We studied the hemodynamic response to supine bicycle exercise in 20 patients late (10 + 2 years) after aortic valve replacement (for aortic stenosis in 12 patients, aortic insufficiency in six patients, and for combined stenosis and insufficiency in two patients). The pulmonary artery wedge pressure was obtained with a pulmonary artery balloon catheter, and left ventriculography was performed ...

BACKGROUND Fibreoptic bronchoscopy (FOB) is the usual initial investigation of choice in patients with suspected endobronchial carcinoma, but it is often non-diagnostic. Once a positive diagnosis has been made, many patients undergo staging by computed tomographic (CT) scanning to assess the extent of the disease and its suitability for radical treatment. To determine whether initial CT scannin...

Transvenous endomyocardial biopsy is an accepted method to evaluate cardiac transplant rejection, but the clinical diagnostic value of the technique for other forms of cardiac disease has not been established. We performed biopsies in 100 consecutive patients without significant complications. The pathologic diagnostic information obtained was judged to be useful to the clinician in 54 and not ...

Screening and diagnostic testing for neuropathy in patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes is needed in order to prevent complications from diabetic neuropathy. As diabetic neuropathy frequently leads to foot ulcers and amputation— major causes of morbidity and disability in people with diabetes—the American Diabetes Association recommends an annual foot exam for people with diabetes in order t...

Previous studies in patients with sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) have demonstrated the efficacy of surgical and catheter-mediated ablative procedures based on activation mapping during VT. Since extensive preoperative or intraoperative mapping may be impractical due to time constraints or patient intolerance, we sought to define characteristics of the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) dur...