Mitral annular calcifications and aortic plaques as predictors of increased cardiovascular mortality.

Objectives: Mitral annular calcifications (MAC) and aortic plaques are predictive for higher incidence of recurrent embolic events, the presence and severity of coronary artery disease and total cardiac deaths. However, no data exist comparing the impact of combined presence of both aortic plaques and MAC on embolic events, deaths associated with cerebral embolism or cardiac deaths during the follow-up.

Patients And Methods: In 100 consecutive patients with aortic plaques detected by transesophageal echocardiography (mean age 69.

[Transesophageal and transthoracic echocardiography--their diagnostic contributions].

Of 815 patients referred for echocardiographic examination 77 were examined also by the transoesophageal route. The most frequent reason were pathological processes where standard echocardiography provides relatively limited information as well as technically inadequate transthoracic examinations, if the echogenicity of the patient is low. The reasons for examination were complications of myocardial infarctions, a cardiac source of embolization bacterial endocarditis, congenital heart defects, cardiac formations, aortal disease and comatose conditions.

[Alternative approaches in stress echocardiography].

The authors' own experience as well as literary information on stress echocardiography in diagnosis of ischemic heart disease is presented. Besides dynamic postexercise echocardiography, which they consider to be the most adequate form of stress echocardiography, the authors analyze the possibilities of so-called alternative approaches, i.e.

[Agreement analysis of the results of examinations performed by a physician and automated results in the preventive care system].

The authors elaborated an automated preventive system and examined by means of it 1000 probands with regard to the incidence of cardiovascular and bronchopulmonary diseases and analyzed the results. In the submitted paper they present the results of an analysis of agreement of conclusions of examination made in the traditional way by the doctor and those obtained in the automated diagnostic preventive system. Agreement in the sense of a positive statement (presence of disease) was recorded in 54.