Retrospective analysis of percutaneous intervention of the renal artery in transplanted kidneys in children and adolescents at a tertiary public hospital.

Background: This study evaluated the long-term effects of percutaneous intervention in children and adolescents with transplant renal artery stenosis (TRAS).

Methods: Twenty patients had significant stenosis (>50%) and underwent percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA/stenting) (TRAS group-intervention); 14 TNS (non-significant group -control) patients did not have significant stenosis (≤50%) and were treated clinically. The combined primary endpoints were death from all causes and late graft failure.

Epidemiological differences, clinical aspects, and short-term prognosis of patients with healthcare-associated and community-acquired infective endocarditis.

Background: The prevalence of healthcare-associated infective endocarditis in Brazil is poorly known.

Aim: To analyze the epidemiological, clinical and microbiological characteristics, and the prognosis of healthcare-associated infective endocarditis (HAIE) compared with community-acquired infective endocarditis (CIE) and identify the associated factors with hospital mortality.

Method: A historical cohort study was carried out, with a data collection period from January 2009 to December 2019 at the .

Prognostic Value of Preoperative Electrocardiogram in Low-Risk Patients Undergoing Surgical Intervention and General Anesthesia.

Background: Patients aged over 50 years require four times more surgical interventions than younger groups. Many guidelines recommend the performance of preoperative electrocardiogram (ECG) in this population.

Objectives: To determine the value of preoperative ECG in patients aged over 50 years and classified as ASA I-II (surgical risk).

Hypertrophy of the right ventricle by pulmonary artery banding in rats: a study of structural, functional, and transcriptomics alterations in the right and left ventricles.

Right ventricular remodeling with subsequent functional impairment can occur in some clinical conditions in adults and children. The triggering factors, molecular mechanisms, and, especially, the evolution over time are still not well known. Left ventricular (LV) changes associated with right ventricular (RV) remodeling are also poorly understood.

Metrics of care and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction treated with pharmacoinvasive strategy: a decade-long network in a populous city in Brazil.

Background: Pharmacoinvasive strategy is an effective myocardial reperfusion therapy when primary percutaneous coronary intervention (p-PCI) cannot be performed in a timely manner.

Methods: Authors sought to evaluate metrics of care and cardiovascular outcomes in a decade-long registry of a pharmacoinvasive strategy network for the treatment of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Data from a local network including patients undergoing fibrinolysis in county hospitals and systematically transferred to the tertiary center were accessed from March 2010 to September 2020.

Sarcopenic obesity definitions and their associations with physical frailty in older Brazilian adults: data from the SARCOS study.

Objective: To identify the obesity diagnosis with the highest association with physical frailty associated with sarcopenia EWGSOP II (sarcopenic obesity).

Subjects And Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 371 community-dwelling older adults. Appendicular skeletal lean mass and total body fat (TBF) were assessed using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, and physical frailty was defined using Fried's criteria.

Pharmaco-invasive Strategy in Myocardial Infarction: Descriptive Analysis, Presentation of Ischemic Symptoms and Mortality Predictors.

Background: ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is defined by symptoms accompanied by typical electrocardiogram changes. However, the characterization of ischemic symptoms is unclear, especially in subgroups such as women and the elderly.

Objectives: To analyze the typification of ischemic symptoms, temporal metrics and observe the occurrence of in-hospital outcomes, in the analysis of predictive scores, in patients with STEMI, in a drug-invasive strategy.

Risk factors of transplant renal artery stenosis in kidney transplant recipients.

Background: Transplant Renal Artery Stenosis (TRAS) is a recognized vascular complication after kidney transplantation. The overall risk predictors of TRAS are poorly understood.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of patients with suspected TRAS (Doppler ultrasound PSV > 200 cm/s) who underwent angiographic study in a single center between 2007 and 2014.

Prognostic role of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction undergoing to pharmaco-invasive strategy.

Objectives: We sought to determine the relationship between in-hospital mortality and the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing with pharmaco-invasive strategy (PIS).

Background: Increased levels of white blood cells have been associated with adverse clinical outcomes in patients with (STEMI). NLR has recently emerged as a potent and more specific prognostic marker in predicting short- and long-term mortalityin patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

A randomized clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of rivaroxaban in patients with bioprosthetic mitral valve and atrial fibrillation or flutter: Rationale and design of the RIVER trial.

The efficacy and safety of rivaroxaban in patients with bioprosthetic mitral valves and atrial fibrillation or flutter remain uncertain. DESIGN: RIVER was an academic-led, multicenter, open-label, randomized, non-inferiority trial with blinded outcome adjudication that enrolled 1005 patients from 49 sites in Brazil. Patients with a bioprosthetic mitral valve and atrial fibrillation or flutter were randomly assigned (1:1) to rivaroxaban 20 mg once daily (15 mg in those with creatinine clearance <50 mL/min) or dose-adjusted warfarin (target international normalized ratio 2.

Value of Contrast Transesophageal Echocardiography in the Detection of Intrapulmonary Vascular Dilatations in Hepatosplenic Schistosomiasis.

Background: Hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS), found in cirrhotic patients, has been little studied in hepatosplenic schistosomiasis (HSS) and includes the occurrence of intrapulmonary vascular dilatations (IPVD). Contrast transesophageal echocardiography (cTEE) with microbubbles is more sensitive than contrast transthoracic echocardiography (cTTE) with microbubbles in the detection of IPVD in cirrhosis.

Objective: To assess the performance of the cTEE, compared with that of cTTE, in detecting IPVD for the diagnosis of HPS in patients with HSS.

Clinical value of myocardial performance index in patients with isolated diastolic dysfunction.

Aims: The Doppler-derived myocardial performance index (MPI) has been considered as a diagnostic and prognostic Doppler marker for many different clinical conditions. The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of traditional Pulsed-wave Doppler (PWD-MPI) and Pulsed-wave tissue Doppler imaging (TDI-MPI) and the degree of agreement between these methods in patients with grade-I diastolic dysfunction (DDI) and a normal ejection fraction.

Methods: Forty-seven consecutive ambulatory patients with DDI were compared to 51 healthy subjects with normal echocardiograms.

Cardiovascular risk in children and adolescents with end stage renal disease.

Objectives: To evaluate cardiovascular involvement in children and adolescents with End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) and to characterize the main risk factors associated with this outcome.

Methods: Cross-sectional study of 69 children and adolescents at renal transplantation and 33 healthy individuals matched by age and gender. The study outcomes were left ventricular mass z-score (LVMZ) and carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT).

Functional echocardiography training in the neonatal intensive care unit: comparing measurements and results with the pediatric cardiologist.

Objectives: Functional echocardiography is a valuable tool in the neonatal intensive care unit, but training programs are not standardized. The aim was to report an functional echocardiography training program for neonatologists and to describe the agreement of their measurements with the pediatric cardiologist.

Methods: Functional echocardiography training lasted 32h.

Comparison of Biological and Mechanical Prostheses for Heart Valve Surgery: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Background: The choice of a mechanical (MP) or biological prosthesis (BP) for patients with valvular heart disease undergoing replacement is still not a consensus.

Objective: We aimed to determine the clinical outcomes of MP or BP placement in those patients.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared biological prostheses and mechanical prostheses in patients with valvular heart diseases and assessed the outcomes.

Prognostic value of real-time three-dimensional echocardiography compared to two-dimensional echocardiography in patients with systolic heart failure.

Heart failure (HF) is associated with morbidity and mortality. Real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE) may offer additional prognostic data in patients with HF. The study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE).

Diagnostic and prognostic value of right ventricular strain in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension and relatively preserved functional capacity studied with echocardiography and magnetic resonance.

Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction harbingers adverse prognosis in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Although conventional two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE) is limited for RV systolic function quantitation, RV strain can be a useful tool. The diagnostic and prognostic impact of 2DE speckle-tracking RV longitudinal strain was evaluated, including other 2DE systolic indexes, in a group of PAH patients without severe impairment of functional capacity, chronic pulmonary thromboembolism or left ventricular dysfunction.

Left Atrial Volume Determinants in Patients with Non-Ischemic Dilated Cardiomyopathy.

Background: Left atrial volume (LAV) is a predictor of prognosis in patients with heart failure.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the determinants of LAV in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

Methods: Ninety patients with DCM and left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction ≤ 0.

Training Program for Cardiology Residents to Perform Focused Cardiac Ultrasound Examination with Portable Device.

Introduction: Training requirements for general cardiologists without echocardiographic expertise to perform focused cardiac ultrasound (FCU) with portable devices have not yet been defined. The objective of this study was to evaluate a training program to instruct cardiology residents to perform FCU with a hand-carried device (HCD) in different clinical settings.

Methods: Twelve cardiology residents were subjected to a 50-question test, 4 lectures on basic echocardiography and imaging interpretation, the supervised interpretation of 50 echocardiograms and performance of 30 exams using HCD.