OBJECTIVES We sought to evaluate the course of cardiopulmonary function after transcatheter atrial septal defect (ASD) closure and to identify the physiopathologic mechanisms leading to this change. BACKGROUND Conflicting reports exist on cardiopulmonary functional improvement in asymptomatic adults after transcatheter closure of a secundum ASD. METHODS Thirty-two consecutive adults (13 mal...

BACKGROUND Pacing has been proposed as a treatment for patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM), but there are few studies with long-term follow-up. We evaluated the long-term effects of dual-chamber pacing therapy for patients with HOCM, and to identify the most prognosis-specific factors for predicting outcome in such treating methods. METHODS A total of 37 HOCM patients...

BACKGROUND Although many electrocardiographic abnormalities have been reported previously, prolonged QTC interval represented as the most important ECG finding in patients with liver cirrhosis. Echocardiography can detect structural cardiac abnormalities in cirrhotic patients. OBJECTIVES The present study aimed to determine the correlation between QTC prolongation and echocardiographic findin...

Introduction. The accurate impact of exercise on coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with left ventricular dysfunction is still debatable. We studied the effects of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) on echocardiography parameters in CAD patients with ventricular dysfunction. Methods. Patients with CAD who had ventricular dysfunction were included into an exercise-based rehabilitation program and r...

BACKGROUND There are limited data regarding the predictors of mortality in patients with acute congestive heart failure (CHF) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≥ 40%. METHODS We evaluated clinical characteristics, mortality and prognostic factors in a sample of consecutive patients hospitalized for CHF with LVEF ≥ 40%. Multivariable Cox regression models were developed to predict ...

BACKGROUND The meta-analysis was aimed to evaluate the effects of AMPD1 gene C34T polymorphism on cardiac function indexes, blood pressure and prognosis in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). METHODS Eligible studies were retrieved through a comprehensive search of electronic databases and manual search. Then the high-quality studies met the rigorous inclusion and exclusion criteria,...

background : the signal-averaged electrocardiography is a noninvasive method to evaluate the presence of the potentials generated by tissues activated later than their usual timing in the cardiac cycle. the purpose of this study was to demonstrate the correlation between the filtered qrs duration obtained via the signal-averaged electrocardiography and left ventricular dimensions and volumes an...

Left ventricular hypertrophy due to aortic stenosis, hypertension and other forms of heart disease is associated with abnormalities of diastolic function. It is uncertain whether these changes are an inherent consequence of the hypertrophic process or represent additional pathologic factors. To investigate this issue, echocardiographic indexes of left ventricular early diastolic function in hig...

The use of immunosuppressive therapy for inflammatory cardiomyopathy is controversial. The aim of this review is to summarize the current empirical evidence for immunosuppressive treatment in inflammatory cardiomyopathy. We conducted a meta-analysis of all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared immunosuppressive therapy with either placebo or conventional treatment in patients with i...