2001;77(6) – ABC CARDIOL

Original Article

Hypertension and clustering of cardiovascular risk factors in a community in Southeast Brazil: the Bambuí Health and Ageing Study

Sandhi Maria Barreto et al. Valéria Maria Azeredo Passos Josélia Oliveira Araújo Firmo Henrique Leonardo Guerra … Pedro Guatimosim Vidigal Maria Fernanda Furtado Lima-Costa

OBJECTIVE – A population-based prospective study was analysed to: a) determine the prevalence of hypertension; b) investigate the clustering of other cardiovascular risk factors and c) verify whether older differed from younger adults in the pattern of clustering. METHODS – The data comprised a representative sample of the population of Bambuí, Brazil. Multiple logistic regression was used to investigate the independent association between hypertension and selected factors. RESULTS – A total of 820 younger adults (82.5%) and 1494 older adults (85.9%) participated in this study. The overall prevalence of hypertension was 24.8% (SE=1.4 %), being higher in women (26.9±1.5%) than in men (22.0± 1.7%) (p=0.033). Hypertension was positively and significantly associated with physical inactivity, overweight, hypercholesterolemia hyperglycemia and hypertriglyceridemia. The coexistence of hypertension with 4 or more of these risk factors occurred 6 times more than expected by chance, after adjusting for age and sex (OR=6.3; 95%CI: 3.4-11.9). The pattern of risk factor clustering in hypertensive individuals differed with age. CONCLUSION – Our results reinforce the need to increase detection and treatment of hypertension and to approach patients’ global risk profiles.

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Original Article

Reversibility of ventricular dysfunction: clinical experience in a medical office

Antonio Carlos Pereira Barretto

OBJECTIVE – To describe clinical observations of marked improvement in ventricular dysfunction in a medical office environment under circumstances differing from those in study protocols and multicenter studies performed in hospital or with outpatient cohorts. METHODS – Eleven cardiac failure patients with marked ventricular dysfunction receiving treatment at a doctors office between 1994 and 1999 were studied. Their ages ranged from 20 and 66 years (mean 39.42±14.05 years); 7 patients were men, 4 were women. Cardiopathic etiologies were arterial hypertension in 5 patients, peripartum cardiomyopathy in 2, nondefined myocarditis in 2, and alcoholic cardiomyopathy in 4. Initial echocardiograms revealed left ventricular dilatation (average diastolic diameter, 69.45±8.15mm), reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (0.38±0.08) and left atrial dilatation (43.36±5.16mm). The therapeutic approach followed consisted of patient orientation, elimination of etiological or causal factors of cardiac failure, and prescription of digitalis, diuretics, and angiotensinconverting enzyme inhibitors. RESULTS – Following treatment, left ventricular ejection fraction changed to 0.63±0.09; left ventricular diameters changed to 57.18±8.13mm, and left atrium diameters changed to 37.27±8.05mm. Maximum improvement was noted after 16.9±8.63 (6 to 36) months. CONCLUSION – Patients with serious cardiac failure and ventricular dysfunction caused by hypertension, alcoholism, or myocarditis can experience marked improvement in ventricular dysfunction after undergoing appropriate therapy within the venue of the doctor’s office.

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Updated

Acute myocardial infarction: one century of history

Rogério Sarmento-Leite et al. Ana Maria Krepsky Carlos A. M. Gottschall

Update

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Original Article

Assessment of splanchnic perfusion with gastric tonometry in the immediate postoperative period of cardiac surgery in children

Renato Lopes de Souza et al. Werther Brunow de Carvalho Miguel Angel Maluf Antonio Carlos Carvalho

OBJECTIVE – A prospective, nonrandomized clinical study to assess splanchnic perfusion based on intramucosal pH in the postoperative period of cardiac surgery and to check the evolution of patients during hospitalization. METHODS – We studied 10 children, during the immediate postoperative period after elective cardiac surgery. Sequential intramucosal pH measurements were taken, without dobutamine (T0) and with 5mcg/kg/min (T1) and 10 (T2) mcg/kg/min. In the pediatric intensive care unit, intramucosal pH measurements were made on admission and 4, 8, 12, and 24 hours thereafter. RESULTS – The patients had an increase in intramucosal pH values with dobutamine 10mcg/kg/min [7.19± 0.09 (T0), 7.16±0.13(T1), and 7.32±0.16(T2)], (p=0.103). During the hospitalization period, the intramucosal pH values were the following: 7.20±0.13 (upon admission), 7.27±0.16 (after 4 hours), 7.26±0.07 (after 8 hours), 7.32±0.12 (after 12 hours), and 7.38±0.08 (after 24 hours), (p=0.045). No deaths occurred, and none of the patients developed multiple organ and systems dysfunction. CONCLUSION – An increase in and normalization of intramucosal pH was observed after dobutamine use. Measurement of intramucosal pH is a type of monitoring that is easy to perform and free of complications in children during the postoperative period of cardiac surgery.

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Original Article

Validation study of an automated wrist monitor, omron model HEM-608, compared with the standard methods for blood pressure measurement

Frida Liane Plavnik et al. Maria Teresa Zanella

OBJECTIVE – The aim of our study was to assess the profile of a wrist monitor, the Omron Model HEM-608, compared with the indirect method for blood pressure measurement. METHODS – Our study population consisted of 100 subjects, 29 being normotensive and 71 being hypertensive. Participants had their blood pressure checked 8 times with alternate techniques, 4 by the indirect method and 4 with the Omron wrist monitor. The validation criteria used to test this device were based on the internationally recognized protocols. RESULTS – Our data showed that the Omron HEM-608 reached a classification B for systolic and A for diastolic blood pressure, according to the one protocol. The mean differences between blood pressure values obtained with each of the methods were -2.3 +7.9mmHg for systolic and 0.97+5.5mmHg for diastolic blood pressure. Therefore, we considered this type of device approved according to the criteria selected. CONCLUSION – Our study leads us to conclude that this wrist monitor is not only easy to use, but also produces results very similar to those obtained by the standard indirect method.

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Original Article

Diagnostic value of the tilt-table test for the assessment of syncope in children and adolescents

Tan Chen Wu et al. Denise Hachul Mauricio Scanavacca Eduardo Sosa

OBJECTIVE – To assess the diagnostic value, the characteristics, and feasibility of tilt-table testing in children and adolescents. METHODS – From August 1991 to June 1997, we retrospectively assessed 94 patients under the age of 18 years who had a history of recurring syncope and presyncope of unknown origin and who were referred for tilt-table testing. These patients were divided into 2 groups: group I (children) – 36 patients with ages ranging from 3 to 12 (mean of 9.19±2.31) years; group II (adolescents) – 58 patients with ages ranging from 13 to 18 (mean of 16.05±1.40) years. We compared the positivity rate, the type of hemodynamic response, and the time period required for the test to become positive in the 2 groups. RESULTS – The positivity rates were 41.6 % and 50% for groups I and II, respectively. The pattern of positive hemodynamic response that predominated in both groups was the mixed response. The mean time period required for the test to become positive was shorter in group I (11.0±7.23 min) than in group II (18.44±7.83 min). No patient experienced technical difficulty or complications. CONCLUSION – No difference was observed in regard to feasibility, positivity rate, and pattern of positive response for the tilt-table test in children and adolescents. Pediatric patients had earlier positive responses.

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Clinicoradiological Session

Case 6/2001 – The patient is an 11-year-old girl with Takayasu's arteritis and heart failure (Instituto do Coração do Hospital das Clínicas – FMUSP – São Paulo)

Fabio Gazelato de Mello Franco et al. Dante Marcelo Artigas Giorgi Maria Clementina Pinto Giorgi Paulo Sampaio Gutierrez

Clinicopathologic Session

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Original Article

Trends in the risk of mortality due to cardiovascular diseases in five Brazilian geographic regions from 1979 to 1996

Maria de Fátima Marinho de Souza et al. Ari Timerman Carlos Vicente Serrano Jr Raul D. Santos Antonio de Pádua Mansur

OBJECTIVE – To analyze the trends in risk of death due to cardiovascular diseases in the northern, northeastern, southern, southeastern, and central western Brazilian geographic regions from 1979 to 1996. METHODS – Data on mortality due to cardiovascular, cardiac ischemic, and cerebrovascular diseases in 5 Brazilian geographic regions were obtained from the Ministry of Health. Population estimates for the time period from 1978 to 1996 in the 5 Brazilian geographic regions were calculated by interpolation with the Lagrange method, based on the census data from 1970, 1980, 1991, and the population count of 1996, for each age bracket and sex. Trends were analyzed with the multiple linear regression model. RESULTS – Cardiovascular diseases showed a declining trend in the southern, southeastern, and northern Brazilian geographic regions in all age brackets and for both sexes. In the northeastern and central western regions, an increasing trend in the risk of death due to cardiovascular diseases occurred, except for the age bracket from 30 to 39 years, which showed a slight reduction. This resulted from the trends of cardiac ischemic and cerebrovascular diseases. The analysis of the trend in the northeastern and northern regions was impaired by the great proportion of poorly defined causes of death. CONCLUSION – The risk of death due to cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and cardiac ischemic diseases decreased in the southern and southeastern regions, which are the most developed regions in the country, and increased in the least developed regions, mainly in the central western region.

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Original Article

Percutaneous closure of ductus arteriosus with the amplatzer prosthesis. The Brazilian experience

Luiz Carlos Simões et al. Carlos A. C. Pedra César A. Esteves Ronaldo Camargo … Sérgio L.N. Braga Pedro Loureiro Marco Aurélio Santos Valmir Fernandes Fontes

OBJECTIVE – To report the results of percutaneous occlusion of persistent ductus arteriosus with the Amplatzer prosthesis in 2 Brazilian cardiological centers. METHODS – From May 1998 to July 2000, 33 patients with clinical and laboratory diagnosis of persistent ductus arteriosus underwent attempts at percutaneous implantation of the Amplatzer prosthesis. The median age was 36 months (from 6 months to 38 years), and the median weight was 14kg (from 6 to 92kg). Sixteen patients (48.5%) were under 2 years of age at the time of the procedure. All patients were followed up with periodical clinical and echocardiographic evaluations to assess the presence and degree of residual shunt and possible complications, such as pseudocoarctation of the aorta and left pulmonary artery stenosis. RESULTS – The minimum diameter of the arterial ducts ranged from 2.5 to 7.0mm (mean of 4.0±1.0, median of 3.9). The rate of success for implantation of the prosthesis was 100%. Femoral pulse was lost in 1 patient. The echocardiogram revealed total closure prior to hospital discharge in 30 patients, and in the follow-up visit 3 months later in the 3 remaining patients. The mean follow-up duration was 6.4±3.4 months. All patients were clinically well, asymptomatic, and did not need medication. No patient had narrowing of the left pulmonary artery or of the aorta. No early or late embolic events occurred, nor did infectious endarteritis. A new hospital admission was not required for any patient. CONCLUSION – The Amplatzer prosthesis for persistent ductus arteriosus is safe and highly effective for occlusion of ductus arteriosus of varied diameters, including large ones in small symptomatic infants.

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