TpTe and TpTe/QT: novel markers to predict sudden cardiac death in ESRD?

Introduction: Reliable markers to predict sudden cardiac death (SCD) in patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) remain elusive, but electrocardiogram (ECG) parameters may help stratify patients. Given their roles as markers for myocardial dispersion especially in high risk populations such as those with Brugada syndrome, we hypothesized that the Tpeak to Tend (TpTe) interval and TpTe/QT are independent risk factors for SCD in ESRD.

Methods: Retrospective chart review was conducted on a cohort of patients with ESRD starting hemodialysis.

Antianginal Agents for the Management of Stable Ischemic Heart Disease: A Review.

Antianginal medications are an important aspect of optimal medical therapy for the management of angina in patients with stable ischemic heart disease. The lack of a standardized definition of effective antianginal therapy and the lack of clear understanding of the underlying evidence have often been cited as reasons for the large variations in the use of these particular classes of pharmacologic agents in contemporary clinical practice. Hence, we performed a search of the PubMed database and identified published manuscripts examining the effect of common antianginal agents on improving anginal parameters and on important clinical outcomes such as mortality, myocardial infarction, and repeat revascularization from multiple large randomized, controlled trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and outcomes data from observational studies in patients with stable ischemic heart disease.

Relation between achieved heart rate and outcomes in patients with atrial fibrillation (from the Atrial Fibrillation Follow-up Investigation of Rhythm Management [AFFIRM] Study).

Many patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) are treated with rate control and anticoagulation. However, the relation between the degree of heart rate (HR) control and clinical outcome is uncertain. We assessed whether lower achieved HR at rest and/or lower achieved exercise HR was associated with improved prognosis, quality of life (QoL), and functional status among patients in the AFFIRM study.