Cardiology Journal 2008, tom 15, nr 3

The role of Chlamydophila pneumoniae (CP) in the progression of atherosclerosis is controversial. Also no sufficient angiographic study is available about the impact of CP infection on severity and intensity of coronary atherosclerosis. We investigated the relation between CP IgG antibody titers and severity and intensity of coronary atherosclerosis...

To estimate the prognostic value of submaximal negative dobutamine stress echocardiography (NDSE) on major cardiac events..

To systematically review the benefits of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in heart failure patients with narrow QRS (< 120 ms) who have baseline mechanical asynchrony...

To assess the outcome of patients with stable angina pectoris treated with percutaneous coronary intervention versus medically treated patients....

In the literature there are very few well-documented cases of myocardial ischemia with pathomechanism accompanying allergic reaction. It is defined as Kounis syndrome, i.e. angina pectoris or infarction with allergic etiology. It is suggested, that few few cases of myocardial ischemia after a Hymenoptera sting reported thus far represent only a minute percentage of the total number of allergic reactions which occur in the circulatory system. It is difficult to make a credible decision whether allergic mechanisms are responsible for a greater number of deaths than we suspect...

Class III drugs prolong the QT interval by blocking mainly the delayed rectifier rapid potassium outward current (IKr), with little effect on depolarization. This K+ channel in encoded by the human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG). Inhibition of hERG potassium currents by class III antiarrhythmic drugs causes lengthening of cardiac action potential, which produces a beneficial antiarrhythmic effect. Excessive prolongation of the action potential may lead to acquired long QT syndrome, which is associated with a risk of “torsade de pointes”...

The diagnosis and treatment of clinical electrophysiology has a long and fascinating history. From the earliest time, no clinical symptom impressed the patient (and the physician) more than an irregular heart beat. Although ancient Chinese pulse theory laid the foundation for the study of arrhythmias and clinical electrophysiology in the 5th century BC, the most significant breakthrough in the identification and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias first occurred in this century. In the last decades, our knowledge of electrophysiology and pharmacology has increased exponentially...