Background—Patients with severe aortic stenosis and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) have a poor prognosis with conservative therapy but a high operative mortality when treated surgically. Recently, transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has emerged as an alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) for patients considered at high or prohibitive operative ris...

BACKGROUND Optimal timing of implantation of an implantable cardioverter/defibrillator (ICD) after newly diagnosed heart failure is unclear given that late reverse remodelling may occur. We aimed to analyze left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) after diagnosis of an LVEF ≤35% during optimization of heart failure drug therapy. METHODS AND RESULTS One hundred fifty-six patients with newly d...

BACKGROUND In patients undergoing cardiac surgery, a reduced preoperative left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is common and is associated with a worse outcome. Available outcome data for these patients address specific surgical procedures, mainly coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Aim of our study was to investigate perioperative outcome of surgery on patients with low pre-operative LVE...

PURPOSE To compare the accuracy of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging methods for measuring left ventricular ejection fraction with multiple-gated acquisition (MUGA). CMR imaging methods included in-line tracking, in-line automated tracking with manual adjustment (a semiautomatic technique), and manual drawing techniques. METHODS Thirty patients were recruited for left ventricula...

Aims: To examine how left atrioventricular plane displacement (AVPD), a widely used measure of left ventricular (LV) function, is related to presence and degree of aortic stenosis. Methods and results: Cardiac dimensions, LV filling, left AVPD, LV ejection fraction (LVEF), and valve function were assessed by echocardiography/Doppler in 182 patients with various cardiac diseases (mean (SD) age 6...

The aim of this study was to investigate the application of adenosine stress echocardiography (ASE) in the prognosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). A total of 79 patients with AMI who underwent PCI were selected for the study. ASE testing was performed within one week following the PCI. Subsequent to the ASE, the patients with ≥5% increa...

BACKGROUND This study is aimed at investigating myocardial multi-directional systolic deformation in hypertensive with different left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and exploring its contribution to LVEF. METHODS One hundred and twenty-three patients with primary hypertension (HT) were divided into group A (LVEF ≥ 55%), group B (45% ≤ LVEF < 50%, or 50% ≤ LVEF < 55% + LVEDVI ≥ 97 ml/m2...

UNLABELLED Cardiotoxicity is a dose-limiting side-effect of cancer chemotherapeutics such as anthracyclines. The drug-induced cardiac toxicity is currently monitored with repeated assessments of the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) using multigated equilibrium radionuclide ventriculography (MUGA) or echocardiography. However, the plasma cardiac biomarker B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP...

BACKGROUND In clinical practice and in clinical trials, echocardiography and scintigraphy are used the most for the evaluation of global left ejection fraction (LVEF) and left ventricular (LV) volumes. Actually, poor quality imaging and geometrical assumptions are the main limitations of LVEF measured by echocardiography. Contrast agents and 3D echocardiography are new methods that may alleviat...

AIMS Patients with recent onset non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy have a variable clinical course with respect to recovery of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). The aim of this study was to understand whether temporal changes in diastolic function (DF) are associated with clinical outcomes independent of LVEF recovery. METHODS AND RESULTS The Intervention in Myocarditis and Acute Cardiomyo...