Cardiology Journal 2011, tom 18, nr 5

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) remains a leading  cause of mortality worldwide. In the United States,  deaths attributed to SCD are estimated at 310,000  per year, overwhelmingly as a result of ventricular  tachyarrhythmias (VT). Heart failure (HF) represents  the most common substrate for VT; and the  risks of these arrhythmias, as well as of SCD, increase  as ejection fraction decreases among patients  with both ischemic and non ischemic heart  disease...

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has added a new dimension to the electrocardiographic evaluation of pacemaker function. During left ventricular (LV) pacing from the posterior or posterolateral coronary vein, a correctly positioned lead V1 registers a tall R wave and there is right axis deviation in the frontal plane with few exceptions...

Coarctation of the aorta was once viewed as a simple discrete narrowing of the aortic isthmus that could be ‘cured’ by surgical intervention. It is now clear that this condition may: (1) affect the aortic arch in a highly variable manner; (2) be associated with a host of other left sided heart lesions...

Evaluating patients with symptoms suggestive of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a time consuming, expensive and problematic process in the emergency department. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of glycogen phosphorylase isoenzyme-BB (GP-BB) in ACS...

Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) have demonstrated the efficacy of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) in reducing sudden cardiac death (SCD) in specific patient populations. However, patients ≥ 65 years were under-represented in these trials and the overall benefit of ICDs may be diminished in older patients due to competing risks for death. We evaluate the published data on ICD efficacy at reducing all-cause mortality in patients ≥ 65 years and in patients ≥ 75 years...

Although plasma pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) levels have been shown to be significantly correlated with the levels of creatinine (Cr) in type 2 diabetes, little is known about the association between PEDF levels and renal dysfunction in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD)...

Head-up tilt testing (HUT) plays a pivotal role in the management of vasovagal syncope (VVS). Heart rate variability (HRV) is a well-known method used for noninvasive evaluation of autonomic nervous system activity. However, different results have been obtained in studies that have evaluated the HRV response to HUT in patients with VVS...

We present our single center experience of 27 patients of hyperadrenergic postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). In a retrospective analysis, we reviewed the charts of 300 POTS patients being followed at our autonomic center from 2003 to 2010, and found 27 patients eligible for inclusion in this study...

Levosimendan (L) is used in clinical practice for the treatment of severe heart failure (HF); it has inotropic and vasodilatory effects, without increasing myocardial oxygen consumption. In acute HF, levosimendan improves hemodynamic parameters; previous studies have demonstrated that it has favorable effects on left ventricular (LV) diastolic function. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of on LV long-axis function that represents the earlier marker of diastolic dysfunction...

Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) is associated with a poor outcome in patients with sinus rhythm (SR) or atrial fibrillation (AF). However, cut-off points for HRV measures differ between SR and AF. We hypothesized that a global index of 24-hour HRV based on evaluation of scatterplot would describe HRV irrespective of cardiac rhythm...