[The rate of recovery of left atrial contractile function after the transition to sinus rhythm in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation].

In the examination of 120 patients without valvular heart disease suffering from atrial fibrillation paroxysms mechanical function of the left atrium (LA) was assessed using Doppler echocardiography. The majority of the examinees had dilated LA which is thought to be arrhythmogenic. The recovery of the sinus rhythm is accompanied by electromechanical dissociation the longest duration of which took place in subjects exposed to electrical defibrillation.

[Pathologic movements of the ventricular septum in complete block of the left branch of the bundle of His and their effect on left ventricular function].

Echocardiographic tools (M-mode and 2D-scanning) were applied to examine 83 patients with complete bundle-branch block and/or its anteroapical bifurcation block. Six types of abnormal ventricular septal motions associated with the intraventricular asynchronism typical of complete bundle-branch block and with the specific features of electric pulse propagation in the His-Purkinje system were identified. There was a reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction that is peculiar to Types I and VI abnormal ventricular septal motions, whereas in patients with complete bundle-branch block, it is associated with anteroapical bifurcation block.