Heart : official journal of the British Cardiac Society
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Comparative Study
Incremental shuttle walk test in the assessment of patients for heart transplantation.
To compare the incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT) with treadmill exercise testing (TT) derived measurement of peak oxygen consumption (peak VO(2)) in patients undergoing assessment for cardiac transplantation. ⋯ This work confirms the utility of the ISWT in the assessment of exercise capacity in patients with severe heart failure undergoing assessment for cardiac transplantation. ISWT may provide a widely applicable surrogate measure for peak VO(2) estimation in this population. Shuttle distance walked may therefore allow the convenient, serial assessment of patients with heart failure before referral for transplantation.
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A 64 year old man presented with a traumatic ventricular septal defect following blunt chest trauma 40 years before. Echocardiography and left ventriculography were helpful in locating the unusual septal defect, which was subpulmonary. The shunt was small, but the anomalous chronic overload led to right ventricular failure. The surgical correction was thus too late to improve right ventricular function.
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To describe the electrocardiographic and electrophysiological findings of new atrial flutter developing in patients taking class IC antiarrhythmic drugs for recurrent atrial fibrillation, and to report the long term results of right atrial isthmus ablation in relation to the ECG pattern of spontaneous atrial flutter. ⋯ New atrial flutter developing in patients taking class IC antiarrhythmic drugs for recurrent atrial fibrillation has either typical or atypical flutter wave morphology on ECG. The endocardial activation pattern and the acute results of ablation suggest that the flutter circuit was located in the right atrium and that the isthmus was involved in the re-entry mechanism. There appeared to be better long term control of recurrent atrial fibrillation in patients with typical (85%) as compared with atypical atrial flutter (50%). Patients developing coarse atrial fibrillation may not be candidates for this strategy.
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To determine the cardiovascular and coronary risk thresholds at which aspirin for primary prevention of coronary heart disease is safe and worthwhile. ⋯ Aspirin treatment for primary prevention is safe and worthwhile at coronary event risk >/= 1.5%/year; safe but of limited value at coronary risk 1%/year; and unsafe at coronary event risk 0.5%/year. Advice on aspirin for primary prevention requires formal accurate estimation of absolute coronary event risk.