OBJECTIVE To establish the parameters of intra- and interventricular synchrony in normal individuals and to compare them with patients with dilated cardiomyopathy with and without conduction disorders shown in the electrocardiogram (ECG) examination. METHODS Three groups of patients were included in this study: 18 individuals (G1) with no cardiomyopathy and with a normal ECG (52+/-12 years, 2...

BACKGROUND It is under debate whether the cumulative effects of intensive endurance exercise induce chronic cardiac damage, mainly involving the right heart. The aim of this study was to examine the cardiac structure and function in long-term elite master endurance athletes with special focus on the right ventricle by contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance. METHODS AND RESULTS Th...

BACKGROUND Advanced heart failure treated with a left ventricular assist device is associated with a higher risk of right heart failure. Many advanced heart failures patients are treated with an ICD, a relative contraindication to MRI, prior to assist device placement. Given this limitation, left and right ventricular function for patients with an ICD is calculated using radionuclide angiograph...

In 15 patients with tricuspid atresia and one with tricuspid stenosis the left ventricular ejection fraction was measured by equilibrium gated radionuclide angiography and the results compared with those from a control group of 16 patients. The patients with tricuspid atresia had a significantly depressed ejection fraction. Those who had a surgical shunt or who had had pulmonary artery banding ...

Radionuclide measurements of regional left ventricular ejection fraction were evaluated as a quantitative index of regional left ventricular function. Left ventricular regional ejection fractions were derived from background-corrected, time-activity curves in 43 patients assessed by both gated equilibrium radionuclide angiocardiography and left ventricular contrast angiography. From a single, m...

Echocardiography was used to measure right ventricular systolic time intervals (RVSTI) in 85 normal children (group I) and in 229 patients undergoing cardiac catheterization (group II). Corrected right ventricular pre-ejection period (RPEPC) and right ventricular ejection time (RVETc) (based on regression analysis of group I) and RPEP/RVET were each correlated with pulmonary artery (PA) diastol...

Abnormal interventricular septal motion, with pre-ejection posterior motion and anterior motion away from the posterior left ventricular wall during ejection, was demonstrated by echocardiography in 14 out of 17 cases with complete left bundle branch block (LBBB). Two of 14 cases had intermittent LBBB and showed abnormal septal motion only during LBBB. Of the control group of 49 patients withou...

expiratory pressure; Phihigh airway pressure level with BiPAP; Plolow airway pressure level with BiPAP; PSVpressure support ventilation; PVRlpulmonary vascular resistance index; RVEDVright ventricular enddiastolic volume; RVEFright ventricular ejection fraction; RVESVright ventricular end-systolic volume; RVPSPright ventricular peak systolic pressure; RVSV right ventricular stroke volume; RVSWI...

BACKGROUND The role of angiotensin II receptor blockers in patients with a systemic right ventricle has not been elucidated. METHODS AND RESULTS We conducted a multicenter, double-blind, parallel, randomized controlled trial of angiotensin II receptor blocker valsartan 160 mg twice daily compared with placebo in patients with a systemic right ventricle caused by congenitally or surgically cor...

Although the bipyridine agent amrinone is reported to have a positive inotropic effect on the left ventricle, the effect of this drug on right ventricular contractility in the clinical setting is unknown. We studied the effect of short-term intravenous administration of amrinone on right ventricular systolic function in nine patients with severe congestive heart failure and, using radionuclide ...