Herz
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Clinical Trial
Safety and effectiveness of levosimendan in patients with predominant right heart failure.
Levosimendan is a new calcium sensitizer that enhances the contractile force of the myocardium and exhibits additional vasodilating properties. The present study describes the hemodynamic effects of levosimendan in patients with acute predominant right heart failure in need of inotropic therapy. ⋯ Levosimendan therapy is feasible and improves hemodynamics in patients with acute predominant right heart failure. Augmentation in RVSWI indicates an increase in right ventricular contractility rather than reduction in afterload as a possible pathophysiological mechanism.
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More and more patients are treated with antiplatelet drugs today. In this context a sufficient inhibition of platelet aggregation, on the one hand, is of essential importance to the efficiency of prophylaxis of myocardial and cerebral infarction and to avoiding thrombosis of drug-eluting stents. On the other hand, this medication can result in an increased risk of perioperative bleeding. In both situations control of the efficiency of therapy or rather the assessment of the impairment of hemostasis is of vital importance. ⋯ Due to their easy handling the described POC devices are applicable to perioperative coagulation management as well as during and after coronary intervention or to monitoring of platelet function in cardiologic practice. They enable a quick assessment of platelet function and an individually guided therapy.
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Percutaneous coronary intervention (PTCA, PCI) is the most frequently used therapy for the treatment of stenoses or occlusions of coronary arteries. In Germany, six PCIs are performed for every coronary bypass surgery. Today, stents are implanted in over 80% of PCIs to improve the acute and long-term results. ⋯ If a DES was nevertheless implanted, triple therapy (coumadin, ASA, and clopidogrel) is recommended--with an INR (International Normalized Ratio) target of 2.0, possibly adding a proton pump inhibitor. In case of nondeferrable surgery, dual platelet inhibition should be continued, if possible (like dental extractions), or perioperatively converted to a small-molecule glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor--under in-hospital survey. Further developments of next-generation DES with different drugs, modified release kinetics, specifically abluminal drug release or bioabsorbable polymers or absorbable stents are necessary, in order to reduce the duration of dual platelet inhibition to the range of BMS--but maintaining the well-established antiproliferative effects of DES.
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This review summarizes some information on the management of diabetic patients at risk for or with already established coronary artery disease. Improved knowledge among diabetologists regarding treatment and prevention of cardiovascular complications and among cardiologists regarding diabetology is a prerequisite for progress to be made for patients with diabetes mellitus with cardiovascular disease. ⋯ The high costs associated with the management of diabetic patients with coronary artery disease suggest that improved primary and secondary prevention very likely will be cost-effective. Reference is made to the recently published European guidelines for diabetes, prediabetes and cardiovascular disease issued by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD).
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Review Comparative Study
[Drug-eluting stents for diabetic patients. A critical appraisal of the currently available data from randomized trials].
Patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and diabetes mellitus represent a peculiar high-risk population because of their specific characteristics of atherosclerotic disease. In conjunction with the diabetes-related comorbidities, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) often leads not only to a worse acute result but - also as compared to nondiabetics - to significantly worse long-term results due to the higher restenosis rates. The rapid introduction of effective drug-eluting stents (DES), which undoubtedly reduce the restenosis rates as compared with bare-metal stents (BMS), brought great hope of providing diabetic patients better and longer-lasting interventional solutions. This overview compiles the currently available data from randomized trials and meta-analyses. ⋯ Of the 22 DES having received a CE certificate, long-term data over 5 years for patients with diabetes are available only for the Cypher and the Taxus stents. Compared with BMS, patients with diabetes and their characteristically small vessels and long lesions predominantly benefit from effective DES. The sometimes postulated differences between Cypher and Taxus in diabetic patients could not be convincingly demonstrated; larger randomized trials with a primary clinical endpoint are required for this. PCI cannot be considered a scientifically sound and evidence- based alternative to bypass surgery in diabetic patients with multivessel disease and/or unprotected left main stenosis until we have the results of the SYNTAX, COMBAT and FREEDOM trials.