Myocardial Tissue Doppler Imaging Detects Right Ventricular Dysfunction after Percutaneous Angioplasty of Dysfunctional Hemodialysis Access in Uremic Patients.

Background: Right ventricular dysfunction has been observed in uremic patients receiving percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA). This prospective study focuses on the impact of tissue Doppler imaging echocardiographic parameters on assessing right ventricle function in uremic patients post PTA of dysfunctional hemodialysis access.

Methods: Sixty uremic patients were divided into two groups by angiographic findings: an occlusive group (26 patients) and a stenotic group (34 patients).

Five-Year Outcomes after Acute Myocardial Infarction in Patients with and without Diabetes Mellitus in Taiwan, 1996-2005.

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a strong risk factor of cardiovascular disease. To date, the impact of DM on outcomes after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Taiwan is undetermined. The aim of this study was to compare five-year outcomes after AMI in patients with and without diabetes in Taiwan.

Begin with the real-world patients of non-goal-achieved hypercholesterolemia in taiwan through the ezetimibe/simvastatin tablet - The BRAVO Study.

Objective: To assess the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of a combination of 10 mg ezetimibe and 20 mg simvastatin in Taiwanese patients with hypercholesterolemia.

Research Design And Methods: A prospective, open-label, multi-center, hospital-based cohort study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of a single tablet combination of ezetimibe/simvastatin for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. Taiwanese adults without low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goal achievement, based on the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines, were treated with ezetimibe/simvastatin once daily for 6 weeks.

Tissue Doppler velocity is not totally preload-independent: a study in a uremic population after hemodialysis.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the changes of regional tissue Doppler velocity after volume removal following regular hemodialysis (HD) in uremic patients. Is tissue Doppler velocity really preload-independent?

Background: Diastolic dysfunction was divided into four stages: normal pattern, abnormal relaxation pattern, pseudonormalization pattern, and restrictive pattern. Pulse wave Doppler and color Doppler echocardiography were important diagnostic tools for these forms of diastolic dysfunction.

Stroke volume and mitral annular velocities: insights from uremic patients with significant valvular regurgitation.

Objective: This study investigates the change in new diastolic indices in uremic patients who undergo regular hemodialysis (H/D).

Materials And Methods: We studied uremic patients receiving regular H/D. All patients were sinus rhythm before H/D.

Doppler tissue imaging and color M-mode flow propagation velocity: are they really preload independent?

Objective: This study investigated the change in new diastolic indexes in patients with uremia who undergo regular hemodialysis (H/D).

Methods: We studied 81 patients with uremia (41 men and 40 women) receiving regular H/D. All patients were in sinus rhythm before H/D.

Preload and flow propagation velocity: insight into patients with uremia and different left ventricular systolic function.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the changes of flow propagation velocity (FPV) after regular hemodialysis (H/D) in patient who were uremic with different baseline left ventricular (LV) functions.

Methods: In all, 24 patients with uremia and abnormal LV systolic function were enrolled in this study and 30 patients with uremia and normal LV systolic performance served as the control group. All patients had in sinus rhythm and underwent a comprehensive transthoracic echocardiographic examination and mitral FPV by color M-mode echocardiography before and after H/D.

Color M-mode flow propagation velocity: is it really preload independent?

Objective: This study investigates the change in flow propagation velocity (FPV) in uremic patients who undergo regular hemodialysis (H/D).

Materials And Methods: We studied 93 uremic patients (44 men and 49 women; 59 +/- 14-years-old) receiving regular hemodialysis. Patients were separated by baseline left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF): 71 patients with LVEF > 50% (group 1), 13 patients with LVEF 35-50% (group 2), 7 patients with LVEF < 35% (group 3).

Clinical applicability for the assessment of the valvular mitral stenosis severity with Doppler echocardiography and the proximal isovelocity surface area (PISA) method.

Evaluation of the severity of valvular mitral stenosis and measurements of the effective rheumatic mitral valve area by noninvasive echocardiography has been well accepted. The area is measured by the two-dimensional planimetry (PLM) method and the Doppler pressure half-time (PHT) method. Recently, the proximal isovelocity surface area (PISA) by color Doppler technique has been used as a quantitative measurement for valvular heart disease.

Transesophageal Three-Dimensional Echo Assessment of Sinus Venosus Atrial Septal Defect.

The incremental value of three-dimensional echocardiography over transesophageal multiplane two-dimensional imaging in the assessment of sinus venosus atrial septal defect is demonstrated in the present study.

Transpharyngeal Echocardiographic Diagnosis of Carotid Bulb and Left Internal Carotid Artery Stenosis.

We report a patient in whom we were able to make an accurate diagnosis of left carotid bulb and left internal carotid artery stenosis by carefully and slowly withdrawing the probe from the esophagus into the pharynx.

Transesophageal Echocardiographic Diagnosis of Coronary Stenosis in a Stroke Patient.

This study represents another example of the usefulness of transesophageal echocardiography in the assessment of stenosis involving the proximal, mid, and distal coronary arteries in stroke patients referred for exclusion of a cardiac source of embolism.

Three-Dimensional Echocardiographic Assessment of Lambl's Excrescences on the Aortic Valve.

The present case reports demonstrate the incremental value of three-dimensional echocardiography over multiplane transesophageal two-dimensional imaging in the assessment of Lambl's excrescences (strands) involving the aortic valve.