Long-term clinical outcomes in implantable cardioverter defibrillator recipients on the island of Crete.

Purpose: The aim of the current study is to disseminate long-term "real-world" data on mortality and device therapies in primary and secondary prevention implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) recipients on the island of Crete.

Methods: We analyzed data for all consecutive patients who received an ICD in our tertiary university hospital from 1993 until December 2013. Follow-up visits were performed every 6 months or more frequently when indicated.

Early cardiac gene transcript levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells reflect severity in stable coronary artery disease.

Introduction: The early cardiac marker genes myocardin, GATA4 and Nkx2.5, play a role in both embryonic cardiovascular development and adult cardiovascular disease. We evaluated transcript levels of myocardin, GATA4 and Nkx2.

Serum markers of collagen turnover predict future shocks in implantable cardioverter-defibrillator recipients with dilated cardiomyopathy on optimal treatment.

Objectives: We investigated prospectively whether serum markers of collagen turnover could be used as predictors for the occurrence of malignant ventricular arrhythmias in patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NIDC) who had received an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) for primary prevention.

Background: Extracellular matrix alterations in NIDC might provide electrical heterogeneity, thus potentially contributing to the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmia and subsequent sudden cardiac death (SCD).

Methods: Serum C-terminal propeptide of collagen type-I, C-terminal telopeptide of collagen type-I, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1, and tissue inhibitor of MMP-1 were measured as markers of collagen synthesis and degradation in 70 patients with mild to moderate symptomatic heart failure due to NIDC with left ventricular ejection fraction <35%, who received an ICD for primary prevention of SCD.

Effect of sinus rhythm restoration after electrical cardioversion on apelin and brain natriuretic Peptide prohormone levels in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation.

Because humoral alterations have been implicated in the generation and perpetuation of atrial fibrillation (AF), we aimed to elucidate possible abnormalities in atrial endocrine function in the setting of lone AF. Levels of plasma apelin and amino terminal fragment of the brain natriuretic peptide prohormone (NT-pro-BNP) were measured in 40 patients with persistent AF, before and 1 month after electrical cardioversion, and in 15 controls in sinus rhythm (SR). All patients were successfully cardioverted to SR, although in 9 of them AF recurred.