The effect of open-chest cardiac resuscitation on mitral regurgitant flow: an on-line transesophageal echocardiographic study in dogs.

Introduction: We sought to determine the effect of cardiac massage on a pre-existing regurgitant mitral valve during open-chest cardiopulmonary resuscitation (OCCPR) in an animal experiment.

Methods: Our study included 29 dogs that were used as experimental models. We anesthetized them and inserted a transesophageal echocardiographic (TEE) probe.

The concurrence of microalbuminuria and retinopathy with cardiovascular risk factors; reliable predictors of asymptomatic coronary artery disease in type 2 diabetes.

People with diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) have a greater risk for premature morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular disease than the general population: cardiovascular disease accounts for 75% of deaths in this population group. We examined whether or not the association of clinical cardiovascular risk factors (RF) with both microalbuminuria (MA) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) constitutes reliable evidence for the existence of asymptomatic coronary artery disease (CAD), as assessed by positive myocardial thallium scintiscan using the SPECT method (Tl-scan) in patients with DM2. The study included 76 individuals with DM2 (54 men and 22 women, aged 46-70 years), with a negative history for infarction and negative clinical or ECG findings of CAD.

Prognostic significance of microalbuminuria in non-diabetic patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Background: The aim of this study was to examine whether the presence of microalbuminuria (20-200 microg/min) can predict in-hospital morbidity and mortality in non-diabetic patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Methods: Two hundred twenty-three (172 men and 51 women) non-diabetic patients with acute myocardial infarction were studied prospectively. The main outcome measures of the study were based on a comparison of in-hospital mortality and major non-fatal in-hospital events (pulmonary edema, post-infarction angina, infarct extension, mechanical complications, conduction disturbances and ventricular arrhythmias) between microalbuminuric and normoalbuminuric patients.

Microalbuminuria: a strong predictor of 3-year adverse prognosis in nondiabetic patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Background: The aim of this study is to evaluate the significance of microalbuminuria (MA) as a 3-year prognostic index in nondiabetic patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Methods: One hundred seventy-five patients with AMI were followed prospectively for 3 years. The study end point was cardiac death or rehospitalization for an acute coronary event.

Comparison of the extent and severity of coronary artery disease in patients with acute myocardial infarction with and without microalbuminuria.

The extent and severity of coronary atherosclerosis were compared between 43 microalbuminuric and 87 normoalbuminuric nondiabetic patients with acute myocardial infarction. Patients with microalbuminuria had significantly greater scores of the severity (Gensini score) and extent (Hamsten score) of coronary artery disease (p <0.001).