Revista portuguesa de cardiologia : orgão oficial da Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia = Portuguese journal of cardiology : an official journal of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology
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Anemia has been shown to be associated with a worse prognosis, especially higher mortality in various pathological conditions. However, few studies have specifically examined its impact in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients. The purpose of our study was to assess the association between different quartiles of hemoglobin on admission and short- and long-term prognosis in patients with ACS. ⋯ Low baseline hemoglobin is associated with more comorbidities and can accurately predict 1-year mortality after an acute coronary syndrome.
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Calcium plays a key role in heart muscle contraction and relaxation. Hypocalcemic heart failure is a rare and potentially reversible disturbance, which reflects this intrinsic relationship. The authors present the case of a 35-year-old woman who developed acute heart failure during the early postoperative period following total thyroidectomy. ⋯ Subsequently, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was performed, which also showed no alterations. The patient was discharged asymptomatic, medicated with calcium carbonate, calcitriol and levothyroxine. This case highlights the importance of considering hypocalcemia as a cause of reversible myocardial dysfunction.
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Comparative Study
[NT-proBNP for risk stratification of pulmonary embolism].
Pulmonary embolism (PE) is an entity with high mortality and morbidity, in which risk stratification for adverse events is essential. N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), a right ventricular dysfunction marker, may be useful in assessing the short-term prognosis of patients with PE. ⋯ Elevated NT-proBNP levels identified PE patients with worse short-term prognosis, and showed excellent power to predict 30-day all-cause mortality. The results of this study may have important clinical implications. The inclusion of NT-proBNP measurement in the initial evaluation of patients with PE can add valuable prognostic information.
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A growing body of evidence shows the prognostic value of oxygen uptake efficiency slope (OUES), a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) parameter derived from the logarithmic relationship between O(2) consumption (VO(2)) and minute ventilation (VE) in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). ⋯ POUE was more strongly associated with death, urgent heart transplantation and implantation of a left ventricular assist device and proved to be a better predictor of events than OUES. These results suggest that this new parameter can increase the prognostic value of CPET in patients with CHF.