European heart journal
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European heart journal · Aug 2006
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyAnticoagulation in women with non-valvular atrial fibrillation in the stroke prevention using an oral thrombin inhibitor (SPORTIF) trials.
The risk of stroke is greater among women with atrial fibrillation (AF) than men. Warfarin protects against stroke, but treatment-related bleeding occurs more often in women than in men. ⋯ When compared with men with AF, women in these studies were older and had more stroke risk factors. Women were more prone to anticoagulant-related bleeding; the higher rate of thrombo-embolism among women was related to more frequent interruption of anticoagulant therapy.
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European heart journal · Aug 2006
ReviewEvidence-based use of levosimendan in different clinical settings.
Levosimendan is a new calcium sensitizer and K-ATP channel opener. Compared with other inodilators, it improves myocardial contractility without increasing oxygen requirements and induces peripheral and coronary vasodilation with a potential anti-stunning, anti-ischaemic effect. ⋯ It is also demonstrated that this drug could be used as bridge therapy for the peri-operative phase of cardiac surgery in both adult and paediatric populations. This review summarizes the evidence from published scientific literature regarding the use of levosimendan in various clinical settings.
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European heart journal · Aug 2006
Left ventricular outflow tract obstruction and sudden death risk in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOTO) is associated with reduced survival in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). The influence of LVOTO on survival from SD in relation to other recognized clinical risk markers is unknown. ⋯ LVOTO is associated with an increased risk of SD/ICD that is related to the severity of obstruction and the presence of other recognized risk factors for SD. The low sudden death mortality in asymptomatic patients with LVOTO and no other SD risk markers suggests that aggressive interventions to reduce LVOTO are unwarranted in this group. Further studies are required to determine the most appropriate treatment strategies (ICD or gradient reduction) in patients with additional risk factors.
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European heart journal · Aug 2006
Utility of a new left ventricular asynchrony index as a predictor of reverse remodelling after cardiac resynchronization therapy.
The majority of tissue Doppler indexes proposed to predict left ventricular (LV) reverse remodelling in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) reflects LV asynchrony as assessed in ejection phase. We evaluated the predictive value of a new strain-imaging parameter reflecting the total amount of time spent by 12 LV segments in contracting after aortic valve closure. ⋯ o-ExcT is able to predict LV reverse remodelling after CRT.