The Value of Stress-Gated Blood Pool SPECT in Predicting Early Postoperative Period Complications in Ischemic Cardiomyopathy Patients: Focus on Mechanical Dyssynchrony.

(1) Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the prognostic value of stress-gated blood pool SPECT (GBPS) estimates in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) in the early postoperative period. (2) Methods: A total of 57 patients (age 59.7 ± 6.

[Systemic inflammatory response in cardiac surgery: possibilities of using colchicine].

Aim: To evaluate manifestations of systemic inflammatory response (SIR) and the effect of the colchicine therapy on SIR severity in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with extracorporeal circulation (EC).

Material And Methods: This study included 100 patients aged 62+6.3 years with stable IHD and multivessel coronary atherosclerosis scheduled for CABG with EC.

Role of Angiopoietic Coronary Endothelial Dysfunction in the Pathogenesis of Ischemic Cardiomyopathy.

Background: The angiopoietic endothelial dysfunction in ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICMP) remains unexplored.

Aim: The identification of the imbalance of endothelial dysfunction mediators and the number of endothelial progenitor (EPC) and desquamated (EDC) cells in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) with and without ICMP.

Methods: A total of 87 patients (47 with ICMP and 40 without ICMP) were observed.

Endothelial Function and Hypoxic-Hyperoxic Preconditioning in Coronary Surgery with a Cardiopulmonary Bypass: Randomized Clinical Trial.

A hypoxic-hyperoxic preconditioning (HHP) may be associated with cardioprotection by reducing endothelial damage and a beneficial effect on postoperative outcome in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Patients ( = 120) were randomly assigned to an HHP and a control group. A safe, inhaled oxygen fraction for the hypoxic preconditioning phase (10-14% oxygen for 10 min) was determined by measuring the anaerobic threshold.

Ex Vivo Analysis of an Association of Mechanical Strength of Dilated Ascending Aorta with Tissue Matrix Metalloproteinases and Cytokines.

We analyzed the associations of the mechanical strength of dilated ascending aorta wall (intraoperative samples from 30 patients with non-syndromic aneurysms) with tissue MMPs and the cytokine system. Some samples were stretched to break on an Instron 3343 testing machine and the tensile strength was calculated; others were homogenized and the concentrations of MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-7, their inhibitors (TIMP-1 and TIMP-2), and pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines were determined by ELISA. Direct correlations between aortic tensile strength and concentrations of IL-10 (r=0.