International journal of cardiology
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Adaptive servo-ventilation in heart failure patients with sleep apnea: a real world study.
Congestive heart failure (CHF) patients often present with obstructive and central sleep apnea occurring concurrently within the same night. This study assessed the efficacy of, and improvements associated with, the use of adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV) in CHF patients with all types of sleep apnea. We hypothesized that ASV would be effective at reducing sleep apnea and improving both cardiac status and quality of life. ⋯ ASV effectively reduces all types of sleep apnea. Six months of use is associated with improvement in LVEF and aspects of quality of life.
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Letter Case Reports
Anomalous origin of the left anterior descending artery from the main pulmonary artery with multi-detector row computed tomography coronary angiography.
Anomalous origin of the left anterior descending artery from the main pulmonary artery is a rare congenital anomaly of the coronary artery. We present a case report of a 31-year-old male patient with anomalous origin of the left anterior descending artery from the main pulmonary artery that was diagnosed by multi-detector row computed tomography coronary angiography and correlated with conventional angiography. The results indicate that multi-detector row computed tomography plays an important role in the diagnosis of some rare coronary anomalies that conventional angiography cannot clarify.
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Most patients with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy show a favorable outcome. Although several complications have been reported, the frequency of thromboembolism has not been clarified. ⋯ This study indicates that thromboembolism is a common complication in the acute phase of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, and anticoagulation therapy should be performed in all patients until wall motion abnormalities improve. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy should be considered one of the important causes of cardioembolic stroke.
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Meta Analysis
Levosimendan for the treatment of acute severe heart failure: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.
The objective of this study was to critically review the literature to evaluate whether levosimendan compared to standard therapy, in patients with acute severe heart failure, is associated with improved clinical outcomes. ⋯ Levosimendan improved haemodynamic parameters when compared with placebo, without showing evidence of survival benefit. Levosimendan improved both haemodynamics and survival when compared with dobutamine.
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Review
Use of vitamins C and E as a prophylactic therapy to prevent postoperative atrial fibrillation.
Oxidative stress has been strongly involved in the underlying mechanism of atrial fibrillation, particularly in the arrhythmia occurring in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with extracorporeal circulation (postoperative atrial fibrillation). The ischemia/reperfusion injury thus occurring in the myocardial tissue contributes to the development of tissue remodeling, thought to be responsible for the functional heart impairment. Consequently, structural changes due to the cardiac tissue biomolecules attack by reactive oxygen and/or nitrogen species could account for functional changes in ion channels, transporters, membrane conductance, cytosolic transduction signals, and other events, all associated with the occurrence of arrhythmic consequences. ⋯ On this line, the biological properties of the antioxidant vitamins C and E suggest that they could decrease the vulnerability of the heart to the oxidative damage. Nevertheless, very few studies to assess their anti-arrhythmic effects have been reported in humans. The clinical and experimental evidence supporting the view that the pharmacological use of antioxidant vitamins could contribute to prevent postoperative atrial fibrillation is presented.