Clinical research in cardiology : official journal of the German Cardiac Society
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Review
How to manage patients with need for antiplatelet therapy in the setting of (un-)planned surgery.
The growing incidence of cardiovascular diseases leads to an increase in patients who require treatment with antiplatelet drugs. About 5% of patients who underwent a percutaneous coronary intervention will have to undergo surgery within the first year. ⋯ Withdrawing antiplatelet agents in order to reduce surgical hemorrhage leads to a significant increase of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, especially in patients who have been treated with implantation of drug eluting stents. This review balances the specific risks of either approach and offers an algorithm how to manage patients in need for antiplatelet therapy in the setting of (un-)planned surgery.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
ARTA: AT1-receptor blocker therapy in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.
Decline in renal and cognitive function may complicate early recovery after coronary-artery bypass grafting. AT(1)-receptor antagonists have been demonstrated to be neuro- and renoprotective. Aim of ARTA, a prospective, double-blind, randomised and placebo controlled study, was to detect whether preoperative treatment with candesartan influences postoperative cognitive and renal function. ⋯ This randomised placebo-controlled and prospective study in elderly patients does not support previous reports suggesting a substantial impairment of cognitive function after coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Preservation of cognitive and renal function was independent of pre-surgical administration of candesartan.
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A 63-year-old male Patient was admitted to the intensive care unit due to acute inferior myocardial infarction with right ventricular dysfunction. He received a loading dose of clopidogrel (600 mg) and aspirin (500 mg) and was immediately revascularized by reopening of the proximal right coronary artery (RCA) and implantation of a bare metal stent. After primary successful intervention the patient suffered from thoracic pain on day 5 of admission. ⋯ The patient was discharged on Aspirin 300 mg/d, Clopidogrel 150 mg/d and Enoxaparin 40 mg/d. Six weeks later the patient demonstrated an improved right ventricular function (TAPSE 18 mm), liver enzymes were normal, and inhibition of platelet aggregation by clopidogrel (150 mg/d) was sufficient. In conclusion this implies that the reversible "clopidogrel-resistance" might have been due to congestion and reduced metabolism due to right ventricular infarction.
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Comparative Study
Low night-to-night variability of sleep disordered breathing in patients with stable congestive heart failure.
Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) has a high prevalence and prognostic impact in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Aim of this study was to investigate variability of SDB parameters in patients with stable CHF. Cardiorespiratory polygraphy was used to determine SDB in two consecutive nights in 50 CHF patients (NYHA class > or = II, LV-EF < or = 40%). ⋯ Classification was identical in 17 out of 19 patients with AI > or = 10/h. In patients with stable CHF a single night of cardiorespiratory monitoring leads to representative results on severity and type of SDB. This may enhance the applicability and dissemination of cardiorespiratory polygraphy in clinical practice.
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Controlled Clinical Trial
Prehospital cooling with hypothermia caps (PreCoCa): a feasibility study.
Animal studies suggest that the induction of therapeutic hypothermia in patients after cardiac arrest should be initiated as soon as possible after ROSC to achieve optimal neuroprotective benefit. A "gold standard" for the method of inducing hypothermia quickly and safely has not yet been established. In order to evaluate the feasibility of a hypothermia cap we conducted a study for the prehospital setting. ⋯ In summary we demonstrated that the prehospital use of hypothermia caps is a safe and effective procedure to start therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest. This approach is rapidly available, inexpensive, non-invasive, easy to learn and applicable in almost any situation.