BACKGROUND Identification and clinical impact of preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) on in-hospital outcomes in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (HF) remain poorly defined. OBJECTIVE To describe clinical predictors and in-hospital outcomes of acute decompensated HF patients and preserved LVEF, and to develop a clinically-based predictive rule based on data acqui...

AIMS Depression in patients following myocardial infarction (MI) is associated with an increased risk of mortality, but this association may be confounded by cardiac disease severity. We explored the relationship between left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and depression in MI patients. METHODS AND RESULTS In the Myocardial Infarction and Depression-Intervention Trial (MIND-IT), 1989 MI...

BACKGROUND Myocardial norepinephrine is altered in left ventricular impairment. In patients with Chagas' cardiomyopathy (CC), this issue has not been addressed. OBJECTIVE To determine the level of myocardial norepinephrine in patients with CC and compare it in patients with coronary artery disease, and to relate myocardial norepinephrine to left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). METHODS...

BACKGROUND A recent study demonstrated that in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF), a ratio of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) to the left atrial volume index (LAVI) of <1.5 has 100% sensitivity for detecting left atrial appendage (LAA) thrombus. We sought to validate this prediction tool in an external cohort. METHODS We conducted a cohort study of consecutive AF pat...

BACKGROUND It has been known for a long time that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with a decreased left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the gold standard treatment for OSA; however, it is unknown whether or not CPAP treatment will improve the LVEF. The aim of the current study was to assess whether or not CPAP treatment improves th...

OBJECTIVES Our aim in this study was to determine whether increased left ventricular mass (LVM) is a risk factor for the development of a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). BACKGROUND Prior studies have shown that increased LVM is a risk factor for heart failure but not whether it is a risk factor for a low LVEF. METHODS As part of the Cardiovascular Health Study, a prospect...

AIMS Advanced cardiac disease, entailing more hypertrophy, fibrosis, scarring, dilatation and conduction delays, poses the question of whether defibrillation thresholds (DFTs) increase as left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) decreases. This question has been approached indirectly or insufficiently in previous studies. In this study we add and expand on our previous work, stratifying DFT fo...

OBJECTIVES We examined the impact of kidney transplantation on left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). BACKGROUND The ESRD patients with decreased LVEF and a poor New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class are not usually referred for transplant evaluations, as they are considered to be at increased risk...