Plasma lipids, lipoprotein metabolism and HDL lipid transfers are equally altered in metabolic syndrome and in type 2 diabetes.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) refers to states of insulin resistance that predispose to development of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The aim was to investigate whether plasma lipids and lipid metabolism differ in MetS patients compared to those with T2DM with poor glycemic control (glycated hemoglobin > 7.0).

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: the importance of arrhythmic events in patients at risk for sudden cardiac death.

Objective: To evaluate, in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and risk for SCD who underwent implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantation: a- the occurrence of arrhythmic events; b- the occurrence of clinical events and their correlation with arrhythmic events; c- the occurrence of ICD shock therapy and clinical and functional correlations; d- clinical and functional predictors of prognosis.

Methods: Twenty six patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and risk factors for SCD undergoing ICD implantation from May, 2000 to January, 2004 (mean follow-up = 20 months) were studied. Fourteen patients (53.

[Prognostic factors of survival in post-cardiopulmonary-cerebral resuscitation in general hospital].

Objective: To assess clinical and demographic characteristics of patients who had cardiopulmonary resuscitation and identify short- and long-term survival prognostic factors.

Methods: Four hundred and fifty-two (452) resuscitated patients in general hospitals from Salvador were prospectively assessed through bivariate and stratified analysis in associations between variables and survival curve for a nine-year evolution assessment.

Results: Age ranged from 14 to 93 years old, mean of 54.

[Left atrial myxoma: three-dimensional echocardiographic assessment].

The patient was a 70-year-old female with antecedents of diabetes mellitus and hypertension, being followed up in the outpatient care clinic due to chronic anemia after corrective surgery for angiodysplasia of the proximal jejunum, in whom an image suggestive of left atrial myxoma was found on routine transthoracic echocardiography. Then multiplanar transesophageal echocardiography and 3-dimensional echocardiography were performed, showing the latter better anatomical details of the tumor. The patient underwent exeresis of the mass with anatomicopathological confirmation of the tumor.

Williams-Beuren syndrome: cardiovascular abnormalities in 20 patients diagnosed with fluorescence in situ hybridization.

Objective: To evaluate the cardiovascular findings and clinical follow-up of patients with Williams-Beuren syndrome.

Methods: We studied 20 patients (11 males, mean age at diagnosis: 5.9 years old), assessed for cardiovascular abnormalities with electrocardiography and Doppler echocardiography.

[Anatomo-clinical correlation. Case 4/2003 - A 61 year-old patient Chagasic woman, with ventricular dysfunction, recurrent ventricular tachycardia and cardiac pacemaker, presented asystole after surgical resection of apical aneurysm].

A 61 year-old Chagasic woman, with previous left ventricular systolic disfunction, ventricular tachychardia and cardiac pacemaker, presented cardiac arrest in asystolia after surgical ressection of apical aneurysm.

Comparison between young males and females with acute myocardial infarction.

Objective: To assess the differences between young males and females after acute myocardial infarction.

Methods: We retrospectively studied 236 patients (54 females and 182 males) after acute myocardial infarction and during hospital stay assessed the following parameters: risk factors; the treatment used; the pattern of coronary artery obstruction; left ventricular ejection fraction; complications; and, using a logistic regression model, the factors related to the occurrence of reinfarction and death.

Results: No significant difference was observed between the sexes in risk factors, pattern of coronary artery obstruction, and left ventricular function.

Relation between the behaviors of P-wave and QT dispersions in elderly patients with heart failure.

Objective: To assess the relation between P-wave and QT dispersions in elderly patients with heart failure.

Methods: Forty-seven elderly patients (75.6+/-6 years) with stable heart failure in NYHA functional classes II or III and with ejection fractions of 37+/-6% underwent body surface mapping to analyze P-wave and QT dispersions.

Pregnancy and peripartum cardiomyopathy. A comparative and prospective study.

Objective: To assess pregnancy outcome in women with peripartum cardiomyopathy and to compare it with idiopathic cardiomyopathy.

Methods: Twenty-six pregnant women, aged 28.4+/-6.

Prescription and adherence to statins of patients with coronary artery disease and hypercholesterolemia.

Objective: Statins have proved to be safe and effective in the secondary prevention of coronary artery disease, but the level of prescription and the reasons for nonadherence to treatment in many coronary diseases treatment centers has not been determined. The purpose of this study was to identify reasons for nonadherence to statin therapy.

Methods: We analyzed 207 consecutive patients with coronary artery disease and hypercholesterolemia (total cholesterol > or = 200 mg/dL or LDL-cholesterol > or = 130 mg/dL).

Absence of the aortic valve associated with hypoplastic left-sided heart syndrome.

In this report we describe the twelfth case in the literature of absence of the aortic valve cusps, associated with hypoplastic left-sided heart syndrome in a neonate. Clinical and hemodynamic conditions in our patient resemble the classical features of this syndrome except for a greater development of the ascending aorta and the left ventricular cavity, due to aortic insufficiency. A patch was unsuccessfully inserted at the aortic annulus to exclude the left ventricle from the circulation.

Mediastinitis after cardiac transplantation.

Objective: Assessment of incidence and behavior of mediastinitis after cardiac transplantation.

Methods: From 1985 to 1999, 214 cardiac transplantations were performed, 12 (5.6%) of the transplanted patients developed confirmed mediastinitis.

Effects of carvedilol in heart failure due to dilated cardiomyopathy. Results of a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study (CARIBE study).

Objective: To assess the effects of carvedilol in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Methods: In a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study, 30 patients (7 women) with functional class II and III heart failure were assessed. Their ages ranged from 28 to 66 years (mean of 43 +/- 9 years), and their left ventricular ejection fraction varied from 8% to 35%.

Heart transplantation in neonates and children. Intermediate-term results.

Objective: To assess intermediate-term outcome in children who have undergone orthotopic heart transplantation.

Methods: We carried out a longitudinal and prospective study between October '92 and June '99 comprising 20 patients with ages ranging from 12 days to 7 years (mean of 2.8 years).

Paraplegia following intraaortic balloon circulatory assistance.

Intraaortic balloon counterpulsation is frequently used in patients experiencing severe ventricular dysfunction following maximal drug therapy. However, even with the improvement of percutaneous insertion techniques, the procedure has always been followed by vascular; infectious, and neurological complications. This article describes a case of paraplegia due to intraaortic balloon counterpulsation in the postoperative period of cardiac surgery.

Mitral restenosis in the early postoperative period of a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus.

A forty-eight year old woman, who had undergone mitral comissurotomy and subsequently developed early restenosis, presented with major comissural fusion and verrucous lesions on the cuspid edges of the mitral valve, with normal subvalvar apparatus. Patient did well for the first six months after surgery when she began to present dyspnea on light exertion. A clinical diagnosis of restenosis was made, which was confirmed by an echocardiogram and cardiac catheterization.

[Trends in cholesterol levels in the adult population of São José do Rio Preto].

Purpose: To develop a survey about risk factors for atherosclerosis in a > or = 20-year-old population from São José do Rio Preto, and compare the results with those obtained in a similar survey in 1991.

Methods: Quantitative survey with sample stratified by sex and age. The individuals (a total of 646, 303 men) where contacted in outpatient facilities from the Health Secretary and other populated sites, distributed by geographic zone and social class of different neighborhoods.