Objectives: Our aim was to present the immediate and intermediate long-term results of the application of retrograde nontransseptal balloon mitral valvuloplasty (RNBMV) in four cooperating centers from Greece and India.
Background: RNBMV is a purely transarterial method of balloon valvuloplasty, developed with the aim to avoid complications associated with transseptal catheterization. Only single-center experience with RNBMV has been previously reported.
Pulmonary balloon valvuloplasty results in improvement in the right coronary artery blood flow velocity pattern and the volumetric flow in patients with pulmonary valve stenosis. These changes are closely related to concomitant changes in right ventricular systolic pressure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: This study sought to validate and apply a new method for obtaining the left atrial (LA) pressure-area relation.
Background: In physiologic investigations, the pressure-area relation is the most accurate and representative index of LA hemodynamic status.
Methods: We applied real-time two-dimensional echocardiographic imaging with automatic boundary detection to estimate LA area changes.
Introduction: The purpose of the present investigation was to study the precise relationship between carotid sinus hypersensitivity (CSH) and both the severity of carotid atherosclerosis and the extent of coronary artery disease in patients who were referred for evaluation for suspected ischemic heart disease.
Methods And Results: Duplex echocardiography and coronary angiography were used to assess carotid and coronary artery atherosclerosis in 130 consecutive patients. Carotid sinus stimulation was performed before coronary arteriography with simultaneous recordings of the ECG and aortic pressure.
Background: Aortic elastic properties, important determinants of left ventricular function and coronary blood flow, are compromised in hypertension. The aim of this study was to determine aortic function in hypertensive patients and in normal subjects before and after administration of diltiazem, a calcium antagonist widely used in the treatment of essential hypertension.
Methods And Results: The aortic pressure-diameter relation was obtained before and after diltiazem administration in 15 hypertensives and 15 control normotensives.
Cathet Cardiovasc Diagn
March 1997
The radial artery has been used as a free bypass graft with excellent results. An autologous vein graft-coated stent, a novel type of stent developed at our institution, has been applied successfully under both experimental and clinical conditions. To extend the spectrum of biological linings for coated stents, we used an arterial graft.
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