BACKGROUND Autoantibodies against synthetic peptides of beta-adrenergic receptors have been observed in human cardiomyopathy. However, it has never been shown that such antibodies really interact with native human beta-adrenergic receptors, nor has the clinical impact of such an interaction been investigated in larger groups of patients. METHODS AND RESULTS We screened 104 patients with dilat...

OBJECTIVE The collagen subtypes I (Col I) and III (Col III) are essential components of the cardiac extracellular matrix (ECM) maintaining the functional integrity of the heart. Histological, immunohistological, and biochemical studies, however, demonstrate characteristical changes of the ECM in dilated cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, ischemic cardiomyopathy, and hypertensive heart disease. METH...

Incessant atrial premature beats as a potential cause for tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy was suspected in a patient presenting with dilated non-ischemic cardiomyopathy and severely altered left ventricular ejection fraction. The elimination of a left atrial focus by percutaneous RF ablation led to normalization of the clinical status, of atrial and ventricular dimensions and left ventricula...

Aim: We investigated the impact of fragmented QRS (fQRS) complexes on ECG in predicting papillary muscle dyssynchrony and functional mitral regurgitation in patients with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy with narrow QRS and sinus rhythm. Methods: Thirty-one non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy patients with fQRS and 16 patients without fQRS were evaluated for intraventricular and papillary mu...

It has been demonstrated that there is an association between serum lipoproteins and survival rate in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy, as well as in patients with non-ischemic causes of heart failure. We tested the hypothesis of an association between serum lipoprotein levels and prognosis in a cohort of outpatients with heart failure, including Chagas' heart disease. The lipid profile of...

transient ischemic left ventricular dilation (tid) is a marker of severe and extensive coronary artery disease as well as an increased risk of adverse outcomes. the patients with more severe and extensive ischemia, multivessel-type of perfusion abnormality as well as patients with left anterior descending artery (lad) territory perfusion abnormality have more probability of having tid. evaluati...

Background Midwall septal fibrosis on late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging has been shown to be an independent predictor of adverse events in patients with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NICM). Recent studies in other cardiomyopathy cohorts, such as Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, suggest that LGE extent provides incremental prognostic value over ...

background: although the risk factors of ischemic strokes are well defined, there is slight information about their relations with the etiologies of ischemic strokes. this study investigated the distribution of ischemic stroke risk factors and their connections to diverse etiologies of cerebrovascular attack (cva) and specific ischemic regions of brain. methods: in this cross sectional study , ...