OBJECTIVES (15)O-water-perfusable tissue fraction (PTF) has been shown to be a potential index for assessing myocardial viability in PET, an alternative to (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). This study aimed to directly compare these two independent methods in assessing myocardial viability in patients with abnormal wall motion. METHODS PET study was performed on 16 patients with previous myocar...

The effects of sublingual nitroglycerin (GTN) on left ventricular wall motion (LVWM) were examined by angiographic assessment in eight patients with anginal chest pain. Five of seven patients having occlusive coronary artery disease showed segmental abnormalities in LVWM characterized by regional hypokinesis or akinesis at rest. These abnormalities were accentuated by tachycardia induced by atr...

BACKGROUND Due to the shortage of donor hearts, the criteria for acceptance have been considerably expanded. Hearts with regional or global left ventricular dysfunction are excluded from donation, but stress echo might be useful to identify patients with reversible wall motion abnormalities, potentially eligible for donation. METHODS Six marginal candidate donors (mean age, 40 ± 13 years; thr...

AIM To evaluate the angiographic, myocardial perfusion, and wall motion abnormalities in patients with severe compared with mild worsening of regional function during dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) for evaluation of myocardial ischaemia. METHODS 147 patients with significant coronary artery disease and new or worsening wall motion abnormalities during DSE were enrolled. Left ventric...

BACKGROUND Simpson ejection fraction, wall motion score index, atrioventricular (AV) plane displacement and fractional shortening are all established formal echocardiographic methods for the assessment of left ventricular systolic function. Visually estimated (eyeballing) ejection fraction may be considered somewhat more subjective, although shown to correlate well with radionuclide ventriculog...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The hemodialysis procedure may acutely induce regional left ventricular systolic dysfunction. This study evaluated the prevalence, time course, and associated patient- and dialysis-related factors of this entity and its association with outcome. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS Hemodialysis patients (105) on a three times per week dialysis schedule were ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relation between brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentrations and left ventricular remodelling characteristics after acute myocardial infarction. DESIGN Consecutive sample prospective cohort study. SETTING District general hospital coronary care unit in the north of England. PATIENTS 133 initial survivors of a first myocardial infarction who received thrombo...

OBJECTIVE To measure the coronary sinus blood flow (CSBF) and coronary sinus velocity time integral (CSVTI) via transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in association with the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and wall motion scoring index (WMSI). METHODS In this case-control study, 20 patients with anterior AMI and 20 healthy individua...

BACKGROUND Dobutamine associated left ventricular (LV) wall motion analyses exhibit reduced sensitivity for detecting inducible ischemia in individuals with increased LV wall thickness. This study was performed to better understand the mechanism of this reduced sensitivity in the elderly who often manifest increased LV wall thickness and risk factors for coronary artery disease. METHODS Durin...