Aim: To evaluate the prognostic effect of serum NT-proBNP levels and left ventricular ejection fraction in patients who have acute decompansated heart failure and receive levosimendan treatment. Method: Fourteen patients (10 male (71,4 %), 4 female (28,6%)) with heart failure who have low cardiac output findings and unresponsive to intravenous and vasodilator therapy, functional capacity NHYA c...

BACKGROUND Obstructive sleep apnea subjects the failing heart to adverse hemodynamic and adrenergic loads and may thereby contribute to the progression of heart failure. We hypothesized that treatment of obstructive sleep apnea by continuous positive airway pressure in patients with heart failure would improve left ventricular systolic function. METHODS Twenty-four patients with a depressed l...

Regional and global left ventricular function was assessed in 23 neonates with persistent pulmonary hypertension using computer assisted analysis of their left ventricular echocardiograms and compared with that in 50 healthy neonates. End diastolic left ventricular dimension was normal and end systolic dimension increased while percentage left ventricular shortening and peak velocity of circumf...

Background: Cardiac dysfunction due to chronic anemia and hemosiderosis are the major causes of death among patients with thalassemia intermedia. This study was performed to compare the cardiac function in thalassemia intermedia patients with normal subjects by means of echocardiography. Materials and Methods: This was a case-control study performed on 22 patients affected by thalassemia int...

AIMS Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with risk of overt cardiovascular disease (CVD), but associations with subclinical disease are not well characterized. Hence, we examined associations of circulating vitamin D concentrations and left ventricular (LV) geometry and function by echocardiography at baseline and after 5 years in a community-based study. METHODS AND RESULTS In the PIVUS...

Background: In certain conditions, there is a need for a specific and improved measure of cardiac performance.  Routine methods for assessing left ventricular (LV) function are based on image-analysis or right heart monitoring which do not allow evaluation of ventriculo-arterial interaction. Chen et al presented a noninvasive method allowing measurement of end-systolic pressure–volume relation ...

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY Appropriate experimental models are needed to study the mechanisms underlying left ventricular (LV) remodeling and functional ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR). Herein is described an original percutaneous method for inducing a well-defined posterolateral infarct and significant IMR. METHODS Under videofluoroscopic guidance, the second (OM2) and third (OM3) o...

conclusions: left ventricular systolic heart failure, may result in inter and intra-atrial asynchrony even in clinically stable patients without significant pulmonary hypertension and diastolic dysfunction. results: in heart failure patients either inter or intra-atrial asynchrony were far more common in comparison with normal subjects (p=0.008 and p=0.007 respectively). patients and methods: t...