OBJECTIVE Preoperative left ventricular systolic function is an important prognostic factor in patients undergoing mitral valve surgery. Preoperative myocardial deformation may be impaired without reduction in conventional indices such as ejection fraction (EF). Strain rate (SR) imaging is very sensitive in detecting regional systolic abnormalities and might allow diagnosis of subclinical chang...

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM), also known as stress-induced cardiomyopathy or transient left ventricular apical ballooning syndrome, is characterized by reversible left ventricular (LV) dysfunction that is frequently precipitated by a stressful event. LV thrombus is a recognized complication of TCM; however, the clinical significance and therapy of LV thrombus in TCM remain unclear. Here we re...

Myocardial infarction (MI), or commonly known as heart attack, is a life-threatening health problem worldwide from which 32.4 million people suffer each year. Early diagnosis and treatment of MI are crucial to prevent further tissue damages death. The earliest most reliable sign ischemia regional wall motion abnormality (RWMA) the affected part ventricular muscle. Echocardiography can easily, i...

Conduction abnormalities are frequently associated with cardiac disease, though the mechanisms underlying the commonly associated increases in PQ interval are not known. This study uses a chronic left ventricular (LV) apex myocardial infarction (MI) model in the rabbit to create significant left ventricular dysfunction (LVD) 8weeks post-MI. In vivo studies established that the PQ interval incre...

Background Surgical ventricular restoration (SVR) after anterior myocardial infarction with post infarction aneurysm, significantly improves left ventricular (LV) performance. To describe mid-term postoperative changes of shape and performance of the newly created LV and mitral valve function through the classical (SI) and apical (ASI) left ventricular sphericity index, and determinants of mitr...

Resistance training (RT) is a popular method of conditioning to enhance sport performance as well as an effective form of exercise to attenuate the age-mediated decline in muscle strength and mass. Although the benefits of RT on skeletal muscle morphology and function are well established, its effect on left ventricular (LV) morphology remains equivocal. Some investigations have found that RT i...

Although simple cylindrical or ellipsoidal left ventricular (LV) geometry with transverse or circumferential muscle contraction has been traditionally used to estimate LV performance, the estimated LV ejection fraction (EF) with muscle fiber shortening up to 20% is less than 50% of maximum, which is lower than the normal EF observed in routine clinical practice. Thus, oblique fiber orientation ...

Left ventricular (LV) geometric remodeling, like concentric ventricular hypertrophy, has been shown to be associated with elevated cardiovascular morbidity and mortality1–5. Hypertension as a primary cause of LV remodeling, together with other metabolic abnormalities6,7, characterizes cardiac structural and functional abnormalities. Both experimental and clinical data have already demonstrated ...

BACKGROUND Associations between left ventricular (LV) geometry and the insulin resistance syndrome have been found, mostly in small studies of middle-aged hypertensives. The purpose of this study was to elucidate these associations through the use of a large sample of elderly men. METHODS AND RESULTS We investigated 475 men (157 hypertensives) 71 years of age who were attending a population-b...

Left ventricular aneurysms (LV A) are most commonly the result of a large transmural myocardial infarction, usually in the distribution of an occluded left anterior descending coronary artery. We investigated a case at Allegheny University Hospitals, Hahnemann Division, Philadelphia, PA, involving the use of the Abiomed BVS 5000 ventricular assist device (VAD) for LV A repair. The patient was s...