Systolic myocardial volume gain in dilated, hypertrophied and normal heart. CMR study.

AIM: To investigate changes in myocardial tissue volume during the cardiac cycle to verify the hypothesis of non-compressibility of the myocardium in healthy individuals (HI) as well as in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), and aortic stenosis (AS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study group included 30 HI, and patients with HCM (n=110), DCM (n=89), and AS (n=78). Left ventricular (LV) function, end-diastolic, and end-systolic volumes were calculated based on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) for all participants. RESULTS: End-systolic myocardial volumes were higher than end-diastolic in both controls (91.2±26.6 versus 85.1±24.3 ml, p<0.001) and in all patient groups: HCM (214.3±81.6 versus 176±64.2 ml, p<0.01), DCM (128.4±43.1 versus 115.4±42.9 ml, p<0.001) and AS (155.1±37.1 versus 129.4±34.6 ml, p<0.001). HCM and AS patients had significantly higher systolic volume gain than HI (21.5±8.3 versus 10.6±6.3%, p<0.01 and 18.3±5.7 versus 10.6±6.3% p=0.013, respectively). Conversely, DCM patients had lesser increases in myocardial systolic volume than HCM patients (11.2±4.8% versus 21.5±8.3, p=0.01) and AS patients (11.2±4.8% versus 18.3±5.7, p=0.02). No differences were found in systolic volume gain between AS and HCM patients (p=ns) or between DCM patients and HI (p=ns). CONCLUSION: End-systolic myocardial volume was significantly higher than end-diastolic volume in all subsets of patients. The systolic volume gain was greater in individuals with hypertrophy than in those without.

Carotid clamping time as a risk factor for early restenosis after carotid endarterectomy.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to identify risk factors for early restenosis after carotid endarterectomy (CEA). METHODS: Prospective follow-up of 497 primary CEAs was performed at 3, 6, 12 and 24 months by clinical assessment and duplex ultrasound to identify > or = 50% restenosis. RESULTS: Early restenosis occurred in 71 (14.3%) patients. By univariate analysis high carotid clamping time (CCT) (p = 0.002) and absence of shunt use (p = 0.03) were related to early restenosis. High CCT was the only independent predictor of early restenosis in a forward stepwise logistic regression model (OR = 2.25; CI 1.2-4.1; p = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: Carotid clamping time may be a novel risk factor for early restenosis.

Ability of TESTPACK ROTAVIRUS enzyme immunoassay to diagnose rotavirus gastroenteritis.

TESTPACK ROTAVIRUS, a simple 10-min enzyme immunoassay, was compared with electron microscopy and Pathfinder enzyme immunoassay on feces from 172 patients of various ages with gastroenteritis. The percent sensitivities and specificities before blocking with antiserum were as follows: TESTPACK, 100% sensitivity and 99% specificity; Pathfinder, 95% sensitivity and 98% specificity. After blocking, the sensitivity and specificity, respectively, were 100% and 100% for TESTPACK and 95% and 99% for Pathfinder. TESTPACK ROTAVIRUS was more sensitive, but not significantly, than Pathfinder (P greater than 0.1) and the direct electron microscopy technique (P greater than 0.1).