BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown that intraventricular conduction defect is associated with increased mortality in heart failure (HF) population. However, it is conflicting whether left bundle branch block (LBBB) or right bundle branch block (RBBB) is a better predictor for mortality. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relationship between patterns of bundle ...

Ventricular-assist devices (VADs) have benefitted patients with end-stage heart failure as a bridge to heart transplantation (HTx). Herein, we describe our experience with HTx in the presence of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) together with the Thoratec VAD (Thoratec Corp, Pleasanton, California). From May 1996 to June 2009, mechanical circulatory support ...

BACKGROUND: It is current practice to withhold implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) from patients with severe heart failure because their deaths are judged as non-sudden and therefore assumed not to be preventable by ICD. If this was true, there should be a trend towards reduced preventability of deaths in the severe ...

AIMS: To examine resting heart rate (HR) in a population presenting with stable angina in relation to prior and subsequent pharmacological treatment, comorbid conditions and clinical outcome. METHODS AND RESULTS: The European Heart Survey was a prospective, observational, cohort study of 3779 patients with stable angina newly presenting to cardiology ...

Heart failure (HF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are common partners. Bronchodilators are associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with pulmonary disease. The outcome of patients with HF prescribed bronchodilators is poorly defined. The Candesartan in Heart failure: Assessment of Reduction in Mortality and morbidity (CHARM) programme randomized 7599 ...

Multidetector computed tomographic coronary angiography (CTA) image quality is inversely related to the heart rate (HR). As a result beta-blocking medication is routinely administered before investigation. In the present study, the use, contraindications, and efficacy of prescan beta blockade with regard to HR reduction and CTA image quality were assessed. ...

Deceleration capacity (DC) of heart rate is a novel indicator of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity. In this paper, we proposed a modified DC index based on improved phase-rectified signal averaging (PRSA) algorithm. Sinusoidal analysis is applied to elucidate the rationality of the improved PRSA. Then the validity of the ...

A correntropy-based technique is proposed for the characterization and classification of respiratory flow signals in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients with periodic or nonperiodic breathing (PB or nPB, respectively) and healthy subjects. The correntropy is a recently introduced, generalized correlation measure whose properties lend themselves to the definition of a ...

The impact of heart failure (HF) etiology on prognosis of HF is not well known. 3078 patients (median age 75years, 61% male) hospitalized with HF were studied. Patients were classified into six etiology groups: hypertension (HTN, 13.9%), ischemic heart disease (IHD, 42.4%), valvular disease (VHD, 9.5%), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM, 7.9%), ...

BACKGROUND: Some studies have suggested that heart failure (HF) is associated with excessive anticoagulation, but definitive data or data showing causation do not exist. Knowledge of risk factors for excessive anticoagulation is critical to manage warfarin therapy safely. OBJECTIVE: This study characterized the relation between HF-associated hypervolemia and excessive anticoagulation ...

BACKGROUND: Interleukin-10 is an anti-inflammatory cytokine and consequently is considered by many to have a protective role in heart failure, as opposed to the notorious tumor necrosis factor-alpha. OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis of the possible beneficial impact of IL-10 on mortality in systolic heart failure patients in relation to ...

To identify autonomic dysfunction among patients with urinary incontinence (UI) with or without detrusor overactivity (DO), we measured and compared heart rate variability (HRV) in these groups. We studied HRV in 12 female UI patients with DO (mean age, 57.3+/-11.0 years) and 53 female UI patients without DO (mean age, ...

Clinical presentation and course of six patients with type 1 autoimmune polyglandular failure are presented. Mean age of the patients was 17.3 +/- 5.2 years and age at presentation was 10.16 +/- 4.35 years. Four out of six had the classic triad. All of the patients first presented with hypoparathyroidism ...

INTRODUCTION: Orthotopic heart transplantation renders the recipient denervated. This remodeling of the intrinsic cardiac nervous system should be taken in account during functional evaluation for allograft coronary artery disease. Dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) has been used to detect patients at greater risk. The aim of this study was to determine ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure are prevalent comorbidities affecting a huge proportion of the world population, responsible for significant morbidity and mortality. Their coexistence is more frequent than previously recognized and poses important diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Prognosis of patients with concurrent heart failure ...

This study assesses the accuracy of the Omron HJ-720ITC pedometer at low walking intensities in patients with chronic heart failure. Step accuracy was assessed by visual observation on the treadmill and during free walking at 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 m/min, as well as during self paced walking using the ...

OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed to evaluate the differences according to age in the clinical profile and management of outpatients with chronic ischemic heart disease attended by cardiologists in Spain. METHODS: Patients with an established diagnosis of chronic ischemic heart disease were included in this cross-sectional multicenter study. The age ...

BACKGROUND: The relationship of peak exercise oxygen consumption (VO(2)) to survival in black heart failure (HF) patients is not well established. We examined the effects of race on peak VO(2) values and survival in HF patients with systolic dysfunction. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study evaluated consecutive ambulatory HF patients who ...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate different aspects of the introduction of array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) in clinical practice. STUDY DESIGN: A total 150 patients with a syndromic congenital heart defect (CHD) of unknown cause were analyzed with aCGH at 1-Mb resolution. Twenty-nine of these patients, with normal results on 1Mb aCGH, ...

Biomarkers are increasingly being used in the management of patients with chronic heart failure (HF). Galectin-3 is a recently developed biomarker associated with fibrosis and inflammation, and it may play a role in cardiac remodeling in HF. We determined its prognostic value in patients with chronic HF. Patients with chronic ...

We investigated whether coexisting renal insufficiency (RI) is associated with elevated sympathetic activity in patients with heart failure (HF). Resting muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) was determined in 101 patients with HF (ejection fraction<0.45) and 8 patients with RI but without HF (RI group). Diagnosis of RI was made of ...

OBJECTIVES: Diabetes mellitus (DM) in combination with heart failure (HF) is associated with a high risk of death, but it is uncertain whether the prognosis differs in ischemic and non-ischemic HF groups. DESIGN: One thousand, three hundred and six patients with ischemic HF and 1315 patients with non-ischemic HF were ...

BACKGROUND: Acute heart failure is associated with a poor prognosis. It is important to identify patients at increased risk of adverse events. The presence of anaemia could help in this regard. METHODS AND RESULTS: Admission charts of 627 patients (325 female) with acute heart failure were analysed; 182 patients (29%) ...

BACKGROUND: The current recommendation for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in congestive heart failure (CHF) patients is based on QRS duration, not on QRS morphology. HYPOTHESIS: This study was performed to compare the effects of CRT in CHF patients with pure RBBB vs those with a coexisting left hemiblock (LHB). METHODS ...

PURPOSE: Pertuzumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody inhibiting human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) dimerization. The aim of this phase II trial was to assess the antitumor activity and safety profile of pertuzumab monotherapy in patients with HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. The utility of biomarkers detected in paraffin-embedded tissue ...

Previous small open label studies have shown that the advanced glycation end-product (AGE) breaker alagebrium may improve cardiac function in patients with chronic heart failure (HF). We report the design, methods and baseline characteristics of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of alagebrium (BENEFICIAL) in patients ...

Diabetes (D) and heart failure (HF) are associated with abnormal heart rate variability (HRV). It is unclear whether the HRV effect of having both is cumulative. Pretreatment HRV (traditional, nonlinear, and heart rate [HR] turbulence) in 80 D versus 74 non-D (ND) systolic HF patients was compared by New York ...

Statins are often prescribed for prevention of atherosclerotic outcomes in patients who have chronic heart failure (CHF), if this has an ischaemic etiology. These agents may also possess additional properties, independent of effects on blood lipid levels, which may have an effect on cardiac remodeling. However, beneficial effects were not ...

OBJECTIVE: Tachycardia is a clinical feature of Machado-Joseph disease (MJD), and it may be attributable to cardiac autonomic dysfunction. We investigated heart rate variability in MJD patients to reveal heart rate dysregulation in MJD. METHODS: Power spectral analysis of successive R-R intervals (300 beats) was performed in 10 genetically diagnosed ...

Renal insufficiency, a common condition among patients with chronic heart failure, complicates the management of heart failure. However, the influence of renal insufficiency on sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) - another important comorbidity of heart failure - has not been well studied. Seventy-nine patients (60 men and 19 women) with stable, symptomatic ...

The goal of this study was to evaluate the relation between serum levels of carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125) and prognosis in African American (AA) patients with heart failure (HF). Little is known about the usefulness of CA125 in the AA population, which has different pathophysiology and higher prevalence of HF. ...

Purpose of this study was to examine pupil size changes and mobility in normal subjects and in heart failure (HF) patients. Sixteen stable patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II or III heart failure and sixteen control subjects were studied. Pupillary reaction to light was recorded and nine ...

Carvedilol is a beta-adrenoceptor antagonist used for treating chronic heart failure (CHF). Two clinical studies were conducted to evaluate the population pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of R- and S-carvedilol, and associated covariates, in patients with CHF. Fifty-eight patients (male=45, female=13) with New York Heart Association class I-IV CHF were enrolled in ...

BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) and sleep apnoea (SA) association has been recognized but whether it results from confounding factors (hypertension, ischaemia, obesity) remains unclear.We aimed to determine the prevalence of SA in HF and to identify potential risk factors for SA in HF population. METHODS: We prospectively evaluated 103 patients ...

BACKGROUND: Liver dysfunction reflects the status of heart failure, with congestion and low perfusion of the liver serving as causative mechanisms. Previous studies demonstrated relationship between the results of liver function test and the prognosis in patients with heart failure. However, few studies have examined this relationship in patients with ...

blood cytokines and chemokines have been proposed as biomarkers for tuberculosis (TB). Recently, some immune mediators found in the urine of patients with renal dysfunctions have also been suggested as potential biomarkers. Finding biomarkers for TB in urine would present several advantages over blood in terms of collection and safety. ...

Inflammation is an important process and an underlying mechanism involved in atherogenesis as well as the clinical manifestations following coronary artery disease (CAD). Evidence suggests that chronic heart failure (CHF) is associated with an increased inflammatory process. Pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 (IL-1) ...

Our aim was to define the distribution of monocyte subsets in a cohort of congestive heart failure (CHF) patients, to verify whether increased severity of CHF is linked to the expansion of specific monocyte subsets, and finally to investigate the relationship between monocyte subset relative frequencies, laboratory parameters of inflammation, ...

Neonates with critical heart disease are at risk of significant deficiencies in systemic oxygen delivery. The incidence and clinical pattern of hyperlactatemia in neonates presenting with critical heart disease has not been described. We reviewed the lactate pattern of neonates transferred to our cardiac intensive care unit for surgical management ...

In this study we propose the correntropy function as a discriminative measure for detecting nonlinearities in the respiratory pattern of chronic heart failure (CHF) patients with periodic or nonperiodic breathing pattern (PB or nPB, respectively). The complexity seems to be reduced in CHF patients with higher risk level. Correntropy reflects ...

BACKGROUND: In patients hospitalized with decompensated biventricular failure having hypoalbuminemia and lymphocytopenia without underlying hepatic or renal disease, we addressed the presence of a protein-losing enteropathy (PLE). METHODS: We studied 78 patients having a dilated cardiomyopathy, who were hospitalized with congestive heart failure (CHF) and hypoalbuminemia of uncertain origin. In ...

In patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), left bundle branch block (LBBB) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. We aimed to investigate the association of LBBB with short- and long-term outcome in patients discharged after a de novo episode of acute heart failure (AHF) or AHF complicating ...

In patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), a high prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing has been described. Cheyne-Stokes respiration (CSR) is present in up to 40% of patients with CHF. During the last decade, the medical treatment has been substantially improved. This study was designed to analyze the prognosis of CSR ...

BACKGROUND: Functional electrical stimulation (FES) improves exercise capacity and quality of life in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients. However, there is no evidence regarding the effectiveness of this treatment modality according to the severity of CHF. This study compares the effectiveness of FES on exercise capacity, endothelial function, neurohormonal status, ...

To assess the heart rate turbulence (HRT) in patients with SSc as a method of assessment for cardiac autonomic nervous function. We prospectively studied 68 consecutive patients with SSc before inclusion in the study. After a detailed clinical evaluation, including echocardiography, 45 subjects [aged 54.6 (14.7) years; 40 women] underwent ...

BACKGROUND: Trimetazidine improves functional class and left ventricular function in patients with heart failure; however, its potential impact on QTc interval remains undefined. We analyzed the effects of trimetazidine on QTc interval in patients with ischemic heart failure. METHODS: A prospective trial included 42 patients with ischemic heart failure (New ...

Dexmedetomidine is an alpha(2)-agonist indicated for sedation in critically ill patients and procedural sedation in nonintubated patients. It is a distinctive sedative because it does not cause respiratory depression, but it may cause hypotension and bradycardia. We describe a 74-year-old man who was receiving dexmedetomidine for agitation and experienced progressive ...

Epidemiological data support the hypothesis that environmental and occupational agents play an important role in the development of interstitial lung diseases such as idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIPs) and sarcoidosis. The aim of this study was to assess the elemental composition of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in patients with interstitial lung ...

Not all patients respond to angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitor equally. Genetic or other phenotypic variations might be useful in predicting the therapeutic efficacy of these drugs. With the present study we assessed the prognostic impact of ACE-inhibitor in chronic heart failure patients with different degrees of collagen metabolism as assessed ...

OBJECTIVES: To perform a meta-analysis of studies using the Valsalva ratio (VR) in Chagas disease (ChD) patients without cardiopathy in comparison to control subjects in order to determine if vagal heart modulation is impaired in early forms of ChD. METHODS: The medical literature was systematically searched and reviewed for cross-sectional ...