Revista portuguesa de cardiologia : orgão oficial da Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia = Portuguese journal of cardiology : an official journal of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology
-
Comparative Study Clinical Trial
[Value of transesophageal echocardiography in the assessment of blunt chest trauma: correlation with electrocardiogram, heart enzymes, and transthoracic echocardiogram].
To asses the feasibility, usefulness and clinical rentability of the transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in the evaluation of patients suffering a severe blunt chest trauma as well as to correlate the TEE findings with those provided by the conventional electrocardiogram (ECG), cardiac isoenzymes assay and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). ⋯ A severe blunt chest trauma frequently results in cardiac injury. The ECG and the CPK-MB measurements appears both to be fairly sensitive and specific tests in the cardiac contusion diagnosis. TTE has shown to have important limitations in these patients, thus not allowing neither a complete echo evaluation nor a reliable one. TEE plays an important role in the evaluation and management of this type of patients providing rapid diagnostic information and being of high value in the rule out cardiac contusion as well as in the establishment of a specific diagnosis of cardiac and/or thoracic aorta injuries with a consequent better assessment and treatment strategy in these patients.
-
Our purpose was to assess the efficacy and safety of intravenous ATP for the acute termination of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia. There were 14 women and 10 men, aged 38 +/- 15 years. Three patients had evidence of structural heart disease (Ebstein's anomaly associated to atrial septal defect, operated mitral stenosis with insertion of a mechanical heart valve and CAD respectively). ⋯ Orthodromic AV reentrant tachycardia was interrupted in the AV node limb in all but one patient and AV nodal reentry was terminated in the "slow-pathway" in three of the four patients. Nine patients had premature ventricular complexes, isolated or in couplets, after the termination of the SVT. Three patients had immediate recurrence of the SVT.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
-
Review Case Reports
[A left intraventricular thrombus in an adolescent. Its relationship to the anticardiolipin antibody syndrome].
The authors are going to present the clinical case of a 14-years-old female patient who has got an anticardiolipin antibodies syndrome, a theme to which they add some ideas concerning physiopathology and diagnosis criteria. They'd like to emphasise the echocardiographic observation, which allowed them to find out and follow the evolution of a left sided intraventricular thrombus, the real cause for the systemic thrombosis.
-
Significant advances are emerging in what concerns the newer inotropic agents. Despite the ideal agent, whose sole action is to increase the sensitivity of contractile proteins to calcium is yet to be found, the identification of specific receptors of dopamine in the CNS and peripheral circulation, had stimulated the pharmacological research of dopaminergic receptors agonists, selective for the subtypes DA1 and DA2, selective DA1 and DA2 antagonists and the dopamine beta-hidroxilase inhibitors and represent an unequivocal value. Beta-adrenergic agonists have been extensively evaluated as positive inotropic agents in the patients with congestive heart failure. ⋯ An attenuation of these benefits may be observed at times, although new tachyphylaxis very rarely occurs. Since dobutamine does not preferentially dilate the renal vasculature, concomitant administration of dopamine, at a dose which only stimulates the dopaminergic receptors in the renal artery, had the advantage of increasing renal perfusion and improving renal function. Administration of dopamine is often prolonged after that of dobutamine, and may help the wearing off of dobutamine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
-
Comparative Study
[A pulsed Doppler study of left atrial and ventricular inflow in 2 populations of normotensive and hypertensive subjects].
Comparative analysis of left atrial and left ventricle Doppler inflow patterns in patients with essential systemic mild to moderate hypertension and normal global left ventricular systolic function. ⋯ Pulsed Doppler study of pulmonary venous flow is significantly abnormal in patients with arterial hypertension. This abnormal pulmonary venous flow pattern has a close relationship with structural and functional alterations of the left ventricle. Combined analysis of the pulsed Doppler inflow at these two cardiac anatomical levels is fundamental to understand the pathophysiology of hypertensive heart disease.