background beta-2 microglobulin (b2m) is considered as a surrogate marker for middle molecule uremic toxins and a key component in dialysis-related amyloidosis. however, few studies have evaluated role of b2m in patients with chronic kidney disease (ckd). objectives the purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of plasma b2m level with some metabolic and cardiac performance factors ...

The purpose of this study was to establish normal echocardiographic measurements of valvular motion, cavity dimensions, great vessel diameters, and right, left and septal wall thicknesses of children ranging in size from infants to full growth. The study group was composed of 205 normal, healthy children for whom echocardiograms and subsequent measurements were performed in a standardized manne...

Aims Rheumatic valve diseases are most common etiological valve diseases in developing countries. Urotensin II is cardiovascular autacoid/hormone and may be associated with patients of heart valve diseases. The present study was to measure plasma urotensin II concentrations in patients with left-sided rheumatic valve diseases such as mitral regurgitation (MR) and aortic regurgitation (AR), and ...

conclusions chronic smoking caused left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. acute intake caused left and right ventricular diastolic dysfunction. changes persisted up to 30 minutes after smoking, although diastolic blood pressure returned to normal state. objectives the current study aimed to evaluate the acute and chronic effects of smoking on the left and right ventricular (rv) diastolic funct...

A 20-year-old male patient was admitted to the hospital in a life-threatening condition, haemodynamically unstable, with symptoms of low output syndrome. An intra-aortic balloon pump was introduced together with inotropic support for more than two weeks without any clinical improvement. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 10–15%, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD) was 6.9...

In healthy nonathletic populations, some left ventricle (LV) parameters such as LV mass (LVM) and LV end diastolic dimension (LVEDD) can be predicted by some of body size parameters such as body surface area (BSA), fat-free mass (FFM), and height (H). These body size parameters use to remove covariate influence of body size from cardiac dimension variables and allow comparisons to be made betwe...

Although the pericardium can exert a restraining effect on filling of the normal left ventricle, it is uncertain to what extent the pericardium influences left ventricular filling during chronic volume overload. We measured left and right ventricular pressure and left ventricular segment dimension before and after pericardiectomy over a range of left ventricular end-diastolic pressure from <5 t...

Although the pericardium can exert a restraining effect on filling of the normal left ventricle, it is uncertain to what extent the pericardium influences left ventricular filling during chronic volume overload. We measured left and right ventricular pressure and left ventricular segment dimension before and after pericardiectomy over a range of left ventricular end-diastolic pressure from <5 t...

background echocardiography is widely used to diagnose or exclude cardiac disease. the reports on reference values based on an asian population are limited. objectives we conducted a study to determine normal values for two-dimensional, m-mode, and doppler echocardiographic measurements and evaluate the relationship between these parameters and age and gender in a large, healthy iranian populat...

BACKGROUND Approximately 30% of patients treated with cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) do not achieve favourable response. The purpose of the present study was to identify echocardiographic and clinical predictors of a positive response to CRT. METHODS The study included 82 consecutive heart failure (HF) patients in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III or IV with left...