OBJECTIVE The SAVE study showed that captopril improves mortality in patients with left ventricular dysfunction after myocardial infarction and that this benefit occurred even in patients with no clinically overt heart failure. On the basis of this, it seems important to identify correctly which patients have left ventricular dysfunction after a myocardial infarction. The objective was to compa...

Background Patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and severe left ventricular dysfunction have a worse survival prognosis than patients with preserved ventricular function. The role of diabetes in the long-term prognosis of this patient group is unknown. This study investigated whether the presence of diabetes has a long-term impact on left ventricular function. Methods Patients with coronary ...

A 39 year old man with postoperative constrictive pericarditis after pericardiectomy developed major left ventricular systolic dysfunction with an anterior wall infarct pattern on ECG but no regional wall motion abnormalities by echocardiography or serum enzymatic evidence of a myocardial infarction. The left ventricular dysfunction resolved over two weeks with supportive treatment. It is postu...

The values of several non-invasive methods for the diagnosis of right ventricular necrosis in inferior myocardial infarction were compared in 51 consecutive patients who underwent serial radionuclide ventriculography, pyrophosphate scintigraphy, and cross sectional echocardiography. In addition a unipolar electrocardiographic lead V4R was recorded on admission, daily, and during episodes of fur...

BACKGROUND Both preoperative left ventricular dysfunction and postoperative renal function deterioration are associated with increased long-term mortality after cardiac surgery. The influence of preoperative left ventricular dysfunction on postoperative renal dysfunction and long-term mortality is not defined. METHODS We collected data from 641 consecutive patients undergoing coronary bypass ...

Glossopharyngeal insufflation (GI), a technique used by breath-hold divers to increase lung volume and augment diving depth and duration, is associated with untoward hemodynamic consequences. To study the cardiac effects of GI, we performed transthoracic echocardiography, using the subcostal window, in five elite breath-hold divers at rest and during GI. During GI, heart rate increased in all d...

Aortic stenosis (AS) is the most common valvular heart disorder in older adults. Patients with severe AS are generally treated nonsurgically if asymptomatic and referred to aortic valve replacement when symptoms develop. However, patients with severe asymptomatic AS with left ventricular dysfunction may benefit from early aortic valve replacement. Although operative mortality in patients with s...

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) and left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) in a group of elderly Spanish individuals. Data were obtained on a subgroup of 371 individuals from the Lista district of Madrid, Spain who were taking part in the EPICARDIAN study. In hypertensive subjects, t...