BACKGROUND Embolus is one of the causes of ischemic stroke that can be due to cardiac sources such as valvular heart diseases and atrial fibrillation and atheroma of the aorta. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is superior in identifying potential cardiac sources of emboli. Due to insufficient data on TEE findings in ischemic stroke in Iran, the present study was done to evaluate TEE in de...

PATIENT Male, 27 FINAL DIAGNOSIS: Bath salt induced cardiomyopathy Symptoms: Agitation • fever • pedal edema MEDICATION Intravenous nor-epinephrine for less than 6 hours Clinical Procedure: - Specialty: Internal medicine • cardiology. OBJECTIVE Unusual clinical course. BACKGROUND "Bath salts" is the street name for a group of recently identified and increasingly abused stimulant synthetic...

Despite tremendous advances in the management of cardiovascular diseases and cardiac arrest, there is paucity of information regarding sudden cardiac death in sub-Saharan Africa. We present a two-year review of sudden cardiac death cases among patients managed at a Nigerian tertiary hospital. Patients admitted from January 2012 to December 2013 were prospectively followed-up and cases of sudden...

Although vasodilators and new inotropic agents have been shown to improve ventricular function and reduce symptoms, their effect on mortality is uncertain. In view of our failure to reduce mortality in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), the identification and amelioration of potentially reversible factors that might alter survival are crucial before initiating therapy. The first step...

BACKGROUND Left ventricular ejection fraction remains the primary risk stratification tool used in the selection of patients for implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy. However, this solitary marker fails to identify a substantial portion of patients experiencing sudden cardiac arrest. In this study, we examined the incremental value of considering right ventricular ejection fraction fo...

BACKGROUND Several competing geometric and hemodynamic factors are suggested as contributing mechanisms for functional mitral regurgitation (MR) in heart failure patients. We aimed to study the relationships between the severity of MR and the QRS duration and dyssynchrony markers in patients with ischemic or dilated cardiomyopathy. METHODS We prospectively evaluated 251 heart failure patients...

BACKGROUND How canonical Wnt/β-catenin signals in adult hearts, especially in different diseased states, remains unclear. The proto-oncogene, c-Myc, is a Wnt target and an early response gene during cardiac stress. It is not clear whether c-Myc is activated or how it is regulated during heart failure. METHODS AND RESULTS We investigated canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling and how it regulated c...