BACKGROUND ECG criteria differentiating Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) from mainly anterior myocardial infarction (MI) have been suggested; however, this was in small patient populations. METHODS AND RESULTS Twelve-lead admission ECGs of consecutive 200 TTC and 200 MI patients were compared in dichotomized groups based on the presence or absence of ST-elevation MI (STEMI versus STE-TTC and no...

BACKGROUND Because venous ultrasound (US) fails to fully image the calf veins, there is the potential for US gold standard studies to classify patients with calf deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in the nondiseased category, causing bias in test index calculations. A false increase in negative predictive value (NPV) is especially likely because calf DVT false-negative tests will be counted in the nu...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effectiveness of the Veress needle puncture in the left hypochondrium and the accuracy of the tests described for the intraperitoneal correct positioning of the tip of the Veress needle in an unselected population. METHODS Ninetyone patients consecutively scheduled for Videolaparoscopy had the abdominal wall punctured in the left hypochondrium. There were no exclusion ...

BACKGROUND The lack of patient triggering capability during negative pressure ventilation (NPV) may contribute to poor patient synchrony and induction of upper airway collapse. This study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of a microprocessor based iron lung capable of thermistor triggering. METHODS The effects of NPV with thermistor triggering were studied in four normal subjects and...

Corresponding Author: Al-Ashhab Mohamed Sayed Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering and Islamic Architecture, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia Email: [email protected] Abstract: As the importance of forward-reverse logistics increases, attention will be focused on parameters which affect Net Present Value (NPV) of the whole system, aiming at considering th...

BACKGROUND The clinical implications of a negative multiplane transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) have not yet been reported. We aim to determine the negative predictive value (NPV) of a negative multiplane TEE in patients with suspected infective endocarditis (IE). METHODS AND RESULTS We identified 83 consecutive patients with suspected IE and negative multiplane TEE from our echocardiogr...

BACKGROUND Early biomarkers are helpful for predicting clinical endpoints and for evaluating efficacy in clinical trials even if the biomarker cannot replace clinical outcome as a surrogate. The building and evaluation of an association model between biomarkers and clinical outcomes are two equally important concerns regarding the prediction of clinical outcome. This paper is to address both is...

OBJECTIVE To determine the value of positron emission tomography (PET) with contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) in assessing the need for neck dissection by retrospectively reviewing the pathology reports of patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING Tertiary medical center. PATIENTS Se...

Purpose Parallel imaging allows for a considerable shortening of examination times. Limited data is available about the diagnostic accuracy of an accelerated knee MRI protocol based on parallel imaging evaluating all knee joint compartments in a large patient population compared to arthroscopy. Materials and Methods 162 consecutive patients with a knee MRI (1.5 T, Siemens Aera) and arthroscopy ...