Premature Ventricular Complexes: Benign versus Malignant - How to approach?

Premature Ventricular Complexes (PVCs) refer to electrical activity arising from ventricles resulting in ventricular contraction independent of the native rhythm. PVCs by themselves are common in the general population but based on the origin of the PVCs, either related to anatomical or electrical substrate, the disease process has a widely varied presentation and prognosis. The clinical presentation of symptoms may vary from being extremely benign, or very severe (malignant).

Accessibility and adherence to positive airway pressure treatment in patients with obstructive sleep apnea: a multicenter study in Latin America.

Purpose: Information on access and adherence to positive airway pressure (PAP) treatment is lacking at the regional level in Latin America. This study characterized access and adherence to PAP in patients with moderate-severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in Latin America.

Methods: Cross-sectional study, conducted at 9 sleep centers across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.

Can We Assess Pulsus Paradoxus through Polysomnography in a Patient with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Sleep-Disordered Breathing?

Pulsus paradoxus (PP) is a decrease in systolic blood pressure greater than 10 mm Hg during inspiration that occurs in various medical conditions. Using polysomnography pulse oximetry signal, photoplethysmography variations of the amplitude of the pulse pressure within the respiratory cycle were observed. There is a proportional relationship between the changes of inspiratory waveform values and the generated PP.

Effectiveness of home single-channel nasal pressure for sleep apnea diagnosis.

Introduction: Home single-channel nasal pressure (HNP) may be an alternative to polysomnography (PSG) for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) diagnosis, but no cost studies have yet been carried out. Automatic scoring is simpler but generally less effective than manual scoring.

Objectives: To determine the diagnostic efficacy and cost of both scorings (automatic and manual) compared with PSG, taking as a polysomnographic OSA diagnosis several apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) cutoff points.

Electrocardiographic changes due to pyridoxine deficiency.

A young woman presented with marked alterations in the ECG without cardiological symptoms or evidence of structural heart disease after further evaluation. There was evidence of vitamin deficiency and the ECG normalized after 10 days of treatment with vitamins. Similar alterations have been described in several experimental studies with rats, but this is the first case reported in humans.