Comparative efficacy and safety of fimasartan in patients with hypertension: A network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Hypertension is a prevalent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Angiotensin II receptor blockers are widely prescribed to patients with hypertension, while new drugs are continuously developed. However, data on comparative efficacy and safety of novel agents, such as fimasartan, are scarce.

Gender Differences in the Impact of New-Onset Atrial Fibrillation on Long-Term Risk of Ischemic Stroke after Acute Myocardial Infarction.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) has been identified as a major risk factor for mortality after acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, the long-term risk of ischemic stroke associated with new-onset atrial fibrillation (NOAF) in ACS remains controversial, and its gender-specific association is unknown.

Methods: We analyzed the data of 10,137 ACS survivors included in a multicenter, prospective registry for Korean patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) between January 2004 and August 2014.

Additive prognostic value of red cell distribution width over late gadolinium enhancement on CMR in patients with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Elevated red cell distribution width (RDW) and late gadolinium enhancement on cardiac magnetic resonance (LGE-CMR) are both poor prognostic factors. This study examined the relationship between RDW and LGE-CMR characteristics in patients with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NICM), and investigated whether the additive prognostic value of RDW as an integrative systemic factor over LGE-CMR exists or not. A total of consecutive 378 patients who underwent CMR at two general hospitals in South Korea were retrospectively analyzed.

Extracorporeal shock waves protect cardiomyocytes from doxorubicin-induced cardiomyopathy by upregulating survivin via the integrin-ILK-Akt-Sp1/p53 axis.

Doxorubicin (DOX) is a widely used anti-cancer drug; however, it has limited application due to cardiotoxicity. Extracorporeal shock waves (ESW) have been suggested to treat inflammatory and ischemic diseases, but the concrete effect of ESW in DOX-induced cardiomyopathy remain obscure. After H9c2 cells were subjected to ESW (0.

Prognostic significance of acute hypertensive response in ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack patients and its relationship with left ventricular myocardial function.

Objectives: Acute hypertensive response (AHR) in acute stroke is associated with adverse outcomes; however, the underlying pathophysiology of the association is poorly understood and its prognostic impact in ischemic stroke remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the prognostic significance of AHR in patients with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), and further examined the relationship between AHR and myocardial function, using two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (2D-STE).

Methods: A total of 244 consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) (n = 192) or TIA (n = 52), who were evaluated with 2D-STE within 7 days from admission, were retrospectively analysed.

CHADS-VASc score predicts exercise intolerance in young and middle-aged male patients with asymptomatic atrial fibrillation.

Exercise intolerance among the clinical symptoms in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) has usually been masked by their adjusted life style. We sought to assess the role of CHADS-VASc score to predict exercise intolerance in asymptomatic AF patients, and further examine whether the relationship differs by age and gender. Among the 6,275 participants of the prospective Korean registry of the Comparison study of Drugs for symptom control and complication prevention of Atrial Fibrillation (CODE-AF), 1,080 AF patients who underwent exercise treadmill testing were studied.

Prognostic implications of late gadolinium enhancement at the right ventricular insertion point in patients with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy: A multicenter retrospective cohort study.

Introduction: The presence of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) at the right ventricular insertion point (RVIP) on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is generally believed to be nonspecific, but the clinical implication of this unique LGE pattern in patients with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NICM) has not been elucidated.

Objectives: We investigated the prognostic significance of RVIP-LGE in NICM patients.

Methods: A total of 360 consecutive NICM patients referred for CMR (102 with no LGE, 50 with RVIP-LGE, 121 with left ventricular [LV]-LGE, and 87 with both an LV and RVIP-LGE) were studied.

Smoking aggravates ventricular arrhythmic events in non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy associated with a late gadolinium enhancement in cardiac MRI.

Smoking is known to increase cardiovascular events, but the association and mechanisms between smoking and ventricular arrhythmic events in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCMP) are unknown. The purpose of this study is to investigate the hypothesis that smoking is associated with sudden cardiac death (SCD) and ventricular arrhythmia in DCMP patients. We enrolled 378 patients who underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) and were diagnosed with DCMP at two general hospitals in Korea.

Cardiac and Pericardial F-FDG Uptake on Oncologic PET/CT: Comparison with Echocardiographic Findings.

Background: Interpretation of cardiac uptake on 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-FDG PET/CT) is often confounded by intense physiological FDG uptake and numerous benign conditions. The aim of the study was to describe the echocardiographic features in concordance with cardiac and pericardial F-FDG uptake on whole-body oncology PET/CT.

Methods: We enrolled 43 consecutive patients (34 solid tumors, 8 lymphomas and 1 leukemia) who were newly diagnosed with non-cardiac malignancy showing incidental cardiac or pericardial F-FDG uptake on PET/CT and underwent transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TTE) within 1 month of PET/CT.

Emphysematous endocarditis caused by AmpC beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli: A case report.

Rationale: Infective endocarditis (IE) is a life-threatening disease, mostly caused by gram-positive bacteria. Gram-negative bacteria were identified as a causative organism in relatively small number of cases. Although, antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli is common cause of gram-negative endocarditis, AmpC beta-lactamase (BL)-harboring E coli is very rare cause of IE.

Clinical implication of an impaired fasting glucose and prehypertension related to new onset atrial fibrillation in a healthy Asian population without underlying disease: a nationwide cohort study in Korea.

Aims: For healthy populations without comorbidities, whether prehypertension and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) are associated with new onset atrial fibrillation (AF) is not well known.

Methods And Results: We included 366 507 subjects (age ≥20 years) not diagnosed with non-valvular AF from the Korean National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort (NHIS-NSC) from 2003 to 2008. In total, 139 306 subjects diagnosed with AF-related comorbidities were excluded, and a 227 102 healthy population was followed up until 2013.

Hemorheological abnormalities and their associations with coronary blood flow in patients with cardiac syndrome X: a comparison between males and females.

Aim: The role of elevated whole blood viscosity (WBV) in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis is well known. We sought to investigate the gender differences in the association between WBV, coronary blood flow and tissue oxygen delivery index (TODI) in cardiac syndrome X (CSX).

Methods: Forty-six CSX patients and 14 healthy volunteers were enrolled.

Association between left ventricular function and paraprotein type in patients with multiple myeloma.

Background/aims: Multiple myeloma (MM)-associated cardiac damage, particularly according to the type of monoclonal (M) protein has not been elucidated. We sought to investigate relationship between elevated serum M protein levels and echocardiographic indices of cardiac structure and function in patients with MM.

Methods: We evaluated a total of 184 consecutive MM patients who underwent echocardiography for bone marrow pre-transplant screening.

Contrast Volume/Raw eGFR Ratio for Predicting Contrast-Induced Acute Kidney Injury in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for Myocardial Infarction.

Background: Considering that contrast medium is excreted through the whole kidney in a similar manner to drug excretion, the use of raw estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) rather than body surface area (BSA)-normalized eGFR is thought to be more appropriate for evaluating the risk of contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI).

Methods: This study included 2,189 myocardial infarction patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the independent risk factors.

Reversible Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Associated with Dasatinib for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia.

We describe two cases of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) that occurred under dasatinib treatment and were resolved after dasatinib discontinuation. Two patients with chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) were switched to dasatinib therapy because of hematological progress while receiving imatinib. These patients had New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class II dyspnea with elevated right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP), which progressed under dasatinib treatment.

Isolated right-sided mural infective endocarditis in a 32-year-old woman with muscular ventricular septal defect.

Bacterial endocarditis secondary to jet streams from a congenital heart defect without valvular involvement is very rare, especially in adult patients. We report an unusual case of a 32-year-old woman with a previously known unrepaired ventricular septal defect (VSD) who presented with intermittent fever and chills after dental treatment and was diagnosed with isolated right-sided mural infective endocarditis associated with a muscular-type VSD. Echocardiography revealed a low echogenic, mobile vegetation along the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) free wall and a small-sized muscular-type VSD.

Not nondipping but nocturnal blood pressure predicts left ventricular hypertrophy in the essential hypertensive patients: the Korean Ambulatory Blood Pressure multicenter observational study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether nocturnal blood pressure (BP), established on the basis of a single 24-h BP monitoring, is a stronger predictor of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) compared with nondipping status in the essential hypertensive patients.

Methods: A total of 682 hypertensive patients (mean age 56.1 ± 14.

A case of pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with congenital extrahepatic portocaval shunt.

Congenital extrahepatic portocaval shunt (CEPS) is a rare anomaly of the mesenteric vasculature in which the intestinal and splenic venous drainage bypasses the liver and drains directly into the inferior vena cava, the left hepatic vein or the left renal vein. This uncommon disease is frequently associated with other malformations and mainly affects females. Here we report a case of pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with CEPS (Abernethy type 1b shunt) in a 20-yr-old man who was incidentally diagnosed during evaluation of multiple nodules of the liver.

Asymptomatic myxoma originating from the right ventricular outflow tract.

Asymptomatic right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) myxoma is quite rare. We report an unusual case of asymptomatic myxoma arising from the RVOT which was successfully surgically removed.

Doppler-derived left ventricular negative dP/dt as a predictor of atrial fibrillation or ischemic stroke in patients with degenerative mitral regurgitation and normal ejection fraction.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of Doppler-derived left ventricular (LV) -dP/dt in predicting atrial fibrillation (AF) or ischemic stroke in patients with moderate to severe degenerative mitral regurgitation (MR).

Methods: Doppler-derived LV -dP/dt was determined from the continuous-wave Doppler spectrum of the MR jet (-dP/dt = 32/time between 3 and 1 m/sec) in 80 patients (mean age 59 ± 16 years, 41% men) with moderate to severe degenerative MR, normal LV ejection fraction (LVEF ≥ 60%), and sinus rhythm at diagnosis. Events were defined as new AF or ischemic stroke.