Exercise left ventricular ejection fraction predicts events in right bundle branch block.

Objective: Interpretation of the electrocardiogram (ECG) during exercise is not easy in patients with right bundle branch block (RBBB). Also, the value of exercise echocardiography (ExE) for predicting outcome in them has not been addressed. We sought to assess its prognostic value in patients with RBBB and known/suspected coronary disease.

Increased brain responses during subjectively-matched mechanical pain stimulation in fibromyalgia patients as evidenced by MEG.

Objective: The precise pathophysiology of fibromyalgia, a syndrome characterized by chronic widespread pain, remains to be clarified. When subjected to the same amount of stimulation, patients show enhanced brain responses as compared to controls, providing evidence of central pain augmentation in this syndrome. We aimed to characterize brain response differences when stimulation is adjusted to elicit similar subjective levels of pain in both groups.

Efficiency in the transmission of information through digital imaging and communications in medicine using security mechanisms: tests with DISCUS.

This article describes our experience in using a Picture Archiving and Communications System, known as Secure Medical Image Information System, based on the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine standard that supports the use of secure transmissions, from the point of view of how the use of secure sending methods has an effect on the efficiency in the transmission according to the network employed, to quantify productivity loss due to the encryption, the secure transmission, and the subsequent decryption. To test the Secure Medical Image Information System, a series of medical data transmission were conducted from A Coruña (Spain) to the Virgen de las Nieves Hospital, situated 1,000 km away, in Granada (Spain). Once we studied the networking infrastructure of the hospital and its available image generation devices, we subsequently carried out a series of measurements during the transmissions, which allowed us to analyze the behavior of the system with different network schemes and connection speeds.

Safety and feasibility of returning patients early to their originating centers after transfer for primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

Introduction And Objectives: At present, little information is available on returning patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) to their originating centers after transfer for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the early return of these patients to their originating centers.

Methods: The cohort study involved 200 consecutive STEMI patients (age 62+/-13 years, 83% male) who were returned to their originating centers after PPCI.

Comparison of exercise echocardiography and the Duke treadmill score for risk stratification in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease and normal resting electrocardiogram.

Background: Although exercise echocardiography (EE) is not clearly indicated in patients with normal electrocardiogram (ECG) as the first evaluation, there is a lack of data regarding its superiority over the Duke score for prognosis. We investigate whether EE has incremental value over the Duke score for predicting outcome in patients with normal ECG.

Methods: One thousand six hundred forty-seven patients with interpretable ECG referred for EE were followed up for 2.