Improvements in signs and symptoms during hospitalization for acute heart failure follow different patterns and depend on the measurement scales used: an international, prospective registry to evaluate the evolution of measures of disease severity in acute heart failure (MEASURE-AHF).

Background: The natural evolution of signs and symptoms during acute heart failure (AHF) is poorly characterized.

Methods And Results: We followed a prospective international cohort of 182 patients hospitalized with AHF. Patient-reported dyspnea and general well-being (GWB) were measured daily using 7-tier Likert (-3 to +3) and visual analog scales (VAS, 0-100).

Transient ventricular fibrillation. A clinical case report.

Self-terminating ventricular fibrillation (VF) was recorded in a 42-year-old woman without coronary artery or structural heart disease. Reviewing the scientific literature, we found that this type of VF had appeared in vivo in some animal models but was sparsely described in clinical practice. This most unusual case shows that potentially lethal arrhythmias may be self-terminating.

Antianginal efficacy of omapatrilat in patients with chronic angina pectoris.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition is not an effective antianginal therapy. Experimental data suggest that broader vasopeptidase inhibition may decrease the magnitude of demand-induced myocardial ischemia. A randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled parallel study evaluated omapatrilat, an inhibitor of angiotensin-converting enzyme and neutral endopeptidase.

End tidal carbon dioxide as a predictor of the arterial PCO2 in the emergency department setting.

Objectives: Patients arriving in the emergency department (ED) need rapid and reliable evaluation of their respiratory status. Mainstream end tidal carbon dioxide (ETCO(2)) is one of the methods used for this purpose during general anaesthesia of intubated patients in the operating theatre. Sidestream ETCO(2) (SSETCO(2)) might be a non-invasive, rapid, and reliable predictor of arterial Pco(2) in non-intubated patients in respiratory distress.