Long-term mortality in older patients discharged after acute decompensated heart failure: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Data are available on short- and intermediate-term mortality rates after discharge for acutely decompensated heart failure (ADHF). However, few studies specifically addressed ADHF outcomes in patients aged 75 years or over, who contribute more than half of all ADHF admissions. Our objectives here were to estimate the long-term mortality of patients aged 75 years or over who were discharged after admission for ADHF and to identify factors, especially geriatric findings, independently associated with 2-year mortality.

Functional status and co-morbidities are associated with in-hospital mortality among older patients with acute decompensated heart failure: a multicentre prospective cohort study.

Background: Among patients admitted for acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF), half are aged 75 years or over. The high prevalence of co-morbidities and functional impairments in this age group may affect patient outcomes.

Objective: To assess the association between co-morbidities, functional status and in-hospital mortality in patients with ADHF aged ≥75 years.

[Retrospective study of hospitalizations for heart failure in elderly patients in a cardiology service of a general hospital center].

The results of a retrospective study of patients over 70 years of age admitted to the cardiology department of Meaux Hospital for cardiac failure in 1997 are reported. The cases of 143 patients were analysed with respect to two age groups: 70-79 years, and over 80 years of age. The principal aetiology of cardiac failure in all ages was ischaemic heart disease.

Flecainide-associated pneumonitis with acute respiratory failure in a patient with the LEOPARD syndrome.

Antiarrhythmic agents can cause pneumonitis. Flecainide is a rare cause of hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and few cases have been reported. We describe a case of interstitial hypoxaemiant pneumonitis probably related to flecainide in a patient with the LEOPARD syndrome, a rare congenital disorder.

[Aortic valve myxoma. Conservative valvular surgery].

The authors report a case of aortic valve myxoma discovered in a 35 years-old patient who suffered a transient ischemic attack. At operation a helicoidal gelatinous mass was found attached to the ventricular side of the right coronary cusp of the aortic valve by a pedicle. Through a mini-sternotomy approach the mass was excised and the cusp was repaired.