INTRODUCTION In this study, we aim to reassess the prognostic value of stress echocardiography (SE) in a contemporary population and to evaluate the clinical significance of limited apical ischaemia, which has not been previously studied. METHODS We included 880 patients who underwent SE. Follow-up data with regards to MACCE (cardiac death, myocardial infarction, any repeat revascularisation ...

OBJECTIVES To identify the risk factors for mortality and establish improved treatment strategies in patients who have acute type A aortic dissection with coronary artery dissection. METHODS From January 1994 through December 2011, we performed surgery in 516 patients with acute type A aortic dissection. We studied 75 (15%) of these patients who had coronary artery dissection. Myocardial isch...

AIMS Aim of the study was to assess the role of early inducible ischaemia for determining left ventricular remodelling in patients with acute myocardial infarction. METHODS AND RESULTS In 179 consecutive patients with first myocardial infarction the occurrence of new wall motion abnormalities during dobutamine stress echocardiography at discharge was related to the left ventricular volume cha...

Microvascular dysfunction, loss of vascular support, ischaemia and sub-acute vascular instability in surviving blood vessels contribute to secondary injury following SCI (spinal cord injury). Neither the precise temporal profile of the cellular dynamics of spinal microvasculature nor the potential molecular effectors regulating this plasticity are well understood. TGFβ (transforming growth fact...

BACKGROUND N-octanoyl dopamine (NOD) treatment improves renal function when applied to brain dead donors and in the setting of warm ischaemia-induced acute kidney injury (AKI). Because it also activates transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) channels, we first assessed if NOD conveys its renoprotective properties in warm ischaemia-induced AKI via TRPV1 and secondly, if renal tran...

Surgery of the descending and thoracoabdominal aorta has been associated with post-operative paraparesis or paraplegia. Different strategies, which can be operative or non-operative, have been developed to minimise the incidence of neurological complications after aortic surgery. This review serves to summarise the current practice of spinal cord protection during surgery of the descending thor...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether diabetic patients with coronary artery disease are more likely to experience silent myocardial ischaemia than subjects without diabetes. SUBJECTS Patients undergoing coronary angiography at a regional cardiothoracic unit, identified as having diabetes from the local district diabetic register/database. DESIGN The coronary angiograms and exercise treadmill test...

AIMS Innate mechanisms of inter-organ protection underlie the phenomenon of remote ischaemic preconditioning (RPc) in which episode(s) of ischaemia and reperfusion in tissues remote from the heart reduce myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion injury. The uncertainty surrounding the mechanism(s) underlying RPc centres on whether humoral factor(s) produced during ischaemia/reperfusion of remote tissue ...