Safety of SF6(SonoVue®) Contrast Agent on Pharmacological Stress Echocardiogram.

Background: In 2007, the United States Food and Drug Administration mandated safety reviews of commercially available echocardiographic contrast agents (ECA), following reports of death. During the past years, different studies have proven the safety of ECA, but there have been few studies on SonoVue®.

Objectives: To evaluate the safety of SonoVue® during pharmacological stress echocardiography (PSE), by analyzing the incidence of allergic reactions and comparing groups regarding the appearance of arrhythmia, minor side effects and adverse events.

Artificial intelligence applied to support medical decisions for the automatic analysis of echocardiogram images: A systematic review.

The echocardiogram is a test that is widely used in Heart Disease Diagnoses. However, its analysis is largely dependent on the physician's experience. In this regard, artificial intelligence has become an essential technology to assist physicians.

Correlation Between 2D Strain and Classic Echocardiographic Indices in the Diagnosis of Right Ventricular Dysfunction in COPD.

Purpose: This study aims to define which of the right ventricular myocardial deformation indices best correlates with the classic echocardiographic measurements and indices of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Patients And Methods: Ninety-one patients with stable COPD underwent clinical evaluation, spirometry, a 6-minute walk test, and echocardiographic examination. Patients were divided into two groups: "with RV dysfunction" (≥1 classic parameter) and "without RV dysfunction".

Incidence and variables associated with arrhythmias during dobutamine-atropine stress echocardiography among patients with Chagas disease.

Background: Dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) is an important tool in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. However, there is hesitation in clinical practice for using it in patients with Chagas disease (CD) due to the arrhythmogenic potential of this heart condition. This study aimed to evaluate the incidence and variables associated with arrhythmias during DSE in a population of patients with CD.

Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography Safety in Chagas Disease Patients.

Background:: A few decades ago, patients with Chagas disease were predominantly rural workers, with a low risk profile for obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). As urbanization has increased, they became exposed to the same risk factors for CAD of uninfected individuals. Dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) has proven to be an important tool in CAD diagnosis.

Right ventricular Doppler echocardiographic study of indeterminate form of chagas disease.

Background: Patients with indeterminate form of Chagas disease/cardiac normality (ICD/CN) exhibited normal electrocardiograms and chest X-rays; however, more sophisticated tests detected some degree of morphological and functional changes in the heart.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of systolic and diastolic dysfunction of the right ventricle (RV) in patients with ICD/CN.

Methods: This was a case-control and prevalence study.

Echocardiographic parameters and survival in Chagas heart disease with severe systolic dysfunction.

Background: Echocardiography provides important information on the cardiac evaluation of patients with heart failure. The identification of echocardiographic parameters in severe Chagas heart disease would help implement treatment and assess prognosis.

Objective: To correlate echocardiographic parameters with the endpoint cardiovascular mortality in patients with ejection fraction < 35%.

Left ventricular global performance and diastolic function in indeterminate and cardiac forms of Chagas' disease.

The majority of patients with Chagas' disease remain for 10 to 30 years in the indeterminate form (IF) of this disease. They have no symptoms, serologic positivity, normal electrocardiogram results and heart size, and normal left ventricular global and segmental systolic function on 2-dimensional echocardiography. To investigate whether this group of patients have any impairment of left ventricular global performance (Tei index) and diastolic function, we have studied 43 individuals (age 49 +/- 12 years) including 14 healthy volunteers and 29 patients with Chagas' disease divided as IF (n = 12) and cardiac form (n = 17).