Kardiol Pol
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Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a well known method of treatment used worldwide since the 80's of the last century. High efficiency of SCS was observed in the treatment of various types of pain. Promising clinical results were observed in the treatment of patients with refractory angina (RA). ⋯ The mechanism of action in RA is not well understood. It is known that SCS reduces the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, by which improves the coronary perfusion and oxygenation of the heart muscle. It is important that SCS does not mask the pain related to the infarct.
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Wellens syndrome is characterised by negative or biphasic T waves in V2-V4 leads and critical stenosis of proximal part of the left descending coronary artery. These ECG changes without atherosclerotic changes in coronary angiography, i.e. coronary artery spasm are called pseudo-Wellens syndrome. We describe a patient with acute coronary syndrome and pseudo-Wellens syndrome as a cause of vasospastic angina. These ECG abnormalities need differentiation with acute pulmonary embolism.
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Acute heart failure (HF) is an emerging problem in clinical practice, associated with high in-hospital mortality and a high short-term readmission rate. ⋯ In our registry, in-hospital mortality in patients admitted due to acute HF was slightly higher compared to other reports. Baseline values of some parameters (e.g. blood pressure, serum Na(+), renal function) as well as their changes during hospitalisation (e.g. serum K(+), renal function, plasma NT-proBNP) can help identify acute HF patients at a higher risk of in-hospital mortality.
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Cardiac surgery is associated with ischaemic and reperfusion injury to the myocardium. It seems natural to seek a possibility of inducing the natural endoprotective mechanisms known as myocardial conditioning, including preconditioning, postconditioning, and remote conditioning. Still, in spite of almost 20 years of research in the field, we are far from routine widespread usage of these methods, with published reports describing quite various, and often contradictory results. Current review summarises the trials of using the conditioning in cardiac surgical practice including pharmacological manipulations to induce resistance to ischaemia-reperfusion.
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Myocardial infarction (MI) with its complications is one of the most serious challenges in contemporary cardiology. Among biochemical markers of myocardial necrosis, heart-type specific fatty acid binding protein (h-FABP) showed excellent sensitivity and specificity for the early diagnosis of an acute MI. The h-FABP is released rapidly (after 30 min) from the cardiomiocyte to the circulation in response to myocardial injury and may be useful for rapid confirmation or exclusion of MI. In recent years, glycogen phosphorylase BB (GP-BB) also emerged as a promising early specific marker of myocardial necrosis. Rapid, qualitative "point of care" tests (POCT) detecting h-FABP (Cardio Detect med) and GP-BB (Diacordon) have recently become available. ⋯ The h-FABP seems to be an excellent early biomarker of cardiac necrosis in the group of patients with chest pain lasting 〈 3 h. The GP-BB can be also used as a biomarker of myocardic necrosis, but its sensitivity in the early phase of MI is limited.