SYSTEMIC ARTERIAL PULSATILITY INDEX (SAPI) PREDICTS ADVERSE OUTCOMES IN ADVANCED HEART FAILURE PATIENTS

Serum brain-derived neurotropic factor level predicts adverse clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure.

BACKGROUND Brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) is involved in cardiovascular diseases as well as skeletal muscle energy metabolism and depression. We investigated whether serum BDNF level was associated with prognosis in patients with heart failure (HF). METHODS AND RESULTS We measured the serum BDNF level in 58 patients with HF (59.2 ± 13.7 years old, New York Heart Association functiona...

Augmenting outcomes in patients with advanced heart failure.

Designing and conducting early phase studies of novel interventions is a challenging aspect of heart failure research. Such studies are typically underpowered to demonstrate conclusively improvement in ‘hard’ clinical outcomes such as mortality or hospitalization, and must therefore rely on either other clinically relevant endpoints (such as functional capacity or quality of life) or ‘surrogate...

Right Heart End-Systolic Remodeling Index Strongly Predicts Outcomes in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Pentraxin 3, a new marker for vascular inflammation, predicts adverse clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure.

BACKGROUND Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is a novel inflammatory marker produced by endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and macrophages. The purpose of the present study was to examine the clinical significance of plasma PTX3 levels in patients with heart failure. METHODS We measured the plasma PTX3 levels in 196 patients with heart failure and 60 control subjects without heart failure by sandwich e...

Systemic inflammation in patients with heart failure.

AIMS We hypothesized that chronic heart failure as a model of systemic hypoxia may result in systemic inflammation. The signs of a systemic inflammatory response should disappear after successful mechanical circulatory support using biventricular assist device systems. METHODS AND RESULTS Plasma levels of cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, TNF-alpha) and soluble adhesion molecules (sVCAM, sE-, sL-, sP-Se...