A case of ventricular asystole without escape rhythm 4 days after percutaneous transluminal septal myocardial ablation in hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy with drug-resistant paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

A 42-year-old man with a more than 10-year history of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, but no history of heart failure or syncope, had left ventricular outflow tract pressure gradient (LVOT-PG) of 50-80 mmHg on Doppler echocardiography. In June 2010, he experienced general malaise on effort, and LVOT-PG increased to 124 mmHg. Two months later, he suffered a transient ischemic attack, complicated with atrial fibrillation (AF).

Association of decreased variation of R-R interval and elevated serum C-reactive protein level in a general population in Japan.

Several studies have suggested that an increased high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) level is a strong independent predictor of increased risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) has also been reported to predict cardiovascular events such as sudden death and myocardial infarction in apparently healthy subjects. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to test the possible correlation between variation of the R-R interval as one of the markers of HRV and serum hsCRP levels in a general population in Japan.

[Atypical takotsubo cardiomyopathy with preservation of apical contraction: a case report including pathological findings].

A 60-year-old woman presented with sudden chest and back pain. Electrocardiography suggested anterior myocardial infarction but coronary angiography revealed no significant stenosis in the coronary artery. Left ventriculography revealed akinesis of the mid ventricle and preserved contraction of the apical wall.

Muscle metaboreflex is blunted with reduced vascular resistance response of nonexercised limb in patients with chronic heart failure.

Background: Exercise-mediated muscle metaboreflex (MMR) activates the sympathetic nervous system afferently and may play an important role in the reduction in blood flow in nonexercised limb, thus enhancing exercised skeletal muscle blood flow (ie, normal regional blood flow redistribution during exercise). However, few data are available to describe the relationship between MMR and peripheral vascular control during exercise in congestive heart failure (CHF). The aim of this study was to determine whether MMR is impaired in CHF, and, if so, whether MMR is related to clinical severity of CHF and to changes in nonexercised limb vascular resistance in CHF.

Peripheral vasodilatory dysfunction in adult patients with congenital heart disease and severely elevated pulmonary vascular resistance.

Several studies have demonstrated that pulmonary vascular abnormalities precede alterations in aortic circulation downstream in animal models of heart failure. The relationship between increased pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) and agonist-induced limb vasodilatory response remains unknown in patients with congenital cardiovascular shunt lesions (CSL). The authors hypothesized that patients with CSL and severely elevated PVR will show a defective vasomotor response in the peripheral vascular bed.