Introduction : Patients with hemodynamically significant mitral stenosis (MS) have prolonged P-wave duration and increased P-wave dispersion (PWD) that decrease after successful percutaneous balloon mitral valvotomy (PBMV). The purpose of this study was to investigate if the changes in these indices may predict a successful procedure. Methods : Fifty two patients with MS in sinus rhythm underwe...

BACKGROUND It is not known whether the mild hypoxia experienced by passengers during commercial air travel triggers hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction and increases pulmonary artery pressure in flight. Insidious pulmonary hypertensive responses could endanger susceptible passengers who have cardiopulmonary disease or increased hypoxic pulmonary vascular sensitivity. Understanding these effects ...

BACKGROUND The validity of Doppler echocardiographic (DE) measurement of systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP) has been questioned. Recent studies suggest that mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) might reflect more accurately the invasive pressures. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS 241 patients were prospectively studied to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of mPAP for the diagnosis of PH....

BACKGROUND/AIM To investigate the effects of pulmonary hypertension on early clinical variables in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS The preoperative echocardiographic data of patients who underwent isolated coronary artery bypass surgery were evaluated retrospectively. A total of 1244 patients were included in the study. The patients were divi...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE) is considered the potential curative treatment for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). We analysed the results of the PTE application in our institution. PATIENTS AND METHODS From February 1996 to December 2007, 30 patients with CTEPH underwent video-assisted PTE. Preoperative hemodynamic data were: systolic pu...

In patients with heart failure, exercise echocardiography can help in risk stratification and decision making. The prognostic significance of exercise pulmonary hypertension (PH) in patients with secondary mitral regurgitation (MR) remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to assess the prognostic value of exercise PH in patients with secondary MR and narrow QRS intervals. From 2005 to ...

BACKGROUND The quantification of hypoxia based on resting partial pressure of arterial oxygen (PaO2) may underestimate hypoxia related to activities of daily living or sleep and thus not accurately reflect pulmonary hypertension (PH). The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of resting PaO2 with percent time of SpO2 below 90% (T90) and 88% (T88) in 24 hours. We also evalu...

Members of the antigen I/II family of cell surface proteins are highly conserved, multifunctional adhesins that mediate interactions of oral streptococci with other oral bacteria, with cell matrix proteins (e.g., type I collagen), and with salivary glycoproteins, e.g., gp340. The interaction of gp340 (formerly designated salivary agglutinin) with Streptococcus mutans requires an alanine-rich re...

THE 5=-ECTONUCLEOTIDASES FOUND on the surface of most mammalian cells and in blood serum serve as a source of adenosine derived from extracellular nucleotide degradation (11). The 5=-ectonucleotidases are phosphatases whose substrate is extracellular adenosine 5=-monophosphate (AMP) generated from adenosine 5=-triand diphosphates (ATP and ADP) released from injured tissues to stimulate cellular...