Prognosis prediction with two calculations of Palliative Prognostic Index: further prospective validation in hospice cancer patients with multicentre study.

Objectives: In palliative care settings, predicting prognosis is important for patients and clinicians. The Palliative Prognostic Index (PPI), a prognostic tool calculated using clinical indices alone has been validated within cancer population. This study was to further test the discriminatory ability of the PPI (ie, its ability to determine whether a subject will live more or less than a certain amount of time) in a larger sample but with a palliative care context and to compare predictions at two different points in time.

Improvement in left ventricular diastolic stiffness induced by physical training in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Background: Diastolic dysfunction in long-term heart failure is accompanied by abnormal neurohormonal control and ventricular stiffness. The diastolic phase is determined by a balance between pressure gradients and intrinsic ventricular wall properties: according to a mathematical model, the latter (ie, left ventricular [LV] elastance, K(LV)) may be calculated by the formula: K(LV) = (70/[DT-20])(2) mm Hg/mL, where DT is the transmitral Doppler deceleration time.

Methods And Results: In 54 patients with chronic systolic heart failure (39 men, 15 women; age 65 +/- 10 years; New York Heart Association [NYHA], 2.

Different ventricular remodelling and autonomic modulation after long-term beta-blocker treatment in hypertensive, ischaemic and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Objective: In this retrospective analysis, we investigated the influence of aetiology on autonomic modulation and reverse ventricular remodelling induced by beta-blockade in heart failure.

Methods: Twenty-three heart failure patients without comorbidities (mean age 61 +/- 4 years, New York Heart Association class 3.1 +/- 0.

[Favourable effects of cardiovascular rehabilitation on funcional capacity and autonomic balance in elderly patients with heart failure].

In 42 patients with chronic heart failure we evaluated left ventricular function, exercise capability and autonomic control before and 3 months after a program of cardiovascular rehabilitation. The results were analyzed separately for younger (Group 1, n=18, age 51 +/- 6 years) and older patients (Group 2, n=24, age 68 +/- 4 years), with comparable clinical characteristics and therapy. Before rehabilitation, compared to younger patients, Group 2 patients showed a lower exercise capability, a comparable left ventricular ejection fraction and similar high sympathetic activity at rest, with no response to regular breathing (= stimulation of cardiopulmonary receptors, i.