Cardiology
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During atrial fibrillation (AF), the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) may be activated. In this study, our aim was to evaluate at a long-term follow-up visit the levels of plasma aldosterone and natriuretic peptides as markers of neurohormonal remodeling in patients with earlier, documented AF in relation to present heart rhythm, clinical data, and the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). We hypothesized that increased levels of aldosterone and natriuretic peptides were significantly associated with present AF as markers of RAAS activation during the arrhythmia. ⋯ In patients with earlier AF, AF at long-term follow-up visit was independently associated with raised levels of Nt-proANP and Nt-proBNP and to some extent with plasma aldosterone indicating neurohormonal activation during arrhythmia.
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Comparative Study
The specific electrophysiologic characteristics in children with the atypical forms of atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia.
Atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) is well known to be one of the most common supraventricular tachycardias in childhood. However, information about the atypical forms of AVNRT in childhood is limited. The purpose of this retrospective study was to investigate the clinical and electrophysiologic characteristics in pediatric patients with the atypical forms of AVNRT. ⋯ This study demonstrated that the pediatric patients with the atypical forms of AVNRT had different electrophysiologic characteristics than those with the slow-fast or fast-slow forms of AVNRT. The results of radiofrequency catheter ablation were similar for all children with the slow-fast, fast-slow and atypical forms of AVNRT.
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Since most acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) patients present for hospital care via the emergency department (ED), we sought to determine the impact of early ED initiation of ADHF-specific therapy, as indicated by nesiritide use, on subsequent outcomes. ⋯ Initiation of ADHF-specific therapy early, while the patient is in the ED, is associated with improved clinical outcomes.
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The aim of this study was to investigate the changes of regional tissue Doppler velocity after volume removal following regular hemodialysis (HD) in uremic patients. Is tissue Doppler velocity really preload-independent? ⋯ After HD, there is a significant reduction of intravascular effective volume. No significant change is found for myocardial peak systolic velocity and peak late diastolic velocity. However, there is a significant reduction of myocardial early diastolic phase peak velocity. This suggests that TDE is not completely preload-independent; at least, it is phase-dependent within each cardiac cycle.