Beta receptor blocker therapy for the elderly in the COVID-19 era.

When the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic spread globally from the Hubei region of China in December 2019, the impact on elderly people was particularly unfavorable. The mortality associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection was highest in older individuals, in whom frailty and comorbidities increased susceptibility to severe forms of COVID-19. Unfortunately, in older patients, the course of COVID-19 was often characterized by significant cardiovascular complications, such as heart failure decompensation, arrhythmias, pericarditis, and myopericarditis.

Levosimendan for Perioperative Cardioprotection: Myth or Reality?

Background: Levosimendan is a calcium sensitizer drug causing increased contractility in the myocardium and vasodilation in the vascular system. It is mainly used for the therapy of acute decompensated heart failure. Several studies on animals and humans provided evidence of the cardioprotective properties of levosimendan including preconditioning and anti-apoptotic.

Coronary flow response to remote ischemic preconditioning is preserved in old cardiac patients.

Background: The effect of remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) on coronary flow in elderly cardiac patients has not been investigated yet. Thus, we aimed to study the change of coronary flow subsequent to RIPC in old patients with heart diseases and to identify its main correlates.

Methods: Ninety-five elderly patients (aged ≥ 65 years) accessing cardiac rehabilitation ward underwent transthoracic ultrasound evaluation of peak diastolic flow velocity of left anterior descending artery.

Cardioprotection by Conditioning Mimetic Drugs.

Background: At present, ischemic heart disease (IHD) is one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality world-wide. An important insight into both IHD pathophysiology and cardioprotection was achieved in 1986 when Murry et al. described for the first time the ischemic preconditioning (IP).