[Blood pressure variability: clinical interest or simple curiosity?].

Blood pressure variability is a physiological phenomenon influenced by many internal and external factors. This variability could be also influenced by pathological conditions such as arterial hypertension. Two forms must be mainly distinguished: the blood pressure variability at long and short-term.

Prognostic value of 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure measurement for the onset of atrial fibrillation in treated patients with essential hypertension.

This study retrospectively determined the prognostic variables of blood pressure by 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure measurement in relation to onset of atrial fibrillation in treated patients who had essential hypertension and analyzed the class effect of antihypertensive management on the nonoccurrence of this supraventricular arrhythmia.

Painful left bundle branch block detected during dobutamine stress echocardiography.

We report on the observation, in a 50-year-old woman undergoing dobutamine stress echocardiography, of the simultaneous onset of complete left bundle branch block and anginal chest pain, unaccompanied by any abnormality of left ventricular segmental contraction or wall thickening. Further etiologic investigations, in particular for coronary artery disease, proved negative. This observation is discussed in the context of a literature review.

Prognostic value of dobutamine echocardiography in patients with intermediate coronary lesions at angiography.

Unlabelled: The prognostic value of dobutamine echocardiography (DOBU-ECHO) in patients with intermediate coronary lesions has not been described in the literature. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic value of DOBU-ECHO in patients presenting with coronary lesions smaller than 50% at angiography. Ninety-four consecutive patients were analyzed and followed-up for 64 +/- 7 months (range: 12 to 75 months).

Prognostic value of dobutamine echocardiography in elderly patients with suspected coronary artery disease and an abnormal resting electrocardiogram.

Unlabelled: The prognostic value of dobutamine stress echocardiography (DE) in elderly patients over 70 years of age with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) and an abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG) at rest has not been well documented. We investigated 158 consecutive outpatients (97 men) aged 76 +/- 4 years presenting with right bundle branch block with or without a left anterior hemiblock (41%), left bundle branch block (23%), or repolarization abnormalities (36%). The basic clinical and echocardiographic data were analyzed and correlated with the DE results.