[Peripheral arterial disease of extremities--guidelines for diagnostic and treatment]. / Odporúcania pre diagnostiku a liecbu periférneho artériového ochorenia koncatín (PAO).

Diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines of peripheral arterial disease of extremities recommanded by five scientific societies of Slovak Medical Association (Slovak Angiological Society, Slovak Society for Vascular Surgery, Slovak Cardiologic Society, Slovak Internal Society and Slovak Radiologic Society) are discussed in this article. Peripheral arterial disease (PAO) of extremities is an important manifestation of systemic atherosclerosis The lower the ankle-brachial pressure index, the greater the risk of serious cardiovascular events (e.g. myocardial infarction, stroke). Nevertheless, patients with PAO are undertreated with regard to use of antiplatelet drugs or lipid-lowering drugs, as compared with patients with coronary artery disease.

[Non-invasive assessment of the efficacy of long-term vasodilator therapy of cardiac decompensation in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy]. / Neinvazívne sledovanie úcinnosti dlhodobej vazodilatacnej liecby srdcovej dekompenzácie u pacientov s dilatacnými kardiomyopatiami.

In 18 patients (14 men, 4 women, in the age of 37-52 years, mean = 43 years) with dilated cardiomyopathy allocated into NYHA functional classification groups III-IV, the efficacy of ambulatory long term (mean = 6 years) vasodilator therapy by means of non-invasive methods was evaluated. NITRO-MACK retard (venodilator) in the dosage of 20 mg per day and DIHYDRALAZIN (arteriodilator) in the dosage of 100-200 mg per day were combined simultaneously with continuous administration of cardiotonics and diuretics. Vasodilator therapy had a favourable effect on systolic and diastolic function of the left ventricle with the mostly marked effect at the beginning of treatment. Amidst non-invasive parameters, the diastolic amplitude time index and left ventricular hypertrophy-dilatation index had the greatest prognostic value regarding the treatment efficacy and survival of patients. This objective evidence of the efficacy of vasodilator therapy in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy coincided with the improvement of clinical status, subjective relief, moderation of decompensation, and thus with the improvement of life quality. (Fig. 1, Tab. 4, Ref. 24.).

Incidence of Coxsackie virus infection in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.

A total of 127 patients, divided into two groups, were examined; one was made up by patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (D-CMP) (n: 32), the other one by patients with myocarditis and pericarditis ("other cardiopathies") (n: 95). A control group of healthy subjects (n: 278) consisted of blood donors. Infection with Coxsackie viruses (B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, A7, A9) was followed up serologically using virus-neutralizing antibodies and/or IgM class virus-specific antibodies. Actual Coxsackie virus infection was demonstrated in almost half of patients. Seventeen (53.1%) out of the 32 D-CMP patients (with a negative history of Coxsackie virus infection) had a positive serological finding. The most frequently isolated Coxsackie virus was, B4. In the group of "other cardiopathies", a positive serological finding was in 42 patients (44.2%) with the incidence of B1 and B4 viruses being the highest and identical. Compared with data obtained in healthy controls, the incidence of Coxsackie virus infection in the two follow-up groups of patients was statistically highly significant (p less than 0.001).