Value of the Qrs-T angle in predicting the induction of ventricular tachyarrhythmias in patients with Chagas disease.

Background: The QRS-T angle correlates with prognosis in patients with heart failure and coronary artery disease, reflected by an increase in mortality proportional to an increase in the difference between the axes of the QRS complex and T wave in the frontal plane. The value of this correlation in patients with Chagas heart disease is currently unknown.

Objective: Determine the correlation of the QRS-T angle and the risk of induction of ventricular tachycardia / ventricular fibrillation (VT / VF) during electrophysiological study (EPS) in patients with Chagas disease.

Serial evaluation of SOFA score in a Brazilian teaching hospital.

Objectives: To evaluate the application of the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) in describing the severity of organ dysfunctions and the associated mortality rates in critically ill patients at a teaching hospital.

Research Methodology: Prospective longitudinal study performed in 1164 adult, critically ill patients who were admitted consecutively into intensive care units between January 2004 and December 2005. We analysed static evaluation of SOFA and dynamic changes in the SOFA scores.

The experience of family members of patients staying in intensive care units.

Objective: The aim of this study was to understand the experience of family members, during a patient's stay in the intensive care unit of public and private hospitals using an approximation to the phenomenology referential.

Methods: We interviewed 27 relatives of adult patients, 10 from a public institution and 17 from a private one.

Results: From analyses of interviews in a public institution, four thematic categories emerged.