Clin Physiol Funct Imaging
March 2014
Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC). We explored the clinical characteristics of IDC patients with chronic AF compared with those with sinus rhythm (SR).
Methods: A group of patients with IDC underwent extensive non-invasive and invasive evaluation during a hospitalization period.
Purpose: To characterize early changes in cardiac anatomy and function for lamin A/C gene (LMNA) mutation carriers by using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and to develop tools to analyze and visualize the findings.
Materials And Methods: The ethical review board of the institution approved the study, and informed written consent was obtained. The patient group consisted of 12 subjects, seven women (mean age, 36 years; age range, 18-54 years) and five men (mean age, 28 years; age range, 18-39 years) of Finnish origin, who were each heterozygotes with one LMNA mutation that may cause familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).
Background: The appearance of circulating autoantibodies against cardiac troponin I (cTnAbs) in patients with heart failure has been reported. We sought to evaluate the role of circulating cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and cTnAbs in the pathophysiology and prognosis of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.
Methods And Results: Circulating concentrations of cTnI and the presence of cTnAbs were determined in 95 patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.
Background: Cytokines play an important role in chronic heart failure (HF), but little is known about their involvement in acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF).
Aim: To evaluate the prognostic role of inflammatory cytokines in patients with ADHF.
Methods: Levels of interleukin (IL)-6, tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), IL-10 and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) were measured in 423 patients with ADHF.
Apelin is a recently discovered peptide ligand reported to be involved in the regulation of cardiovascular homeostasis. The exact role of apelin in the pathophysiology of congestive heart failure has remained obscure, and the reported circulating levels of apelin in patients with heart failure have been contradictory. To establish the role of apelin in the assessment of cardiac dysfunction we measured plasma apelin levels in 65 patients with congestive heart failure caused by idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC) and 14 healthy volunteers by specific radioimmunoassay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The value of ischemic preconditioning during coronary operations has remained controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of ischemic preconditioning on myocardial energy metabolism and tissue injury during off-pump multivessel coronary surgery.
Methods: Eleven patients with preceding preconditioning were compared with 11 patients without it.