Amiodarone for arrhythmia in patients with Chagas disease: A systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis.

Background: Chagas disease is a neglected chronic condition caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, with high prevalence and burden in Latin America. Ventricular arrhythmias are common in patients with Chagas cardiomyopathy, and amiodarone has been widely used for this purpose. The aim of our study was to assess the effect of amiodarone in patients with Chagas cardiomyopathy.

Rational and design of a randomized, double-blind, multicenter trial to evaluate the safety and tolerability of furosemide withdrawal in stable chronic outpatients with heart failure: The ReBIC-1 trial.

Aims: Furosemide is commonly prescribed for symptom relief in heart failure (HF) patients. Although few data support the continuous use of loop diuretics in apparently euvolemic HF patients with mild symptoms, there is concern about safety of diuretic withdrawal in these patients. The ReBIC-1 trial was designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of withdrawing furosemide in stable, euvolemic, chronic HF outpatients.

Effect of caffeine on ventricular arrhythmia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental and clinical studies.

Aims: The relationship between caffeine consumption and the occurrence of arrhythmias remains controversial. Despite this lack of scientific evidence, counselling to reduce caffeine consumption is still widely advised in clinical practice. We conducted a systematical review and meta-analysis of interventional studies of the caffeine effects on ventricular arrhythmias.

A prospective, comparative study on the early effects of local and remote radiation therapy on carotid intima-media thickness and vascular cellular adhesion molecule-1 in patients with head and neck and prostate tumors.

Background And Purpose: To investigate early vascular changes related to carotid atherosclerotic injury post-radiation therapy (RT), we studied carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and vascular cellular adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 at two time-points after RT and compared local and remote irradiation effects in patients with head and neck (HNC) and prostate cancer (PC), respectively.

Material And Methods: We prospectively studied patients beginning RT for HNC or PC, performing carotid ultrasound before RT, early after and six months after treatment to measure carotid IMT. Blood samples were simultaneously collected to study VCAM-1 by ELISA.