Cardiology Journal 2009, tom 16, nr 2

Defibrillation is one of the most important medical advances of the twentieth century. The history of cardiac defibrillation therapy is long and fascinating, spanning several centuries, many countries and continents. The treatment of sudden cardiac death with electricity was born in the minds of Danish, Italian, French and British physicians and physiologists, as evidenced by numerous eighteenth century publications in these languages...

Slow coronary flow (SCF) is slow dye progression in the coronary arteries during selective angiography, but there is no such study about greater visceral vessels. Studies have suggested that flow-mediated dilation (FMD) is impaired in SCF. Endothelial function can be assessed by FMD in the brachial artery as ischemia-induced vasodilation...

Atrial endocrine function was established in the second half of the 20th century, confirming the role of artial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in the physiology of the cardiovascular system. The present study was undertaken to evaluate changes in ANP and echocardiographic parameters within the first month after VVI and DDD pacemaker implantation and to evaluate correlations between the parameters...

It has been shown that microalbuminuria is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases in diabetetics, hypertensive patients and in the general population. However, few data has addressed the correlation of microalbuminuria with the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD)...

We present a 43-year-old patient with paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia. In the process of catheter ablation, we found interruption of the inferior vena cava with azygos continuation with incomplete situs inversus. ..

Adult patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) usually find their exercise capacity satisfactory. However, objective evaluation is important for diagnostic and prognostic purposes. The aim of this study was to evaluate exercise capacity using cardiopulmonary exercise tests and measurement of serum B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels in adult patients with CHDs, both in the entire study cohort and in subjects with individual types of cardiac lesions, as well as to verify the relation between BNP level and cardiac performance...

Dextrocardia is a rare cardiac anomaly in which the heart is located in the right hemithorax. This developmental irregularity can occur in isolation as situs solitus, or in association with situs inversus or situs ambiguous...

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of left ventricular dysfunction on right ventricular ejection fraction during exercise in heart failure patients and its implications in functional capacity and blood pressure response...

We report one case of cardiac arrest related to ciprofloxacin administration. One female patient (aged 70 years old) developed a marked QTc prolongation (QTc = 0.62 s) within 24 hours of ciprofloxacin administration, with documented torsades de pointes and recurrent syncope that required defibrillation...

Intravenous adenosine in conjunction with myocardial perfusion imaging is commonly used for the detection of coronary artery disease and risk assessment. We have previously shown that patients with ischemic changes on the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) in response to adenosine but with normal perfusion pattern have a benign outcome on shortintermediate follow-up. The long-term outcome of these patients is unknown...