Background: Dobutamine-atropine stress echocardiography (DSE) has lower sensitivity in patients with advanced liver disease (ALD) due to vasodilation.
Hypothesis: Dopamine-atropine stress echocardiography (DopSE) may be an alternative to DSE in ALD patients by improving the blood pressure response to stress.
Methods: The safety and tolerability of DSE and DopSE were compared in 10 volunteers. The safety, adverse effects, and efficacy of DopSE were then assessed in 105 patients, 98 of whom had ALD. Dopamine was infused in stepwise fashion from 5 µg/kg/min to a peak dose of 40 µg/kg/min. Atropine was given before and in early stages of dopamine infusion up to cumulative dose of 1.5 mg. The hemodynamic responses of 98 ALD patients were compared with 102 patients with ALD who underwent standard DSE.
Results: In normal volunteers, systolic BP increased more with DopSE compared to DSE (61 ± 19 mm Hg vs 39 ± 15 mm Hg, P = .008). In 105 patients who underwent DopSE, none had adverse effects that required early stress termination. In the groups with ALD, the systolic BP increase (38 ± 28 mm Hg vs 12 ± 27 mm Hg, P < .001) and peak rate pressure product (RPP) (22 861 ± 5289 vs 17 211 ± 3848, P = <.001) were both higher in those undergoing DopSE versus DSE. The sensitivity and specificity of DopSE were 45% and 88%, respectively for coronary disease (≥70% stenosis) in 37 patients who had angiography.
Conclusions: Dopamine-atropine stress echocardiography appears to be a safe stress modality and provides greater increases in RPP in patients with ALD compared to DSE.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/echo.15020 | DOI Listing |
Am Heart J Plus
January 2025
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, United States of America.
Objective: Evaluate the relationship of cathepsin-D (CD) on disease severity and clinical outcomes for women with peripartum cardiomyopathy.
Background: Cathepsin-D is a protease released during oxidative stress that cleaves prolactin (PRL) generating a 16 kDa fragment that is pro-apoptotic, anti-angiogenic, and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM).
Methods: In 99 women with newly diagnosed PPCM enrolled in the Investigation in Pregnancy Associated Cardiomyopathy (IPAC) study, CD levels were assessed by ELISA from serum obtained at study entry.
Hum Mol Genet
January 2025
Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences, Hugh Robson Building, George Square, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9XD, United Kingdom.
Spinal Muscular Atrophy is an autosomal dominant disease caused by mutations and deletions within the SMN1 gene, with predominantly childhood onset. Although primarily a motor neuron disease, defects in non-neuronal tissues are described in both patients and mouse models. Here, we have undertaken a detailed study of the heart in the Smn2B/- mouse models of SMA, and reveal a thinning of the ventriclar walls as previously described in more severe mouse models of SMA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKorean Circ J
January 2025
Imaging Department, Harefield Hospital, Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals, Harefield, United Kingdom.
Stress echocardiography has evolved from the sole assessment of regional wall motion abnormalities (RWMAs) to the ABCDE protocol, as recommended by the recent clinical consensus statement from the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging, reflecting the need for a more systematic patient assessment. Steps A, B, C, D, and E assess RWMAs, lung B-lines, left ventricular contractile reserve, coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR) in mid-distal left anterior descending artery, and heart rate reserve, respectively. Impairment of CFVR is considered as the earliest abnormality in the ischaemic cascade.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCirc Cardiovasc Imaging
January 2025
Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC. (P.S., C.H., G.B., A.H., S.H.S., P.S.D., M.A.D.).
Background: Patients with abnormal (positive) exercise electrocardiography, but normal stress echocardiography (+ECG/-Echo), have an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events compared with patients with a normal (negative) ECG and a normal stress Echo (-ECG/-Echo). However, it is unclear if +ECG/-Echo discordance is associated with a greater burden of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis.
Methods: Project Baseline Health Study participants who underwent a stress Echo and coronary artery calcium (CAC) scan were stratified by stress Echo result: -ECG/-Echo or +ECG/-Echo.
Mol Cell Biochem
January 2025
Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, 34000, Kragujevac, Serbia.
As several decades of research have shown the cardioprotective effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors alone or in combination with diuretics, we were interested in investigating the effects of subchronic therapy of these drugs on ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) damage to the heart, as well as their influence on oxidative status. The research was conducted on 40 spontaneously hypertensive male Wistar Kyoto rats, divided into 4 groups. Animals were treated for four weeks with 10 mg/kg/day zofenopril alone or in combination with hydrochlorothiazide, indapamide and spironolactone per os.
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