Left ventricular thickness is increased in nonhypertensive Turner's syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Turner's syndrome (TS), the most frequent congenital anomaly in newborn girls, is associated with various cardiovascular abnormalities, predominantly bicuspid aortic valves and aortic coarctation. The causes of the left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and ECG findings associated with TS are unknown. We used echocardiography to assess cardiac structure and function in normotensive patients with TS. METHOD: Thirty-one patients with TS and 30 healthy women were enrolled in this comparative study. Twelve-lead ECG, 24-hour-ambulatory ECG recording, and echocardiography were performed. RESULTS: With 24-hour-ambulatory ECG recording, the mean heart rate (HR) of TS women was higher than non-TS women. With echocardiographic examination, the interventricular septum diastolic thickness, left ventricle posterior wall diastolic thickness (LVPW), the LV mass index (LVMI), and left atrial diameter index (LADi) were significantly higher in TS women compared with controls. Mitral flow A velocity was significantly higher and the ratio of early to late diastolic filling was significantly lower in TS patients. CONCLUSION: HR, LV wall thicknesses, LVMI and the LADi are significantly increased in normohypertensive TS women. There is also subclinical diastolic dysfunction in these patients.

The evaluation of cardiovascular response to exercise in healthy Turkish children.

The purpose of our study was to determine the normal cardiovascular responses of healthy Turkish children to exercise and to determine the reference values. Two hundred and eighty-four healthy children (115 girls, 169 boys) aged 5-14 were enrolled in the study. Exercise time (ET), workload that can be tolerated with exercise (MET value), change in heart rate (A HR), peak systolic and peak diastolic blood pressures (SBPmax and DBPmax), change in systolic blood pressure (delta SBP), and peak rate-pressure product (RPPmax) were positively correlated with age. There was no correlation between peak heart rate (HRmax) and age and there was also no significant increase in change in diastolic blood pressure (delta DBP) with increasing age. The means +/- SD values for ET, workload, HRmax, delta HR, SBPmax, DBPmax, delta SBP, deltaDBP, and RPPmax were 13.18 +/- 1.4 min, 8.56 +/- 0.93 MET, 171.46 +/- 1.91/min, 67.22 +/- 6.65/min, 125.16 +/- 13.36 mmHg, 73.32 +/- 4.06 mmHg, 24.3 +/- 5.96 mmHg, 7.2 +/- 6.9 mmHg, and 21504.7 +/- 2176.4, respectively. The values found in our study may be accepted as reference values of healthy Turkish children for exercise testing. The formula modified as (200-age) x 0.85 is thought to be more suitable to predict the target heart rate in children.

Over 14 years of experience with cardiac myxomas.

Atrial myxomas are the most commonly encountered tumours of the heart and can present at different ages with different clinical symptoms. They are one of the curable tumours of the heart. Appropriate surgical treatment and surgery must be performed with great precautions in order to prevent fatal systemic embolizations. In this retrospective study we will present our experience of 14 years, between 1990 and 2004, in 27 patients who had been operated for cardiac myxomas. Diagnosis of the myxomas were made by echocardiography in all cases. Surgical approach to the tumour was biatrial in nine, left atrial in II, and transseptal in seven patients. Associated procedures included coronary artery bypass grafting in one, mitral valve repair with tricuspid annuloplasty in two patients, mitral valve replacement in one and bilateral femoral embolectomy in one patient. One hospital mortality occurred as a result of multiorgan failure in a patient with peripheral embolization. None of the patients required recurrent operation, however, mitral valve insufficiency was surgically corrected in one patient.

Ventricular arrhythmias in patients with COPD are associated with QT dispersion.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: QT dispersion (QTd) and late potentials derived from signal-averaged ECG (SAECG) have been proposed as noninvasive predictors of cardiac arrhythmias that occur in patients with COPD. In this study, we aimed to investigate QTd and SAECG in patients with COPD. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Teaching chest disease hospital and cardiology center in a university hospital. PATIENTS: Thirty patients with COPD (28 men and 2 women; mean +/- SD age, 60 +/- 9 years) and 31 age- and sex-matched control subjects (28 men and 3 women; mean age, 57 +/- 7 years) were included. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Respiratory function tests, arterial blood gas analyses, echocardiographic examinations, rhythm Holter recordings, and heart rate variability (HRV) analyses were performed in addition to the measurements of QT intervals and SAECG. Patients with COPD had higher rate of ventricular premature beats (VPBs) as compared to control subjects (924 +/- 493 beats vs 35 +/- 23 beats, p = 0.009). Eight patients with COPD (27%) had nonsustained runs of ventricular tachycardia (VT). QTd rates were significantly increased in patients with COPD as compared to control subjects (57.7 +/- 9.9 ms vs 37.5 +/- 8.2 ms, p < 0.001). On comparing patients with COPD with and without runs of VT, patients with VT had longer QTd (67 +/- 10 ms vs 55 +/- 8 ms, p = 0.001). However no difference in any HRV and late potential parameters were found between patients with COPD with and without runs of VT. VPB rates were strongly correlated with QTd in patients with COPD (r = 0.61, p < 0.001). On SAECG analysis, patients with COPD had significantly increased total QRS duration as compared to control subjects. Nine of the 30 patients with COPD (30%) had positive late potentials. However, QTd and VPB rates were also similar between patients with COPD with and without late potentials. CONCLUSIONS: The development of ventricular arrhythmia in patients with COPD was associated with increased QTd. Increased QTd may be associated with autonomic changes seen in patients with COPD.

Relationship between HLA molecules and late restenosis after coronary stent placement.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to confirm whether there is relation between the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) locus and restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) holds in our patient population and whether it can be useful as a prognostic factor. METHODS: We examined the HLA phenotypes in 46 consecutive patients (39 men, 7 women, mean age of 57 ± 9 years) who had successful stent implantation in the coronary artery. Selective coronary arteriography was performed 6 months after coronary stenting to assess the presence of restenosis. The HLA phenotyping was performed for HLA-A,-B,-C antigens by Terasaki microlymphocytotoxicity technique and for HLA-DR alleles with PCR-SSP technique. RESULTS: Restenosis(R+) was present in 12 (26.1%) patients (11 men, 1 woman, mean age of 57 ± 10 years). For HLA Class I antigens frequency of HLA-B62 and HLA-CW2 antigen was slightly higher in restenotic patients but did not reach statistical significance. For HLA-DR alleles restenotic patients had higher frequencies for HLA-DRB1(∗)01(R+ %25, R- %14.7), and HLA-DR11(R+ %41.7, R- %20.6), without reaching statistical significance and lower frequencies for DR7(R+ %0, R- %17.6) and D13(R+%8.3, R- %32.4) and HLA-DR53 (R+ %25, R- %35.3) without reaching statistical significance. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, results show that there was no relationship between the development of restenosis and HLA-subtypes.

Comparison of pre- and postoperative pulmonary function in obese and non-obese female patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

OBJECTIVE AND BACKGROUND: Various studies have suggested that body size and in-hospital mortality are related. However, only a few analysed the effects of obesity on pulmonary complications following coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). The purpose of the present study was to assess early changes in lung volumes, respiratory complications and arterial blood gas tension following CABG in obese women. METHODS: Pulmonary function tests (PFTs), treadmill exercise capacity tests (TM), arterial blood gases and pulmonary complications were studied in 124 obese (mean age 57.2+/-5.8 years) and 108 non-obese (mean age 58.6+/-5.9 years) female patients undergoing elective CABG. PFT, TM tests, arterial blood gas analyses and CXR were performed in the preoperative and postoperative periods and pulmonary complications were recorded. Breathing and coughing exercises, early ambulation and pulmonary clearing techniques were used by physical therapists to prevent pulmonary complications after CABG surgery. RESULTS: Postoperative PFT and TM tests deteriorated significantly in both groups (P<0.0001). The deterioration in the obese group was highly significant. The postoperative deterioration of blood gas measurements in obese patients was also statistically significant compared to non-obese patients. Early pulmonary complications developed in 21 (16.94%) of the obese patients and in 10 (9.25%) of non-obese patients. Duration of mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit and hospital stays were longer compared to the non-obese patients (P=0.008, P<0.0001, P=0.0386, respectively). CONCLUSION: Obesity has a detrimental effect on pulmonary function, exercise capacity, blood gas measurements and complications rates in postoperative period following CABG surgery.

Hepatopulmonary syndrome in noncirrhotic portal hypertensive patients.

Hepatopulmonary syndrome has yet not been sufficiently assessed in noncirrhotic portal hypertension. The prevalence of hepatopulmonary syndrome was determined in 31 consecutive patients with noncirrhotic portal hypertension (19 idiopathic portal hypertension, 7 portal vein thrombosis, 5 congenital hepatic fibrosis) and 46 patients with liver cirrhosis. Contrast echocardiography was carried out in all patients. Macroaggregated albumin lung perfusion scans were performed in patients with positive contrast echocardiogram. Hepatopulmonary syndrome was detected in 5 (10.8%) cirrhotic and 3 (9.7%) noncirrhotic portal hypertensive patients (2 idiopathic portal hypertension, 1 portal vein thrombosis). All patients with hepatopulmonary syndrome had an increased shunt fraction (13-62%) and a decreased diffusion capacity of carbon monoxide (40-79%), and 7 of them were hypoxemic (PaO2, 31.6-69.8 mm Hg). These findings show that hepatopulmonary syndrome may occur in both liver cirrhosis and noncirrhotic portal hypertension and that portal hypertension is the predominant etiopathogenic factor related to hepatopulmonary syndrome.