Correspondence to: Professor Thomas H Marwick, University of Queensland Department of Medicine, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Ipswich Road, Brisbane, Q4102, Australia; tmarwick@ soms.uq.edu.au _________________________ D iastolic dysfunction has a major impact on symptom status, functional capacity, medical treatment, and prognosis in both systolic and diastolic heart failure (HF), irrespective ...

Preoperative and postoperative right heart catheterizations were performed on six patients with chronic constrictive pericarditis. Before surgery the patients characteristically showed distinct elevation of right ventricular end-diastolic, pulmonary arterial and wedge pressures. During the operation, right and left ventricular pressure curves were recorded both before and after pericardial rese...

10 male subjects with chronic liver disease and with normal cardiovascular findings, except for the presence of a presystolic gallop, underwent right and left heart catheterization. In general, all of the patients had a high resting cardiac output, narrow arteriovenous oxygen difference, a low peripheral vascular resistance, and normal left ventricular end-diastolic pressures and volumes. The p...

BACKGROUND The roles of angiotensin II (Ang II) in the regulation of heart function under normal and pathological conditions have been well documented. Although 2 types of Ang II receptor (AT(1) and AT(2)) are found in various proportions, most studies have focused on AT(1)-coupled events. In the present study, we examined the hypothesis that signaling by AT(2) is important to the development o...

OBJECTIVE A new pulsatile extracorporeal life support (pECLS) system has entered the market. We wanted to investigate what potential advantages pECLS may have over current non-pulsatile systems (NPS). Our research was focused on the pump's functional interaction with the left ventricle and the coronary circulation. METHODS Extensive hemodynamic measurements were performed during asynchronous ...

Background—Magnetic resonance spectroscopy can quantify myocardial triglyceride content in type 2 diabetic patients. Its relation to alterations in left (LV) and right (RV) ventricular myocardial functions is unknown. Methods and Results—A total of 42 men with type 2 diabetes mellitus were recruited. Exclusion criteria included hemoglobin A1c 8.5%, known cardiovascular disease, diabetes-related...

BACKGROUND Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients exhibit myocardial energetic impairment, but a causative role for this energy deficiency in the pathophysiology of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy remains unproven. We hypothesized that the metabolic modulator perhexiline would ameliorate myocardial energy deficiency and thereby improve diastolic function and exercise capacity. METHODS AND RESULTS F...

OBJECTIVE To verify whether the accuracy of data on myocardial function provided by pulsed-wave tissue Doppler imaging (PWTDI), a new echocardiographic application that allows quantitative measurements of myocardial wall velocities, could help towards a better understanding of the natural history of acromegalic cardiomyopathy. DESIGN Eighteen patients with active acromegaly (ten men and eight...

AIMS To determine if echocardiographic tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) performed at rest detects reduced myocardial function in patients with reversible ischaemia. METHODS AND RESULTS Eighty-four patients with angina pectoris, no previous history of ischaemic heart disease and normal left ventricular ejection fraction were examined with colour TDI, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPE...

CONTEXT Despite evidence of efficacy of antihypertensive agents in treating hypertensive patients, safety and efficacy of antihypertensive agents for coronary artery disease (CAD) have been discerned only from subgroup analyses in large trials. OBJECTIVE To compare mortality and morbidity outcomes in patients with hypertension and CAD treated with a calcium antagonist strategy (CAS) or a non-...