WITHDRAWN: My favorite ECG displaying the Wellens syndrome: In memoriam Hein Wellens.

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Syncope due to unexpected paroxysmal sinus arrest.

We present two cases with unexpected long sinus arrest resulting in syncope. There were no signs or symptoms of either sick sinus syndrome or increased vagal tone before the occurrence of pauses in these patients. The fact that these patients remained asymptomatic for quite long shows striking resemblance to paroxysmal sub-AV nodal block. We would therefore prefer to classify these cases as paroxysmal sinus arrest as a possible manifestation of the sick sinus syndrome.

Peri-infarction block, a marker for VT risk?

We present a monomorphic ventricular tachycardia (VT) in a patient with a history of myocardial infarction and syncope. The ECG shows an acceleration-dependent peri-infarction block inferiorly. The authors suggest that this old (but forgotten) ECG-entity may serve as a marker for assessing the risk of post-infarction VT.

[The value of early repeated N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide measurement in acute heart failure]. / Az N-terminális pro-B natriureticus peptid mérésének korai ismétlése akut szívelégtelenség miatt hospitalizált betegeken.

INTRODUCTION: The determination of natriuretic peptide levels in patients hospitalized for suspected acute heart failure is important for the confirmation of the diagnosis and for the prognosis. Changes in natriuretic peptide levels in response to therapy have a strong prognostic value. AIM: To decide whether repeated natriuretic peptide measurements for acute heart failure show changes that could influence the diagnosis and/or the prognosis. METHOD: Prospective data collection was carried out of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels on admission and within 12 hours in patients hospitalized for acute heart failure. Only the data of those patients were analyzed whose symptoms started within 24 hours prior to admission and were due to acute heart failure. RESULTS: The 23 patients whose data we analyzed had an average age of 77.9 ± 8.3 years. Most of them had left ventricular systolic dysfunction with an average ejection fraction of 34.1 ± 3.9%. The time between the start of symptoms and the first measurement was 6.7 ± 2.2 hours, while the time until the repeated determination was 6.5 ± 2.2 hours after the first measurement. The median value of the NT-proBNP levels in the 6 hours control showed an increase from 5064 pg/mL to 8847 pg/mL (p<0.0005), which amounts to a 75 percent increase - mean hs-troponin T showed an increase from 46 ± 25 ng/L to 78 ± 51 ng/L (p<0.002). CONCLUSIONS: A significant increase in NT-proBNP levels is to be expected in early repeated measurement after hospital admission. This fact could have diagnostic and prognostic consequences if validated in a larger patient population. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(25): 1009-1012.

[The prognostic role of extremely high levels of the B-type natriuretic prohormone with regard to the in-hospital mortality of patients hospitalized for heart failure]. / Extrém magas B típusú natriureticus prohormon prognosztikai szerepe a szívelégtelenség miatt kezelt betegek kórházi halálozására.

INTRODUCTION: Patients hospitalized for heart failure have a very high in-hospital as well as one-year mortality. Natriuretic peptides play both a diagnostic and a prognostic role in this disease. Changes of natriuretic peptide levels in response to therapy are a well-known prognostic marker. Regarding in-hospital mortality, however, little is known about the prognostic value of extremely high levels of natriuretic peptides measured on admission. AIM: To decide whether extremely high levels of B-type natriuretic peptide have a prognostic value with regard to in-hospital mortality. METHOD: NT-proBNP levels on admission and in-hospital mortality were extracted retrospectively from the data of patients treated with heart failure in the cardiology department of the Hospital of St. John of God in Budapest. We separately analyzed the data of patients hospitalized for heart failure in 2015 with extremely high initial NT-proBNP levels. The cut-off value in this regard was 10 000 ng/l. We also analyzed the comorbidities of these patients. RESULTS: The median NT-proBNP level of those patients who survived beyond the index hospital stay in the last 10 years was 4842 ng/l, whereas the median NT-proBNP level of those 182 patients who died during their hospital stay was 10 688 ng/l (p<0.001). In the year 2015, we treated 118 patients with an NT-proBNP level above 10 000 ng/l. Thirteen of these patients died, which means that their in-hospital mortality exceeded 10%. In comparison, the in-hospital mortality of all heart failure patients was 5.8%. The difference of median NT-proBNP levels of surviving versus deceased patients in this group with extremely high NT-proBNP levels was no longer significant (17 080 ng/l vs. 19 152 ng/l). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with an NT-proBNP level of >10 000 ng/l on admission have a significantly higher in-hospital mortality. The difference of NT-proBNP levels of surviving versus deceased patients in the group with admission NT-proBNP levels >10 000 ng/l is no longer significant. We could not identify any etiological factors that would explain these extremely high NT-proBNP levels or the excess in-hospital mortality. Orv Hetil. 2017; 158(20): 779-782.

Isolated spontaneous septal myocardial infarction.

Isolated occlusion of the septal perforating branch of the left anterior descending coronary artery is extremely rare. As a result, little is known about its electrocardiographic manifestations compared with those of an anteroseptal myocardial infarction. We present the case of an isolated septal myocardial infarction with ST-segment elevation.

[The prevalence of atrial fibrillation in Hungary]. / A pitvarfibrilláció prevalenciája Magyarországon.

UNLABELLED: To estimate the prevalence and incidence of atrial fibrillation in the entire population of Hungary. METHODS: Analysis of the National Health Insurance Fund Administration database between 2007 and 2009 considering data from 2002. We assumed that patients with atrial fibrillation would turn to health care providers at least once either as outpatients or inpatients in a 5-year period. The National Health Insurance Patient Registry was used to assess the true number of patient visits. RESULTS: The prevalence of atrial fibrillation in Hungary is between 2.37-2.67%. Each year, only about half of these patients seek medical advice. CONCLUSIONS: Our survey seems to be the first epidemiological study that aims at estimating the prevalence of atrial fibrillation in the total population of our country. Using a time frame of five to seven years, the prevalence of atrial fibrillation in the total population is significantly higher than it was estimated earlier. However, by using a mathematical model, an even higher prevalence rate of atrial fibrillation (2.95%) was calculated for the total population of Hungary.

Dangerous single lead ST elevation.

Discriminating among the various coronary obstruction patterns influences early management decisions. One of the most important tasks is the identification of ST-elevation myocardial infarction caused by left main occlusion. We present a case of single-lead ST-segment elevation in aVR caused by acute left main coronary artery occlusion.

[Reverse Takotsubo syndrome pattern induced by local anaesthesia]. / Reverz Takotsubo-szindróma lokális anesztézia után.

We report a new entity of the Takotsubo syndrome. While the classic form of Takotsubo syndrome presents as transient apical ballooning, in reverse Takotsubo syndrome we see just the opposite, i.e. transient dilatation of the basal segments and a hyperkinetic apex. The reverse Takotsubo phenomenon was seen in a 36-year-old female patient who had an injection of lidocaine with adrenaline for plastic surgery of the ear. Coronary artery disease was excluded as the cause of this patient's prolonged chest pain and troponin positivity. Echocardiography revealed akinesis of the basal segments and a hyperkinetic apex. The wall motion abnormalities resolved in three days.

A Curious Case of Intermittent Negative Deflections Preceding the QRS Complexes.

This case report describes a patient in their 60s who developed apparent abnormal Q waves and severe hypomagnesemia while receiving chemotherapy for metastatic rectal carcinoma.

N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide and tombstoning ST-segment elevation in patients with anterior wall acute myocardial infarction.

Tombstoning ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) has been associated with a poor prognosis ever since Wimalaratna's first description of this clinical entity, and the reasons for this are not fully understood. We studied 87 consecutive patients who had anterior STEMI (January 2004 to September 2004) to compare the form of STEMI, coronary anatomy, and initial N-terminus pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP) level. Patients who had tombstoning STEMI had higher levels of NT-pro-BNP despite significant differences in cardiac enzyme levels or extent of coronary disease. This finding suggests that, in addition to changing the shape of repolarization, decreased microcirculation plays a role in the development of increased wall tension. Increased wall tension in turn is the probable cause of higher NT-pro-BNP levels and increased mortality.

[Acute ST segment elevation during noncardiogenic shock]. / Nem cardiogen shock által indukált tranziens ST-eleváció.

Transient elevation of the ST segment was observed in a patient during noncardiogenic shock. The coronarography was negative. The patient received dopamine infusion. The 48 yr-old man had Crohn disease with septicaemia and ARDS. The exact pathomechanism is not known, but the negative coronarography ruled out the epicardial coronary disease. The suggested mechanisms are dopamine induced coronary vasoconstriction or complement activation.

NT-brain natriuretic peptide levels in pleural fluid distinguish between pleural transudates and exudates.

BACKGROUND: Pleural effusion is not pathognomic and distinguishing between transudates and exudates often presents a diagnostic dilemma. The purpose of our study was to examine whether the inclusion of pleural fluid brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) measurement into the analysis improves the diagnostic accuracy of pleural effusion. METHODS: The pleural effusion of 14 patients with CHF (group A) and 14 subjects with different pleural pathology (group B) were analyzed. Samples of pleural fluid and serum were obtained from all patients on admission and biochemical analysis, bacterial and fungal culture, acid-fast bacilli smear and culture and cytology were performed on the pleural fluid. In vitro quantitative determination of N-terminal pro-Brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) in serum and pleural fluid were performed by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay proBNP method on an Elecsys 2010 (Roche) analyzer. RESULTS: The median NT-proBNP levels in groups A and B were 6295 pg/ml and 276 pg/ml, respectively: (P=0.0001). There was no overlap between the two groups. While the Light's criteria had a sensitivity of 93% and specificity of 43% for transudates, the pleural fluid NT-proBNP level accurately differentiated between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: The pleural NT-proBNP levels were elevated in all patients who had transudate. Therefore if the NT-proBNP levels of pleural effusion are within the normal range, transudate resulting from congestive heart failure can be ruled out. Our results suggest that the inclusion of pleural fluid NT-proBNP measurement in the routine diagnostic panel would enhance discrimination among the different causes of pleural effusions.