BACKGROUND Expanded endothelial progenitor cells (eEPC) improve global left ventricular function in experimental myocardial infarction (MI). Erythropoietin beta (EPO) applied together with eEPC may improve regional myocardial function even further by anti-apoptotic and cardioprotective effects. Aim of this study was to evaluate intramyocardial application of eEPCs and EPO as compared to eEPCs o...

Echocardiography is a widely used imaging technique to examine myocardial function in patients with known or suspected heart disease. The analysis of ventricular wall motion and deformation, in particular, allows to assess the extent of myocardial ischemia and infarction. In clinical practice, the analysis mainly relies on visual inspection or manual measurements by experienced cardiologists. M...

ST-segment elevation during exercise testing has been attributed to myocardial ischemia and wall motion abnormalities (WMA). However, the functional significance of ST-segment elevation during dobutamine stress testing (DST) has not been evaluated in patients referred for diagnostic evaluation of myocardial ischemia. DST (up to 40 micrograms/kg/min) with simultaneous echocardiography and techne...

OBJECTIVE To determine the early effects of Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) on regional left ventricular wall motion abnormality in patients undergoing surgery for proven Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). DESIGN Quasi-experimental study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Department of Cardiac Surgery, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Karachi. from October 2005 to April 2006. P...

When we deal with the results of a diagnostic test such as stress echocardiography, we tend to be more interested in the abnormal results. However, in non-invasive imaging of coronary disease, calling a study falsely normal often causes more problems than a false-positive diagnosis, which can be corrected by consecutive tests. It is good clinical practice to finish cardiac assessment in those p...

UNLABELLED The aim of the study was to evaluate the myocardium function in acute paracetamol poisoning using 19mTc-MIBI GSPECT. MATERIAL AND METHODS Under examination there were 25 acutely paracetamol poisoned patients (age: 24.5 +/- 6 years) treated at the Ward of Toxicology and Environmental Diseases. The control group necessary to perform quantitative analysis of myocardial scintigraphy co...

OBJECTIVE Contrast echocardiography is a more accurate means of assessment of left ventricular (LV) regional motion compared with non-enhanced echocardiography. Despite new tests, the diagnosis of post-operative myocardial infarction (MI) remains difficult. The aim of this study was to determine whether contrast echocardiography can facilitate this diagnosis. METHODS We performed standard and...

The echocardiograms of two patients with sclerodermatous cardiac disease are described. In one patient the pattern was that of a congestive cardiomyopathy with ventricular dilatation and reduced wall motion. In the second patient the pattern was that of an infiltrative cardiomyopathy with thickened walls and reduced wall motion in the absence of ventricular dilatation. Echocardiographic studies...

Radiopaque markers were implanted in the left ventricular myocardial midwall in 58 patients and studied in the 30° right anterior oblique projection by computer-aided fluoroscopy. Marker motion was used as a standard of segmental wall motion against which the accuracy of five methods for measuring left ventricular wall motion was assessed: two methods using hemiaxial measurements in rectangular...