[Aortic dissection].

Aortic dissection is an acute lesion of the aortic wall accompanied by separation of the media due to rupture or intramural hematoma. The incidence rate of aortic dissection is 5 to 30 cases per million people a year. Acute aortic dissection is a highly lethal cardiovascular emergency with an incidence of 2000 new cases per year in the United States and 3000 in Europe.

[Heart rate and systolic blood pressure response during the early exercise test and cardiovascular mortality after myocardial infarction].

Unlabelled: Exercise cardiography still remains the cornerstone of noninvasive evaluation of functional status of cardiovascular system and is almost uniformly performed after myocardial infarction. The patients after myocardial infarction can be divided into relative high- and low-risk groups for subsequent cardiac events if all information available on the exercise test is used.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of the shape of heart rate and systolic blood pressure curves (their dynamic characteristics) during the early exercise testing and after it and to design the prognostic system capable to recognize patients with a high risk of coronary death during 2 years after myocardial infarction.

Pre- and postoperative C-reactive protein levels in patients with cataract and age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: To assess whether patients with early or intermediate forms of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) benefit from cataract surgery in terms of visual acuity and contrast sensitivity, and to determine the levels of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) as a systemic marker of inflammation before and after cataract surgery in patients with AMD.

Methods: Three groups of patients (n=132) were studied at baseline and 8-12 weeks later: 1) a study group of patients with AMD who underwent cataract surgery (n=47), 2) a control group of patients without ocular comorbidities who underwent cataract surgery (n=36), and 3) a second control group with AMD and no surgery (n=49). Visual acuity (VA) was obtained by letter charts and expressed as decimal notations +/- SD.

Brain natriuretic peptide and other cardiac markers predicting left ventricular remodeling and function two years after myocardial infarction.

Background: Left ventricular remodeling is a complex pathologic process of progressive left ventricular dilatation, leading to dysfunction and heart failure in patients after myocardial infarction.

Objective: To evaluate biochemical markers, reflecting cardiac remodeling process after first myocardial infarction and compare those markers with clinical characteristics of left ventricular remodeling.

Material And Methods: Brain natriuretic peptide, troponin I, creatine kinase, creatine kinase MB mass, lactate dehydrogenase levels were measured in 30 patients with acute myocardial infarction on days 1, 2, 3-7 .

Bland-Altman analysis as an alternative approach for statistical evaluation of agreement between two methods for measuring hemodynamics during acute myocardial infarction.

Background And Objective: Evaluation of hemodynamics in patients with acute myocardial infarction is crucial. In clinical practice, the comparison of a new measurement technique with an established one is often needed to see whether they agree sufficiently for the new to replace the old. Such investigations are often analyzed inappropriately, notably by using correlation coefficients.