Cardiac Resynchronization and Defibrillator Therapy (CRT-D) or CRT Alone (CRT-P) in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure without late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) high-risk markers - CRT-REALITY study - Study design and rationale.

Background: Primary preventive implantation of implantable defibrillator (ICD) is according to current guidelines indicated in patients with heart failure NYHA (New York Heart Association) class II/III and LVEF <35%. Thanks to advances in heart failure pharmacotherapy, a decrease in mortality could render a benefit of ICD insufficient to justify its implantation in some patients.

Methods: Study design: multicenter, prospective, randomized, controlled trial evaluating the benefit of implantation of Cardiac Resynchronization and Defibrillator Therapy (CRT-D) or CRT Alone (CRT-P) in non-ischemic patients with reduced left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) and optimal pharmacotherapy without significant mid-wall myocardial fibrosis detected by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR).

Hypocalcaemic cardiomyopathy: a description of two cases and a literature review.

Hypocalcaemic cardiomyopathy is a rare form of dilated cardiomyopathy. The authors here present two cases in which symptomatic dilated cardiomyopathy was the result of severe hypocalcaemia. First, we report about a 26-year-old woman with primary hypoparathyroidism and then about a 74-year-old man with secondary hypoparathyroidism following a thyroidectomy.

Skin wounds associated with calciphylaxis in end-stage renal disease patients on dialysis.

Calciphylaxis is a rare complication of chronic renal failure mostly with poor prognosis. Painful lesions on various skin surface areas are the most prominent feature of this serious disease. Subsequent infection of necrotic skin tissue is associated with the risk of sepsis.

Arteriovenous fistula, blood flow, cardiac output, and left ventricle load in hemodialysis patients.

The aim of this study was to investigate an association between vascular access blood flow (QVA), cardiac output(CO), and load of left ventricle (LLV) using a simple physical model calculation based on real data, specifically inpatients with high access blood flow arteriovenous fistula(AVF). Vascular access blood flow, CO, and peripheral vascular resistance (PR) were determined by ultrasound dilution technique (HD01; Transonic Systems, Inc., Ithaca, NY).

Physiologic variability of vascular access blood flow for hemodialysis.

Aim: To assess the variability of blood flow (QVA) through a native arteriovenous fistula (AVF) in the long-term and to determine the QVA reduction at which an intervention is appropriate.

Patients And Methods: The study was performed in a group of 34 chronic hemodialysis patients with no history of a AVF intervention. QVA was measured using the thermodilution method (Blood Thermodilution Monitor, Fresenius).

Vascular access monitoring: methods and procedures--something to standardize?

The article discusses the issue of suitable parameters (pressures, recirculation and access flow) to assess hemodialysis vascular access quality (VAQ), available methods to measure those parameters and the setup of the entire VAQ surveillance system (VAQS) in a dialysis facility. Special attention is paid to factors which need some standardization to enable evaluation of VAQ trends in an individual as well as comparison of data from different patients and different dialysis facilities. The discussed procedures are documented with the authors' own measurement results and the results of the VAQS implemented in their unit.