BACKGROUND More than 400 patients with end-stage heart failure underwent left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation of LVAD as destination therapy (DT) after the US Food and Drug Administration approval of DT in 2002. Because most of these patients had surgeries at hospitals that were newly accredited, we sought to examine the impact of LVAD center volume on the outcomes of DT. METHOD...

OBJECTIVES This study investigates the correlation between deceleration time of diastolic pulmonary venous flow (PV-DT) and of early filling mitral flow (LV-DT), and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). BACKGROUND An earlier study suggests that Doppler-derived LV-DT provides an accurate means of estimating PCWP in postinfarction patient...

OBJECTIVES We sought to identify the histologic basis of myocardial late gadolinium enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). BACKGROUND The histologic basis of late gadolinium CMR in patients with HCM is unknown. METHODS A 28-year-old male patient with HCM and heart failure underwent late gadolinium enhancement CMR and, 49 days later, heart t...

Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) is a rare disease that is mostly reported in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who have received gadolinium as a contrast in imaging techniques. The exact pathogenetic role of renal failure or gadolinium is not known. The aim of this study is to show whether mild-to-moderate renal failure is a risk for NSF as it is described in severe renal failure. ...

Background—More than 400 patients with end-stage heart failure underwent left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation of LVAD as destination therapy (DT) after the US Food and Drug Administration approval of DT in 2002. Because most of these patients had surgeries at hospitals that were newly accredited, we sought to examine the impact of LVAD center volume on the outcomes of DT. Methods ...

BACKGROUND Netrin-1, a secreted laminin-related protein, is known to regulate not only axonal guidance and neuronal cell migration, but also blood-brain barrier integrity and inflammation. Two preliminary studies reported altered serum netrin-1 levels in multiple sclerosis; however, associations with longitudinal clinical and magnetic resonance imaging activity have not been investigated. OBJ...

AIM To review the published literature comparing the diagnostic accuracy of magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) with and without gadolinium in diagnosing renal artery stenosis, using catheter angiography as reference. MATERIALS AND METHODS A meta-analysis was performed of English language articles identified by computer search using PubMed/MEDLINE, followed by extensive bibliography review f...

Systemic fibrosis from gadolinium-based magnetic resonance imaging contrast is a scourge for the afflicted. Although gadolinium-associated systemic fibrosis is a rare condition, the threat of litigation has vastly altered clinical practice. Most theories concerning the etiology of the fibrosis are grounded in case reports rather than experiment. This has led to the widely accepted conjecture th...