Digitalis is a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous perennials, shrubsand biennials commonly called foxgloves. The term digitalis is also used for drug preparations that contain cardiac glycosides, particularly the one called Digoxin, extracted from various plants of this genus. Cardiac glycosides cause arteriolar and venous constriction in a variety of mammalian species including human bein...

Case report A 78-year-old woman with hypertension, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation treated with pulmonary vein isolation 4 years prior, and normal biventricular systolic function presented with symptomatic high-grade heart block with junctional escape rhythm and QRS duration of 84 ms (Figure 1A). She underwent dual-chamber pacemaker implantation with apical RV lead placement and resolution of he...

Cardiac hypertrophy has been considered as an important risk factor for cardiac morbidity and mortality whose prevalence has increased during the last few decades. Cardiac hypertrophy, a disease associated with the myocardium, is characterized by thickening of ventricle wall of heart and consequent reduction in the contracting ability of heart to pump the blood. Cardiac hypertrophy has been div...

CMAJ • JULY 8, 2003; 169 (1) 35 The care of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is continually evolving. In the early 1960s, typical care involved primarily bedrest with few, if any, interventions. This was followed by an era of closer observation in coronary care units but still little in the way of beneficial medical interventions apart from prompt cardioversion o...

Evidence Bioequivalence1 • Regulators require 90% CIs for the maximum peak concentration and total drug exposure over time, or area under the curve (AUC), to be within the limits of 0.80 to 1.25. -This means the absolute differences in bioequivalence must be no more than about 5% to 7%. • Between 1996 and 2007, 2070 single-dose bioequivalence studies showed the average differences in maximum pe...

Even on a good day, Mrs. Smith faces challenges getting to the doctor’s office: she has difficulty getting dressed, taking the stairs, and transporting her walker and oxygen, not to mention parking the car, getting out, getting in to the doctor’s office, and then returning home. After a careful evaluation Dr. Jones concludes that the leg swelling and fatigue are due to an exacerbation of heart ...

Progression of chronic kidney disease is usually a relentless process. It is initially induced by the underlying kidney disease and its consequences. But, when nephron numbers decrease beyond a certain threshold, it is also caused by deleterious effects of this reduction in nephron number, which creates a vicious circle. Besides treatment of the underlying renal disease whenever possible, the m...

Current Opinion in Cardiology 2010, 25:355–365 Purpose of review The Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT) is re-evaluated considering information from recent subgroup and exploratory analyses, other new clinical trials, and meta-analyses. The ALLHAT analyses specifically emphasize heart failure findings, results in Black participants and those wit...

Apatient was seen in consultation for intolerance to multiple antihypertensive medications. She presented a list of her experiences, which is summarized in the Table. Although the cough she experienced while taking angiotensinconverting enzyme inhibitors was a typical side effect of this drug class and consistent on rechallenge, this was not the case with her other reported medication reactions...

The significantly increased life expectancy of Western Society in the past several decades has been attributed to 2 major successes in the prevention and treatment of human disease: (1) the elimination of the scourge of common infectious diseases thanks to public health measures, vaccines, and antibiotic drug development and (2) the decline in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality because of t...