2007;89(2) – ABC CARDIOL

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Case Report

Labeled stem cells transplantation to the myocardium of a patient with chagas' disease

José Luiz Balthazar Jacob et al. Fernando Vilela Salis Milton A. Ruiz Oswaldo Tadeu Greco

Stem cell transplantation is a new therapy applied to produce cardiac regeneration through differentiation or increase of heart myocytes or neovascular proliferation in patients in the end stage of congestive heart failure secondary to dilated cardiomyopathy¹, but the results are still unknown2,3.

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Correlação Clínico-Radiográfica

Case 4/2007: a sixteen-month-old infant with patent ductus arteriosus

CLINICORADIOLOGIAL SESSION

Case 4/2007 A sixteen-month-old infant with patent ductus arteriosus

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Artigo Original

The effects of intermittent positive pressure and incentive spirometry in the postoperative of myocardial revascularization

Walmir Romanini et al. Andrea Pires Muller Katherine Athayde Teixeira de Carvalho Marcia Olandoski … José Rocha Faria-Neto Felipe Luiz Mendes Evandro Antonio Sardetto Francisco Diniz Afonso da Costa Luiz César Guarita-Souza

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary complications are important causes of morbidity and fatalities among patients subject to cardiac surgery. The respiratory physiotherapy has been aiding in the recovery of these patient ones. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the physiotherapeutic effect of intermittent positive pressure breathing (IPPB) and incentive spirometry (IS) in patients submitted to myocardial revascularization surgery. METHODS: Forty patients were divided in two groups: one was submitted to IPPB (n=20) and the other to IS (n=20). The patients were evaluated at the preoperative period and 24, 48 and 72 hours postoperatively, with the resources being applied in the postoperative period. The following parameters were analyzed: oxygen saturation (SpO2), respiratory frequency (RF), minute volume (MV), current volume (CV), maximum inspiratory pressure (Ip max) and maximum expiratory pressure (Ep max). RESULTS: The groups were considered homogeneous regarding the demographic and clinical variables. In the group submitted to IPPB, an increase in SpO2 was observed 48 (p=0.007) and 72 h (p=0.0001) after surgery, when compared to the IS group. As for the RF, MV and CV variables, there were no statistically significant differences between the groups. The group submitted to IS showed a significant increase in the Epmax 24 (p=0.02) and 48 (p=0.01) h after surgery. CONCLUSION: Aiming at reversing hypoxemia earlier, IPPB showed to be more efficient when compared to IS; however, IS was more effective in improving respiratory muscle strength.

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Comunicação Breve

Characterization of the apical aneurysm of chronic chagas' heart disease by scintigraphic image co-registration

Marcus Vinicius Simões et al. Lucas Ferrari de Oliveira Flavio Cantarelli Hiss Alexandre Baldini de Figueiredo … Antonio Osvaldo Pintya Benedito Carlos Maciel José Antonio Marin-Neto

BRIEF COMMENTS

Characterization of the apical aneurysm of chronic chagas heart disease by scintigraphic image co-registration

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Artigo Original

Exercise stress echocardiography in the identification of coronary artery disease in the elderly with chronotropic incompetence

Joselina Luzia Menezes Oliveira et al. Thiago Jônatas Santos Góes Thaiana Aragão Santana Isabela Souza Silva … Thiago Figueiredo Travassos Lívia Dantas Teles Martha Azevedo Barreto José Augusto Barreto-Filho Argemiro D'Oliveira Junior Antonio Carlos Sobral Sousa

BACKGROUND: Chronotropic incompetence (CTI) is frequent in elderly patients and may limit the role of the exercise test in the identification of coronary artery disease (CAD) in this population. OBJECTIVE: To assess the value of CTI in an elderly population in the diagnosis of CAD. METHODS: A total of 3,308 patients were studied, 804 were elderly individuals (age > 65 years) who underwent exercise stress echocardiography (ESE). Based on the heart rate (HR) reached during the exercise test, were divided into two groups: G1 150 patients who did not reach 85% of the age-predicted HR, and G2 654 patients who did. The groups were compared to clinical characteristics, segmental left ventricular contractility rate (WMSI) and coronary angiography (CAG). RESULTS: Clinical characteristics were similar between the groups. WMSI was higher in G1 than in G2, both at rest (1.09 ± 0.21 versus 1.04 ± 0.15) and after exercise (1.15 ± 0.29 versus 1.08 ± 0.2) (p < 0.001). Abnormalities in wall contractility were more frequent in G1 than in G2 (55% versus 37%; p 50%). CONCLUSION: CTI is associated with a higher frequency of contractile alterations in the elderly population and adds a positive predictive value to ESE in the identification of patients with obstructive CAD.

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Artigo Original

Hospital risk factors for bovine pericardial bioprosthesis valve implantation

Mateus W. De Bacco et al. João Ricardo M. Sant'Anna Gustavo De Bacco Roberto T. Sant'Anna … Marisa F. Santos Edemar Pereira Altamiro Reis da Costa Paulo Roberto Prates Renato A. K. Kalil Ivo A. Nesralla

BACKGROUND: Identification of preoperative heart valve surgery risk factors aim to improve surgical outcomes with the possibility to offset conditions related to increased morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVE: Intent of this study is to identify hospital risk factors in patients undergoing bovine pericardial bioprosthesis implantation. METHODS: Retrospective study including 703 consecutive patients who underwent implantation of at least one St. Jude Medical-Biocor™ bovine pericardial bioprosthesis between September 1991 and December 2005 at the Rio Grande do Sul Cardiology Institute; 392 were aortic, 250 were mitral and 61 were mitroaortic. Characteristics analyzed were gender, age, body mass index, NYHA (New York Heart Association) functional class, ejection fraction, valve lesions, systemic hypertension, diabetes mellitus, kidney function, arrhythmias, prior heart surgery, coronary artery bypass graft, tricuspid valve surgery and elective, urgent or emergency surgery. Main outcome was in-hospital mortality. Relationship between risk factors and in-hospital mortality was analyzed using logistic regression. RESULTS: Were 101 (14.3%) in-hospital deaths. Characteristics with significant relationship to increased mortality were female gender (p 2.4mg/dl (p=0.004), functional class IV (p<0.001), mitral valve lesion (p<0.001), previous heart surgery (p=0.005), tricuspid valve surgery (p<0.001) and emergency surgery (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Mortality rate observed is accepted by literature and is justifiable due to the high prevalence of risk factors, showing an increased significance level for female gender, age above 70, functional class IV, tricuspid valve repairs and emergency surgery. Offsetting these factors could contribute to reduced in-hospital mortality for valve surgery.

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Artigo Original

Abdominal obesity, insulin resistance and hypertension: impact on left ventricular mass and function in women

Eliana A. Silva et al. Fernando Flexa Maria Teresa Zanella

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relationship between central obesity, hyperinsulinemia and arterial hypertension with left ventricular mass and geometry in women. METHODS: This study included 70 women (35-68 years), divided into four groups according to the presence of central obesity and hypertension. Visceral fat area was determined. Blood glucose and plasma insulin were determined before and two hours after an oral 75g glucose load and the patients were submitted to cardilogical evaluation. RESULTS: Compared to NT-OB, HT-OB presented higher levels of plasma insulin at 2h-OGTT (127.5 ± 73.0 vs 86.8 ± 42.7 µU/ml; p = 0.05), and reduced E wave/A wave ratio (E/A) (0.8 ± 0.1 vs 1.2 ± 0.3; p < 0.05). Compared to NT-NO, HT-NO showed higher insulin levels before glucose load (7.46 ± 3.1 vs 4.32 ± 2.1 muU/ml; p < 0.05), higher HOMAr (1.59 ± 0.72 vs 0.93 ± 0.48 mmol.mU/l²; p = 0.006), higher leptin level (19.1 ± 9.6 vs 7.4 ± 3.5 ng/ml; p = 0.028), greater VF area (84.40 ± 55.7 vs 37.50 ± 23.0 cm²; p = 0.036), increased IVSTd (9.6 ± 1.2 vs 8.2 ± 1.7 mm; p <0.05) and (LVM/height) (95.8 ± 22.3 vs 78.4 ± 15.5 g/m; p < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis showed age, BMI and fasting glucose as determinants on LVM/height (R² = 0.59; p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our results indicate an association among hypertension, central obesity and left ventricular hypertrophy through increases in sympathetic activity and insulin resistance.

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Image

Poor left ventricle compaction: diagnosis optimized by real-time three-dimensional echocardiography

Gabriel Antonio Stanisci Miguel et al. Henry Abensur

IMAGE

Poor left ventricle compaction – diagnosis optimized by real-time three-dimensional echocardiography

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Artigo Original

Homocysteine, folate and vitamin B12 in colombian patients with coronary disease

Gilberto Garcia et al. Juanita Trejos Beatriz Restrepo Patricia Landázuri

OBJECTIVE: To determine the occurrence of association between homocysteine, folate, or vitamin B12 plasma levels and acute coronary syndrome in Colombian patients. METHODS: Case control study: cases were 50 patients with acute coronary syndrome and controls were 50 outpatients without coronary syndrome. Homocysteine, folate and vitamin B12 levels were determined by means of chemiluminescence immunoassay. Cholesterol and lipoproteins, triglycerides, BUN, creatinine, hemoglobin and hematocrit were also measured. RESULTS: Mean homocysteine plasma concentrations were significantly different between cases (12.4 µmol/l ± 6.0) and controls (9.7 µmol/l ± 2.4), p=0.01. The folic acid levels of the cases were lower than those of the control patients (10.5 ng/ml ± 3.5 vs 12.6 ng/ml ± 3.6, respectively, p=0.01). An inverse relationship was found between folate and homocysteine levels. No relationship was observed between vitamin B12 levels and homocysteine levels. There was a significant difference in triglyceride levels between case and control groups (136.91 ± 67.27 vs 174.3 ± 77.6, respectively, p=0.01). The odds ratio for hyperhomocysteinemia in acute coronary syndrome was 4.45 (95% confidence interval: 1.5 – 13.3). CONCLUSION: The present study found a significant association between homocysteine levels and acute coronary syndrome in Colombian patients, similarly to the European and North American populations. There was a negative correlation between homocysteine plasma levels and folate levels. No association between plasmatic levels of homocysteine and those of vitamin B12 was observed.

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Artigo Original

Nitric oxide synthesis blockade increases hypertrophy and cardiac fibrosis in rats submitted to aerobic training

Hugo Celso Dutra de Souza et al. Daniel Martins Dias Penteado Marli Cardoso Martin-Pinge Octávio Barbosa Neto … Vicente de Paula Antunes Teixeira João Henrique Dutra Blanco Valdo José Dias da Silva

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study was to evaluate cardiac tissue adaptations in rats submitted to aerobic training after nitric oxide (NO) synthesis blockade. METHODS: The animals (n=48) were divided into four groups: sedentary (CONTROL group); hypertensive after administration of NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester for 7 days (L-NAME Group); trained for 8 weeks through swimming exercises (TRAINED Group);trained and treated with L-NAME during the last week (L-NAME TRAINED Group). All the animals were submitted to the experiment procedures for blood pressure (BP) readings and cardiac morphometric evaluation. RESULTS: In comparison to the other groups, the L-NAME and L-NAME TRAINED groups were hypertensive (p<0.05); however, BP elevation in the L-NAME TRAINED group was significantly lower than the L-NAME group (p<0.05). The heart weight indexes for the TRAINED and L-NAME TRAINED groups were higher than the CONTROL and L-NAME groups (p<0.05). Also they had presented higher rates of macroscopic cardiac area and cardiac fibrosis in relation to the rest (p<0.05); comparisons revealed that the values for the L-NAME TRAINED group were significantly higher (p<0.05) than the others. CONCLUSION: Short term NO synthesis blockade in sedentary animals induced hypertension but did not cause cardiac hypertrophy. In the trained animals, the inhibition of NO synthesis attenuated hypertension, induced cardiac hypertrophy and significantly increased myocardial fibrosis, indicating that NO plays an important role in cardiac tissue adaptations caused by aerobic exercise.

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Artigo Original

Comparison of different methods to measure experimental chronic infarction size in the rat model

Marcos F. Minicucci et al. Paula S. Azevedo Daniella R. Duarte Beatriz B. Matsubara … Luiz S. Matsubara Álvaro O. Campana Sergio A. R. Paiva Leonardo A. M. Zornoff

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the differences between three methods for the measurement of experimental infarction in rats in comparison to the traditional method. METHODS: Histological analysis of the infarction area (AREA), histological analysis of the internal cavity perimeter (PER) and echocardiogram analysis of the internal perimeter (ECHO) were compared to the traditional method (histological analysis of the epicardial and endocardial circumferences of the infarction region – CIR). Repeated ANOVA measurements were used in conjunction with the Dunn multiple comparison test, the Bland and Altman concordance method and the Spearman correlation test. Significance was established as p < 0.05. RESULTS: The data of 122 animals were analyzed, 3 to 6 months after the infarction. Infarction size assessments revealed differences between CIR and the other three methods (p < 0.001): CIR = 42.4% (35.9-48.8), PER = 50.3% (39.1-57.0), AREA = 27.3% (20.2-34.3), ECHO = 46.1% (39.9-52.6). Therefore, measurement by area underestimated the infarct size by 15%, whereas the echocardiogram and histological internal perimeter measurements overestimated the infarct size by 4% and 5%, respectively. In relation to ECHO and PER, even though the difference between the methods was only 1.27%, the concordance interval ranged from 24.1% to -26.7%, suggesting a low level of concordance between the methods. In relation to associations, statistically significant correlations were found between: CIR and PER (r = 0.88 and p < 0.0001); CIR and AREA (r = 0.87 and p < 0.0001) and CIR and ECHO (r = 0.42 and p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Despite the high level of correlation, there was a low level of concordance between the methods to define infarct size.

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Point of view

Dengue: cardiac manifestations and implications in antithrombotic treatment

Antonio Eduardo Pesaro et al. Élbio D’Amico Luis Fernando C. Aranha

POINT OF VIEW

Dengue: cardiac manifestations and implications in antithrombotic treatment

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Clinical Update

New guidelines of cerebral cardiopulmonary resuscitation by the american heart association (2005 – 2006)

CLINICAL UPDATE

New guidelines of cerebral cardiopulmonary resuscitation by the american heart association (2005 – 2006)

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Artigo Original

Lipid profile analysis in school children

Carlos Scherr et al. Cyntia Karla Magalhães Waldir Malheiros

BACKGROUND: According to the World Health Organization, coronary atherosclerosis is the leading cause of death worldwide. The INTERHEART study demonstrated that dyslipidemia is one of the most important independent risk factors for AMI. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the lipid profile and blood pressure of school children attending private (paid) and public/philanthropic (free) schools. METHODS: Blood samples from 343 children were tested and correlated with their lifestyle. Statistical analysis was carried out using the Student’s t-test for independent samples to compare the means, and the chi-square test (c2) to compare proportions. The significance level was set at 5%. RESULTS: Total cholesterol and its HDL and LDL fractions, as well as the Castelli Index I, were higher among private school students, with statistical significance for both genders, except for HDL in boys. Blood pressure was higher in the same group, but without reaching statistical significance. Twenty-three percent of private school students had total cholesterol > 190 mg/d, as compared to 4% of those attending public/philanthropic institutions. When the dietary and physical activity surveys were compared and correlated with the lipid profile, a clear association was found between daily physical activity and nutritional guidance among those of lower socioeconomic status. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the positive correlation of total cholesterol and its LDL fraction with eating habits and more intense and regular physical activity, benefiting the most needy children, compared to those enrolled in private schools.

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Artigo Original

Ultrasonic tissue characterization in acute coronary syndromes

Antonio Pazin-Filho et al. Gustavo Jardim Volpe Minna Moreira Dias Romano Gerson Antonio Tavares Júnior … André Schmidt Benedito Carlos Maciel

BACKGROUND: Ultrasonic tissue characterization (UTC), as evaluated through integrated backscatter, has the potential to detect precocious structural damage to myocardial tissue. In acute coronary syndromes (ACS) this technique is attracting attention due to its potential to evaluate myocardial viability. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the role of UTC in the emergency department. METHODS: We studied 28 individuals, classified in three groups: Group I (13; 52.2±15.5 years) with patients admitted with chest pain who have negative evaluation for acute coronary syndrome; Group II (9; 54.2±10.0 years) with acute myocardial infarction in right coronary artery territory; and Group III (6; 62.1±9.1 years) with acute myocardial infarction in the anterior descendent branch territory. For each individual, we analyzed four segments in the short axis view at the papillary muscle level (1 – anterior; 2 – anterior-lateral; 3 – inferior e 4 – septal), for the following parameters: corrected coefficient, amplitude, delay index and IBS pattern. RESULTS: The acute myocardial isquemic process in its initial phase was not detected by the corrected coefficient or by the IBS amplitude. The sincronicity parameters (delay index and IBS pattern), more sensible, were partially able to identify changes in more extension regions of myocardial infarction. CONCLUSION: More studies should be conducted to evaluate these parameters in the early phase of acute coronary syndromes.

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