introduction: heart failure is a major hazard for public health. despite recent advance in medical therapy, there is not enough information on the outcome of off-pump coronary artery bypass (opcab) and medical therapy on the patients with severe ventricular dysfunction and triple-vessel (cad). this study aimed to compare treatment outcomes and mortality rate in patients undergoing off-pump coro...

BACKGROUND The prevalence and clinical outcomes of heart failure with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction after acute myocardial infarction have not been well elucidated. OBJECTIVE To analyze the prevalence of heart failure with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction in acute myocardial infarction and its association with mortality. METHODS Patients with acute myocardial infa...

BACKGROUND Obstructive sleep apnea subjects the failing heart to adverse hemodynamic and adrenergic loads and may thereby contribute to the progression of heart failure. We hypothesized that treatment of obstructive sleep apnea by continuous positive airway pressure in patients with heart failure would improve left ventricular systolic function. METHODS Twenty-four patients with a depressed l...

The minimum current required to cause ventricular fibrillation was determined by electrical stimulation of the normal or ischemic canine left ventricle. The threshold for ventricular fibrillation in the normal heart decreased when the heart rate was rapid. Strong vagal stimulation did not affect the ventricular fibrillation threshold when the heart rate was fixed. The fall in the ventricular fi...

The interrelationship between drug-induced changes in heart rate and drug-induced alterations in ventricular automaticity was studied in dogs with intact conduction systems and dogs with surgically-induced complete heart block. The effects of epinephrine (0.5 microgram-kg-1-min-1) and propranolol (1.0 mg-kg-1) on ventricular automaticity were shown to be partially concealed by heart rate change...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether the process of reverse left ventricular remodelling in response to carvedilol is dependent on baseline heart rate (BHR), heart rhythm, or heart rate reduction (HRR) in response to carvedilol. DESIGN Retrospective analysis of serial echocardiograms in 257 patients with chronic systolic heart failure at baseline and at 12-18 months after starting carvedilol. Rever...

background there is the controversy concerning the main component of tobacco, which is responsible for its arrhythmogenesis. in addition, there is the lack of adequate information about the influence of combination of black tea and nicotine on heart rhythm. objectives this study aimed to examine whether pretreatment with black tea and nicotine could modulate the susceptibility to lethal ventric...

background: severe and prolonged physical training is associated with morphological and physiological cardiac changes, often termed as the “athlete’s heart”. echocardiographic features peculiar to elite iranian athletes have not been previously described. the aim was to examine the echocardiographic characteristics of highly trained iranian athletes involved in three different sports.   methods...

The existence of ventricular tachycardia in subjects without detectable heart disease has been recognized for more than half a century. These rhythms occur in younger individuals and account for about 5% of referrals to the electrophysiology service. In contrast, ventricular tachycardia in the setting of chronic ischemic heart disease occurs in an older age group and accounts for more than 90% ...

OBJECTIVES To determine whether patients with suspected heart failure but preserved systolic function, as determined by conventional echocardiographic measures (often said to have "diastolic heart failure), might have subtle left ventricular systolic dysfunction detectable by a new measure of left ventricular systolic function-left ventricular systolic atrioventricular plane displacement. DES...