[Clinical value of bendopnea in chronic heart failure patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction].

Objective: To explore the clinical value of bendopnea in chronic heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Methods: According to the existence of bendopnea or not, a total of 192 consecutive chronic heart failure patients with HFrEF admitted to our department from January 2014 to January 2016 were divided into the bendopnea group and non-bendopnea group. Subgroup analysis was performed in the subgroups with various bendopnea symptoms appearance time (0-10 s, 11-20 s and 21-30 s). The relationship between bendopnea and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), 6-minute walking distance (6-MWD), NT-proBNP and NYHA classification were analyzed. Results: Bendopnea was confirmed in 74 out of 192 (38.54%) cases with HFrEF, and the average time of symptoms appearance was (8.62±2.29) s. LVEF and 6-MWD values were significantly lower in the bendopnea group than those in the non-bendopnea group (both P<0.05). The NT-proBNP level and the prevalence of patients with NYHA grade Ⅳ were significantly higher in the bendopnea group than those in the non-bendopnea group (both P<0.05). There were significant difference on LVEF, 6-MWD, NT-proBNP and patients with NYHA grade Ⅳ in bendopnea patients with various bendopnea symptoms appearance time (all P<0.05) and shorter bendopnea symptoms appearance time was related to severe symptoms and signs of chronic heart failure. Conclusion: The incidence rate of bendopnea is high in patients with HFrEF, and which is related closely to the cardiac function and shorter bendopnea symptoms appearance time is related to severe symptoms and signs of chronic heart failure in HFrEF patients.

Multiphoton microscopic imaging of human normal and cancerous oesophagus tissue.

In this paper, microstructures of human oesophageal submucosa are evaluated using multiphoton microscopy, based on two-photon excited fluorescence and second harmonic generation. The content and distribution of collagen, elastic fibers and cancer cells in normal and cancerous submucosa layer have been distinctly obtained and briefly discussed. The variation of these components is very relevant to the pathology in oesophagus, especially in early oesophageal cancer. Our results further indicate that the multiphoton microscopy technique has the potential application in vivo in clinical diagnosis and monitoring of early oesophageal cancer.