The American journal of cardiology
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Our objective was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravenous (IV) sotalol in the treatment of incessant tachyarrhythmias in children with normal cardiac function. Eighty-three children admitted to hospital from October 2011 to December 2014 were treated with IV sotalol or IV sotalol plus IV propafenone. The time to conversion to sinus rhythm and maintaining sinus rhythm were evaluated. ⋯ No proarrhythmic or significant toxicities were detected. Close monitoring of QTc and heart rate is required after IV sotalol. Adding IV propafenone to IV sotalol in resistant cases enhance conversion.
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Echocardiographic assessment of right atrial (RA) volume, inferior vena cava (IVC) diameter, and hepatic vein flow velocity independently correlate with the RA pressure by direct catheter measurement in adults. We prospectively collected invasive RA pressure measurements and echocardiographic data in infants and young children with the goal of developing a predictive model to noninvasively determine normal RA pressure. All subjects had a central venous catheter through which RA pressure could be transduced. ⋯ RA pressure did not show correlation with systemic venous diameters or systolic and diastolic flow velocities in the SVC and hepatic veins. In conclusion, regression incorporating 2DE-derived RA volume and IVC systolic flow velocity provided the best noninvasive estimate of normal RA pressure in infants and children. The model derived requires validation in an independent sample.
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Lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. However, the association between SES and mortality in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) is not clear. We examined whether SES predicts all-cause mortality in patients hospitalized with AF. ⋯ In conclusion, patients admitted to the hospital with AF have varying mortality based on their SES. After controlling for co-morbidities, patients with AF and lower SES scores had higher mortality. Further research studies are warranted to study this risk of increased mortality in AF population.