Evaluation of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction with conventional and current Doppler techniques in Behcet's disease.

Behcet's disease (BD) is a systemic vasculitis characterized by genital and oral ulcers, uveitis, and other organs' involvement. Left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction has been documented in BD. However, conventional echocardiographic techniques have serious limitations like its dependence on preload, afterload and heart rate.

Beta-blockers increase bone mineral density.

Unlabelled: Authors of animal studies suggest that beta-blockers stimulate bone formation and inhibit bone resorption. On the other hand, data in humans are limited and conflicting results exist in literature. We conducted a prospective case-control study in order to investigate the effects of beta-blockers on bone mineral density in the elderly population.

Usefulness of preprocedural soluble CD40 ligand for predicting restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with stable coronary artery disease.

CD40-CD40 ligand interaction is involved in the inflammatory pathogenesis of atherosclerosis but clinical data about its role in stent restenosis are still limited. We investigated the effect of preprocedural CD40 ligand (sCD40L) on stent restenosis. We enrolled 36 patients (mean age 61.

Cardioversion under the guidance of transesophageal echochardiograhy in persistent atrial fibrillation: results with low molecular weight heparin.

Background: Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) guided cardioversion to restoration of sinus rhythm is a therapeutic option in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Anticoagulation at the time of and after cardioversion is necessary to prevent formation of new thrombus during atrial stunning period. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety to TEE guided cardioversion with low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) in patients with atrial fibrillation.

Evaluation of cardiotoxicity of a combined bolus plus infusional 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid treatment by echocardiography, plasma troponin I level, QT interval and dispersion in patients with gastrointestinal system cancers.

Objective: To evaluate the cardiotoxicity of LV5FU2 regimen (bolus plus infusional 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid) treatment by non-invasive methods such as echocardiography, plasma troponin I (TnI) level, QT interval and QT dispersion on ECG.

Methods: Twenty-two patients with gastrointestinal cancer who received LV5FU2 chemotherapy were evaluated prospectively during 12 cycles of chemotherapy. Plasma TnI assay and ECG recording analyses were performed before the first cycle, at 24 h, before each cycle until cycle 6 and every three cycles thereafter.