P wave dispersion by comparing patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and healthy control subjects. Three groups were studied - group A, 21 patients (48 6 years) with syndrome X; group B, 16 patients (56 9 years) with CAD; and group C, 16 healthy subjects (49 8 years). Patients with CAD were older than those in groups A and C (P=0.

Predictive value of admission electrocardiogram for multivessel disease in acute anterior and anterior-inferior myocardial infarction.

Background: Our aim was to investigate the correlation between admission ECG and coronary angiography findings in terms of predicting the culprit vessel responsible for the infarct or multivessel disease in acute anterior or anterior-inferior myocardial infarction (AMI).

Methods: We investigated 101 patients with a diagnosis of anterior AMI with or without ST-segment elevation or ST-segment depression in at least two leads in DII, III, aVF. The patients were classified as those with vessel involvement in the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery and patients with multivessel disease.

Left ventricular pacemaker lead insertion through the foramen ovale--a case report.

This report describes a patient with a 6-year-old pacemaker lead in the left ventricle. Both transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography unequivocally showed that the lead enters the left ventricle via the foramen ovale and the mitral valve. The patient did not suffer from a thromboembolic event; therefore, we did not proceed with extraction.

Incidental detection of a quadricuspid aortic valve by transesophageal echocardiography in a patient with ruptured mitral valve chorda.

Quadricuspid aortic valve is a rare congenital cardiac abnormality which is frequently detected at necropsy or surgery. Here, a young, asymptomatic patient with mild aortic and mitral regurgitations is described in whom a quadricuspid aortic valve was detected incidentally on transesophageal echocardiography performed initially to diagnose ruptured mitral chordae tendineae.

[Assessment of cases with syncope due to primary pulmonary hypertension].

Primary pulmonary hypertension is an uncommon disease. Its diagnosis is suspected after clinical examination however it can be made only after detailed evaluation of heart and lungs and exclusion of all etiologies for secondary pulmonary hypertension. Prognosis in general is poor but it ranges individually.

Hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic nonketotic coma associated with acute myocardial infarction: report of three cases.

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most commonly associated diseases of patients suffering an acute myocardial infarction. Although the coexistence of acute myocardial infarction with other clinical manifestations of diabetes have been well described, extremely few data exists about the concomitant occurrence of hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic nonketotic coma and myocardial infarctions. This article presents three patients with this association and aimed to discuss the clinical course and treatment strategies of this rare condition.