The Greek version of the 9-item European Heart Failure Self-care Behaviour Scale: a multidimensional or a uni-dimensional scale?

Objectives: To evaluate the dimensionality of the Greek version of the European Heart Failure Self-care Behaviour Scale (Gr9-EHFScBS) in a Greek-Cypriot population.

Background: EHFScBS is a valid and reliable scale which is widely used for assessing heart failure (HF) patients' self-care behaviors.

Methods: EHFScBS was translated into Greek and was administered to 128 Greek-Cypriot HF patients.

Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the Minnesota Living With Heart Failure questionnaire.

Purpose: One of the major challenges for health care professionals in heart failure (HF) management is to maintain and/or improve HF patient health-related quality of life. The Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) is one of the most comprehensive and widely used tools for measuring health-related quality of life among patients with HF. The aim of the study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the tool.

Dobutamine stress echocardiography for the evaluation of cardiac reserve late after Fontan operation.

Introduction: This study aimed to assess the potential role and safety of dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) in the evaluation of cardiac reserve in asymptomatic patients several years after a Fontan operation.

Methods: We studied 10 asymptomatic patients, 28 +/- 5 years old, 14 +/- 6 years after their Fontan operation. All patients and 10 healthy, matched controls underwent two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography at baseline and throughout dobutamine infusion (given in 3-minute increments of 5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 microg/kg/min).

Hepatocellular carcinoma with right atrial extension in a young patient with congenitally unguarded tricuspid orifice.

We report a case of a young female patient with congenitally unguarded tricuspid orifice and underdeveloped pulmonary valve leaflets, who had developed severe right-sided congestive heart failure and cardiac cirrhosis early in life. She was admitted to our hospital with deterioration of dyspnea and abdominal tenderness. Hepatocellular carcinoma was diagnosed on the basis of computed tomography findings, high plasma alpha-fetoprotein levels and evidence of chronic hepatitis B viral infection.

Acute thoracic aortic thrombosis after intra-aortic balloon pumping.

We present two transesophageal echocardiographic images of a patient with acute myocardial infarction, demonstrating a large thrombus attached to the thoracic aortic wall, considered to be a complication of intra-aortic balloon pumping. The patient had received the device because of hemodynamic instability due to an infarct-related ventricular septal defect. Clinical manifestations which led to the diagnosis of thromboembolism were abdominal pain and deterioration of renal function, without signs of limb ischemia.