International journal of cardiology
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The purpose of our study was to evaluate the results of endovascular treatment of symptomatic vertebro-basilar insufficiency (VBI) unresponsive to medical therapy. ⋯ Posterior fossa ischemia is an under-diagnosed condition that occurs with relative frequency in cardiac patients. Awareness of this condition and adequate non-invasive testing permits identification of these patients. Endovascular treatment using coronary wires and stents including drug eluting stents, seems to be the treatment of choice for vertebral artery revascularization due to the high technical success rate, low complication rate, and long-term durability.
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Acute pericarditis is often accompanied by some degree of myocarditis. In clinical practice both pericarditis and myocarditis coexist because they share common etiologic agents, mainly cardiotropic viruses. The term "myopericarditis" indicates a primarily "pericarditic syndrome" and it is responsible for the majority of cases. ⋯ The natural history of myopericarditis in large populations is not known with accuracy. On follow-up, the majority of these cases had objective normalization of echocardiography, electrocardiography, laboratory testing, and functional status, although up to 14% may report atypical, non-limiting chest discomfort. Unfortunately, few data have been published on myopericarditis, the paper reviews current available evidence on the presentation, management, and prognosis of myopericarditis.
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Letter Multicenter Study
Chronic pharmacological treatment in takotsubo cardiomyopathy.
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a disorder that has been appreciated only recently. In most of reported cases, this syndrome mimes an acute myocardial infarction. Till this moment no data are available from literature about the treatment in the acute phase of this disease. ⋯ The results of our survey suggest that a chronic treatment with beta-blockers, ACE-inhibitors, calcium channels blockers and aspirin does not provide any benefit in patients with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Thus, it seem to be important an early correct differential diagnosis to avoid any chronic treatment in these patients.
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Comparative Study
Fall in readmission rate for heart failure after implementation of B-type natriuretic peptide testing for discharge decision: a retrospective study.
B-type natriuretic peptide is the most powerful predictor of long term prognosis in patients hospitalised with heart failure. On an outsetting basis, a decrease in B-type natriuretic peptide levels is associated to a decrease in event rate for outpatients managed using the neuro-hormone levels as the target in heart failure therapy. We have retrospectively checked whether the addition of pre-discharge B-type natriuretic peptide levels to a clinical-instrumental decisional score for discharge decision in patients admitted for heart failure reduced readmission rate for heart failure and related cost. ⋯ our study suggest that the addition of pre-discharge B-type natriuretic peptide levels to a clinical-instrumental decisional score for discharge decision in patients admitted for heart failure may contribute to reduce the number of readmissions and related cost.
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Comparative Study
N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide as a predictor of repeat coronary revascularization.
Recent studies suggest that natriuretic peptides are potential biomarkers for myocardial ischemia. However, little is known about the value of NT-proBNP as a predictor of repeat revascularization (RR) at follow-up angiography in patients with normal LV systolic function. ⋯ Our data show that NT-proBNP level at follow-up is a strong independent predictor for RR especially in symptomatic patients. Although routine measurement may be not useful for predict RR, NT-proBNP may help to identify patients with low risk of repeat revascularization.