Alterations of the structure and composition of cardiomyocyte and noncardiomyocyte compartments of the myocardium appear to play a central role in the pathogenesis of heart failure (HF) associated with a number of cardiac diseases. Among these alterations, changes in the quantity and quality of the extracellular matrix, including the collagen network, have been characterized that induce remodel...

BACKGROUND WHO has played a leading role in the formulation and promulgation of standard criteria for the diagnosis of coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction since early 1970s. METHODS The revised definition takes into consideration the following: well-resourced settings can use the ESC/ACC/AHA/WHF definition, which has new biomarkers as a compulsory feature; in resource-constrained...

Alterations of the structure and composition of cardiomyocyte and noncardiomyocyte compartments of the myocardium appear to play a central role in the pathogenesis of heart failure (HF) associated with a number of cardiac diseases. Among these alterations, changes in the quantity and quality of the extracellular matrix, including the collagen network, have been characterized that induce remodel...

At present there is consent that patients with acute pulmonary embolism (APE) and hemodynamic instability have poor prognosis and benefit from thrombolytic therapy or embolectomy, whereas hemodynamically stable patients without echocardiographic signs of right ventricular overload/dysfunction (RVO) have good prognosis and should be treated with anticoagulation alone. The optimal treatment for s...

BACKGROUND Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) plays a key role in the management of various diseases, from thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and Goodpasture's syndrome to cardiac allograft rejection. In many of these disease states cardiac and inflammatory involvement is common and biomarkers are routinely used for diagnosis or assessment of therapeutic success. The effect of TPE on biomarkers...

Cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) is common and is associated with a high mortality rate. Traditional biomarkers of AKI (creatinine and urea) increase slowly in response to renal injury, are insensitive to mild degrees of AKI, and are influenced by nonrenal factors. There is considerable interest in novel biomarkers of AKI such as neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin th...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Several biomarkers have been used for evaluation and quantification of myocardial injury after effective ablation. We studied possible different thermal stability and usability of the proteins released by cardiac cells injured by different energy sources. METHODS Firstly, we tested in vitro thermal stability of creatinine kinase (CK), myocardial bound creatinine ki...

present a continuum of disease ranging from unstable angina, associated with reversible myocardial cell injury, to ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, associated with irreversible myocardial necrosis. The common pathophysiological feature of the ACS spectrum is the rupture or erosion of atheromatous plaque. A number of cardiac biomarkers have been described that detect different stages ...