Left ventricular mass and cardiothoracic index in patients with chronic renal disease on hemodialysis.

INTRODUCTION: Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is an independent predictor of cardiovascular risk in patients with chronic renal disease (CRD) on hemodialysis (HD). OBJECTIVE: To show the usefulness of chest radiography in the diagnosis of LVH in CRD patients on HD. METHODS: Cross-sectional study including 100 patients (58 men and 42 women), mean age 46.2 ± 14.0 years, with CRD of all causes, for at least six months on HD. Were obtained echocardiogram and chest x-rays of patients, always up to one hour after the end of HD sessions. RESULTS: LVH was detected in 83 patients (83%), of whom 56 (67.4%) had the concentric pattern and 27 (32.6%) with eccentric pattern of LVH. Cardiomegaly - defined by cardiothoracic index (CTI) > 0.5 - was present in 61 patients (61%). The following were the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy, respectively, for the variable ICT: 66.2%, 70.5% and 68.0%. The Pearson correlation between ICT and index of left ventricular mass (LVMI) was 0.552 (p < 0.05) and positive likelihood ratio of 2.2. CONCLUSION: Chest radiography is a safe and useful as a diagnostic tool of LVH in CKD patients on HD.

Right heart emboli-in-transit. Case report and literature review.

Emboli in transit in right atrium are rare. When they occur, they are associated to high rate of pulmonary embolism and mortality. This is a case report on an embolus in transit in right chambers, with clinical suspicion of pulmonary thromboembolism. Diagnosis was obtained through transesophageal echocardiography. The patient had a positive response post-anticoagulation. The team discussed presentation forms, treatment and condition development.

Blood pressure measurement in children and adolescents: guidelines of high blood pressure recommendations and current clinical practice.

OBJECTIVE: To determine, in a school-based sample of children and adolescents, aged from 7 to 17 years, of both gender, in public and private schools, the frequency of students already submitted to blood pressure measure. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out, sampling from a population pool of elementary and middle schools, randomly selected. The sample was calculated based on the expected prevalence of hypertension for the age group. Data were collected through a questionnaire. Blood pressure was measured twice and hypertension was defined as mean systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure over the 95th percentile. Independent variables studied: sex; age groups; economic status; public/private school. RESULTS: The final sample included 1253 students. The response rate was 97%: 1215 students; 531 males; mean age 12,4 +/- 3 years (236 from 7 to 9 years; 638 from 10 to 14 years; 341 from 15 to 17 years). Prevalence of hypertension was 7.7%; 348 students (29%) were already submitted to blood pressure measures (54% once; 35% 2 to 4 times; 11% 5 or more times). High economic status, private school and adolescent group were significantly associated to previous blood pressure measure. CONCLUSION: Despite of pediatric consensus statements and guidelines recommendations about importance of blood pressure measure at every examination after age 3 years, there is a very low frequency of this practice (29%) in children and adolescents.

Echocardiograph pulmonary venous flow patterns in congenital heart defects with increased pulmonary flow.

OBJECTIVES: To describe pulmonary venous flow patterns using transthoracic echocardiograms on children suffering from different congenital heart defects with increased pulmonary flow. METHODS: Prospective study and consecutive selection of children suffering from congenital heart defects with increased pulmonary flow. The transthoracic, apical view, Doppler echocardiogram was used, positioning the sample-volume at the lower pulmonary vein, 4mm from its junction with the left atrium. The data analyzed included: dominant systolic or diastolic pulmonary venous flow and atrial contraction waveform characteristics, designated as "A" for absent and "R" for reversed. RESULTS: The study included twenty-nine patients with a mean age of 29.9 +/- 58.9 months, suffering from the following congenital heart conditions: interatrial and interventricular communication defects, patent ductus arteriosus, atrioventricular septal defects, total transposition of the great arteries and truncus arteriosus. All the patients presented a continuous pattern of high velocity pulmonary venous flow. Nine patients presented a dominant systolic waveform (31%), eighteen presented a dominant diastolic wave form (62%) and 2 patients had systolic and diastolic wave forms of equal amplitude (7%). Six patients (21%) presented a R atrial contraction waveform and 23 (79%) presented an A atrial contraction waveform. CONCLUSION: Congenital heart diseases with increased pulmonary flow present a continuous pattern of high velocity pulmonary venous flow with alterations mainly in the atrial contraction reversal pattern.