Long-term Urokinase Therapy and Isovolemic Hemodilution: A Clinical and Hemodynamic Comparison in Patients with Refractory Angina Pectoris.

Antiischemic effectiveness of long-term urokinase therapy and isovolemic hemodilution therapy has been reported in patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease, but both interventions have never been compared. In patients with refractory angina pectoris and end-stage coronary artery disease (clinical functional class III), isovolemic hemodilution (n = 9) (hydroxyethyl starch solution 6%, 1-2 times/week), and urokinase therapy (n = 11) (500,000 U urokinase per i.v.

[Isovolemic hemodilution in coronary heart disease--clinical and hemodynamic effects].

Clinical and hemodynamic effects of isovolemic hemodilution (HD) were evaluated in 12 patients (aged 59 +/- 8 years) with severe multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD) and angina pectoris grade III (Canadian Cardiovascular Society classification) despite high-dose medical treatment. In none of these patients was aortocoronary bypass grafting or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty possible. Prior to HD and after 3 months of HD the incidence of angina pectoris was determined by means of questionnaires; hemodynamic measurements were performed with right heart catheterization at rest and during exercise.

[The regression of an angiocardiographically and electrocardiographically demonstrated anterior-wall aneurysm following percutaneous transluminal angioplasty].

A non-transmural anterior wall infarction due to a subtotal stenosis of the anterior interventricular branch occurred in a 76-year-old man. Angiocardiography 5 weeks later demonstrated an anterior wall infarct with aneurysm. The ECG showed Q waves without any R waves and elevated ST segments in leads V2-V4.

Right ventricular performance in arterial hypertension.

To investigate right ventricular function, 24 patients with arterial hypertension and five normotensive controls underwent equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography with simultaneous right heart catheterization. In normal subjects, left ventricular ejection fraction was 57 +/- 2% at rest and 71 +/- 5% on effort, and right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) averaged 51 +/- 5% at rest and 65 +/- 2% during exercise. Pulmonary vessel resistance (PVR) was 56 +/- 37 dyn.

Peripheral percutaneous transluminal laser angioplasty in humans: in vitro investigations and clinical results with a novel laser catheter system.

Percutaneous transluminal laser angioplasty has become an accepted method of treatment of peripheral arterial occlusive disease. To minimize the risk of arterial wall perforation during laser angioplasty, a novel laser catheter system was developed. In 113 obliterated postmortem human arteries the perforation rate was 0.