BACKGROUND Patients undergo cardiac preoperative evaluation to identify those at risk of adverse perioperative cardiac events. The Revised Cardiac Risk index is commonly used for this task, although it is unable to accurately risk stratify in all patients. This may be partly a result of intraoperative events which significantly modify preoperative risk. METHODS We conducted a systematic revie...

OBJECTIVE To determine the prognostic value of myocardial ischemia, function and coronary risk factors on total and hard cardiac events using myocardial perfusion imaging in a Japanese population. METHODS A prospective cohort study was performed in 117 Japanese hospitals, each with a nuclear cardiology facility. A total of 4,031 patients with suspected or confirmed ischemic heart disease were...

Atrial myxomas are uncommon in the pediatric population but are very important due to pursuant atrioventricular valve obstruction and systemic embolic events. Concerning multiple symptoms ranging from congestive heart failure to neurological deficits, the diagnosis of this disease is complicated. This paper reports a case of left atrium myxoma in a child treated with a surgical excision o...

Background: Exercise-based spectral T-wave alternans (TWA) has been proposed as a noninvasive tool-identifying patients at risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) and cardiac mortality. The ability of ambulatory electrocardiogram (AECG)-based TWA for risk stratification of cardiac events has not been well established. This study sought to review data regarding 24-hour AECG-based TWA and to discuss i...

BACKGROUND Increasingly, dobutamine stress echocardiography has been used for detection of coronary artery disease. Less information exists regarding the incremental prognostic value of the test, including semiquantitative wall scoring, compared with clinical and rest echocardiographic variables. METHODS AND RESULTS Follow-up information was obtained from 860 patients who underwent dobutamine...

Recent epidemiological studies documented that early repolarization may be associated with increased risk of serious cardiac events, including cardiac death. Little is known about the prognostic significance of this pattern in low risk surgical patients. This retrospective study included 3028 patients over 18 years of age and with ASA class I and II risk, undergoing noncardiac elective surgery....

Purpose Radiation therapy is a critical component in the care of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), yet cardiac injury after treatment is a significant concern. Therefore, we wished to elucidate the incidence of cardiac events and their relationship to radiation dose to the heart. Patients and Materials Study eligibility criteria included patients with stage II to III NSCLC treat...

BACKGROUND beta-blockers are routinely prescribed in congenital long-QT syndrome (LQTS), but the effectiveness and limitations of beta-blockers in this disorder have not been evaluated. METHODS AND RESULTS The study population comprised 869 LQTS patients treated with beta-blockers. Effectiveness of beta-blockers was analyzed during matched periods before and after starting beta-blocker therap...

OBJECTIVES The authors sought to validate a clinical decision rule that young adult (younger than 40 years) chest pain patients without known cardiac disease who had either no cardiac risk factors and/or a normal electrocardiogram (ECG) are at low risk (<1%) for acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and 30-day adverse cardiovascular (CV) events. METHODS A prospective cohort study of patients 24-39 y...