International journal of cardiology
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Letter Case Reports
A complex anomaly of systemic and pulmonary venous return associated with sinus venosus atrial septal defect.
This report describes a rare case of anomalous systemic and pulmonary venous return that was surgically corrected. It consisted of left inferior vena cava with hemiazygous continuation into the persistent left superior vena cava, partial anomalous pulmonary venous return from the right lung and sinus venosus atrial septal defect.
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Letter
Feasibility and accuracy of a routine echocardiographic assessment of right ventricular function.
The evaluation of right ventricular (RV) systolic function is important for its clinical and prognostic value but difficult to obtain due to RV complex anatomy. Aims of this study were to evaluate the feasibility of a routine use of RV fractional shortening area (FSA), systolic excursion (TAPSE) and peak systolic velocity (PSV) of tricuspidal annular motion in a large series of cases (900 pts), to determine the values in normal subjects (150) and in patients (750) with different pathologies and to correlate these indexes to clinical and echo-Doppler variables. ⋯ The values of 17 mm for TAPSE, 12 cm/s for PSV and 37% for FSA identified patients with high specificity. The values in subgroups of pathological patients were evaluated and compared.
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To examine prospectively the effect of cardiac surgery on plasma concentration of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) in children with congenital heart disease. ⋯ In children with congenital heart defects plasma BNP increased immediately after cardiac surgery despite haemodynamic unloading. The correlation to cardiopulmonary bypass time and serum lactate concentration and the similarity between the pattern of BNP release after surgery and after myocardial ischaemia might be explained by a cytoprotective role for BNP after cardiac surgery.
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To prospectively validate artificial neural network (ANN)-algorithms for early diagnosis of myocardial infarction (AMI) and prediction of 'major infarct' size in patients with chest pain and without ECG changes diagnostic for AMI. ⋯ Specially designed ANN-algorithms allow diagnosis of AMI within 2 h of monitoring. These algorithms also allow early prediction of 'major AMI' size and could thus, be used as a valuable instrument for rapid assessment of chest pain patients.
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Letter Case Reports
Transient myocardial dysfunction after smoke inhalation.
Acute onset, transient (reversible) myocardial contraction abnormality has been described in patients with acute non-cardiac illness and after acute emotional stress. Such reversible myocardial contraction abnormalities may occur via mechanisms other than reduction in epicardial coronary blood flow. ⋯ The patient developed acute heart failure without evidence of carbon monoxide poisoning that resolved within 4 days. An association between brief smoke exposure without carbon monoxide poisoning and acute heart failure has not been previously described.