Dilated cardiomyopathy is the most common type of heart muscle disease in children with idiopathic etiology in the majority of cases. Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) is a severe illness which carries a high mortality rate in the pediatric population. In order to characterize IDCM evolution and identify prognostic predictors in our pediatric cardiology center in the western province of ...

To determine the contribution of transsarcolemmal calcium flux to abnormal diastolic function produced by brief periods of flow-limiting ischemia and reperfusion, we evaluated early and late diastolic function during transient coronary occlusion and reperfusion before and during administration of intravenous nifedipine (NIF) (10 +/- 1 microgram/kg/min) in nine preinstrumented conscious dogs. We...

INTRODUCTION Evidence of left atrial appendage thrombogenic milieu (LAA TM) on transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is recognized as a surrogate marker for an increased stroke risk. Although the CHA2DS2-VASc scale is commonly used as a measure of thromboembolic risk in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), it was shown to have only low-to-moderate ability to predict the presence of LAA TM. ...

BACKGROUND Cardiac resynchronization therapy(CRT) has been recommended as a standard treatment for patients with advanced heart failure. However, some studies have reported different clinical and echocardiographic outcomes between male and female patients who received CRT. This Meta-analysis is to determine whether gender difference has any significant impact on clinical and echocardiographic o...

BACKGROUND Venous thrombosis (VT), a major cause of venous obstruction, is a rather rare but dangerous complication of pacemaker (PM) implantation. AIM To assess the prognostic value of selected proinflammatory and prothrombotic markers in predicting symptomatic venous obstruction after PM implantation. METHODS The study involved 81 patients (31 females; mean age 71 ± 8 years) divided into ...

Reproducible left ventricular dimensions were found by M-mode echocardiography in eight healthy men in the semisupine position during two maximal bicycle exercise tests, performed with four hours interval. Left ventricular end-diastolic dimension did not increase during maximal exercise, while fractional shortening increased by a decrease in end-systolic dimension. Twelve men studied by the sam...

the aim of present study was to investigate whether food restriction combined with exercise training could attenuate the oxidative stress and promote angiogenesis in a rat model of heart failure. 50 male wistar rats weighing 250-300 g were randomly divided into 5 groups including: 1) sham; they were fed ad libitum food, n=10. 2) heart failure group; 3) exercise group; they run on a treadmill 5 ...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is common in heart failure patients. Literature on PH in heart failure is sparse in Nigeria. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of PH in heart failure patients and ascertain the relationship between left ventricular systolic and diastolic function and the degree of PH. METHODS A total of 125 heart failure patients had echocardiography...

Left ventricular hypertrophy is an independent cardiovascular risk factor. In hypertensives, the pattern of hypertrophy is influenced by central haemodynamic characteristics. Central haemodynamics may also determine physiological differences in left ventricular structure and predispose to particular responses of the left ventricle to pathological increases in load. M-mode echocardiography was u...