Fontan Circulation in Adult Patients: Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse Elastography as a Useful Tool for Liver Assessment.

Objective: The development of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis due to long-standing liver congestion is known to occur in adult patients with Fontan circulation. Hepatic elastography has shown to be a useful tool for the noninvasive assessment and staging of liver fibrosis in chronic liver diseases, although the utility of this technique in Fontan patients remains to be adequately studied.

Methods: Twenty-one patients with Fontan circulation underwent an abdominal ultrasound and an acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastography.

Reversal of protein-losing enteropathy after heart transplantation in young patients.

Protein-losing enteropathy is a rare but life-threatening complication that occurs in some patients who develop intestinal lymphangiectasis secondary to increased systemic venous pressure. Although different forms of treatment have been tried, with varying results, the majority were reported to be unsuccessful. The aim of this study was to demonstrate that heart transplantation may be an appropriate therapeutic option for patients who do not respond to medical treatment.

[Prognostic value of fibrinogen in patients admitted with suspected unstable angina and non-q-wave myocardial infarction].

Introduction And Objective: In recent years, the relation between biological markers of inflammation and prognosis in patients suffering from acute coronary syndromes has been investigated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between baseline fibrinogen concentrations and the development of clinical events in patients admitted with suspicion of unstable angina and non-Q-wave myocardial infarction.

Material And Method: Levels of fibrinogen at enrollment were analyzed in 325 consecutive patients with acute coronary syndromes.