[Enoximone: hemodynamic effect in patients with cardiac insufficiency]. / Enoximone: effet hémodynamique chez l'insuffisant cardiaque.

Enoximone, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, is a positive inotropic agent with direct vasodilator properties. Its acute effects after I.V. administration and the possibility of oral relay were studied in 14 patients (13 men and 1 woman), 40 to 78 years of age (mean 61 years) with Stage IV cardiac failure (NYHA Classification). Eleven patients had dilated cardiomyopathy, 2 had ischemic heart disease and 1 a dilated hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The haemodynamic inclusion criteria were: cardiac index less than or equal to 2.2 l/mn/m2 and pulmonary capillary pressure greater than or equal to 18 mmHg. Patients with cardiogenic shock and severe renal or hepatic failure were excluded. The drug was administered as a bolus of 1 mg/kg followed by a continuous infusion of 5 to 15 g/kg/mn (average 8.9 +/- 2.6 for 7 to 72 hours; average 27 +/- 16 hours). Haemodynamic effects of I.V. administration: no change in heart rate, slight lowering of blood pressure, very significant reduction in right atrial and pulmonary capillary pressures, of pulmonary artery pressures, of arteriolo-capillary and systemic resistances and marked increase in cardiac output. General tolerance was excellent with no clinical secondary effects and no signs of hepatic, renal or haematological (platelets) toxicity. Cardiac tolerance was also excellent, no aggravation of preexisting arrhythmias. There was no immediate mortality. Oral relay was undertaken in 14 patients with a daily dose of 300 mg in 12 cases, 400 mg in 1 case and 500 mg in 1 case. Six patients underwent control haemodynamic evaluation on the 8th day: there were no signs of the haemodynamic improvement obtained by I.V. administration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Long-term prognosis of medically treated patients with vasospastic angina and no fixed significant coronary atherosclerosis.

The clinical course of 48 consecutive patients with vasospastic angina and minor coronary atherosclerosis (no stenoses greater than 50%) was analyzed during an average follow-up period of 47 months. The study group consisted of 37 men and 11 women. Patients were treated with usual doses of calcium antagonists. One patient died (2%) and three had myocardial infarctions (6%). Seventy-one percent were asymptomatic or had infrequent angina; 13% had recurrences but had periods of remission lasting at least 10 months. Only 16% had persistent angina. None of the clinical or angiographic findings at the time of diagnosis were predictive of myocardial infarction or death, and they could not separate angina-free patients from those with recurrences. Thus, vasospastic angina without fixed coronary narrowing has a good prognosis despite the possibility of recurrences. However, there is a slight risk of myocardial infarction and death. This fact should be considered if there are plans to discontinue treatment.

[Median-term course of left ventricular effects in aortic insufficiency. Echocardiographic study of 90 patients]. / Evolution á moyen terme du retentissement ventriculaire gauche de l'insuffisance aortique. Etude echocardiographique de 90 patients.

It is important to know the natural evolution of the changes in left ventricular dimensions and contractility in AR if one wishes to determine the critical echocardiographic values at which LV function starts to deteriorate. This was the aim of our echocardiographic study of 90 patients with chronic pure AR in whom we analysed the changes in LV dimensions, mass and contractility for 11 to 84 months (average 34.6 months). The patients were divided into 2 groups according to the degree of ventricular dilatation (delta DD): Group A: delta DD less than 30% (58 patients), Group B: delta DD greater than 30% (32 patients). The annual mean increase in diastolic and systolic LV dimensions and myocardial mass in each group was: 1.5 mm vs 3.2 mm (p less than 0.02); 0.9 mm vs 4.1 mm (p less than 0.003), 14 g vs 24 g (p = 0.07 NS) respectively. The parameters of the systolic function were normal in Group A (EF = 68 +/- 8% and % FS = 38 +/- 6%) and decreased in Group B (EF = 58 +/- 13%, % FS = 32 +/- 9%). A significant annual decrease of the mean values of these parameters was only observed in patients of Group B (EF = 1.8% per year; % FS = -1.2% per year). These results are on average of unequal individual variations: variations of DD or EF greater than the variability due to the reproducibility of the method were only observed in 43 patients. The number of patients in whom echocardiographic changes were observed was comparable in Groups A and B.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Echocardiography in chronic aortic insufficiency. Prediction of the reversibility of left ventricular dysfunction following surgical correction]. / L'échocardiogramme de l'insuffisance aortique chronique. Prévision de la réversibilité des anomalies ventriculaires gauches après correction chirurgicale.

UNLABELLED: The long term outcome of patients undergoing aortic valve replacement (AVR) for chronic aortic regurgitation (AR) is mainly determined by the reversibility or permanence of left ventricular dysfunction. We analysed the echocardiogram of 49 patients before and after surgery to identify the patients whose left ventricular dysfunction regressed completely after AVR. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to the results of the last postoperative echocardiogram: Group I: 25 patients whose left ventricular dimensions and wall motion reverted to normal; Group II: 24 patients with dilated and/or hypokinetic left ventricles. The two groups of patients were comparable for sex (Group I: 19 men, 6 women; Group II: 20 men, 4 women), age (Group I: 50,8 years, Group II: 53,9 years) and length of postoperative follow-up (Group I: 32 months, Group II: 34 months). The following parameters were measured and compared: diastolic and systolic left ventricular dimensions, myocardial mass and ventricular wall motion. RESULTS: Patients in Group I had less left ventricular dilatation than those in Group II (+35% vs +60%, p less than 0,001) and left ventricular contraction was better (FE: 62% vs 45%, p less than 0,001; %FS: 35% vs 23%, p less than 0,001). This study establishes that patients with chronic AR and % delta Dd less than 60%, an EF greater than 50% or %FS greater than 25%, have about a 90% probability of normalisation of LV function after AVR. If one of the indices exceeds these threshold values, the probability of permanent LV dilatation and/or hypokinesia after AVR is also about 90%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Coronary insufficiency caused by spasm with arteries injured slightly or not at all (31 cases)]. / L'insuffisance coronaire par spasme avec artères peu ou pas lésées (31 cas).

An epidemiological and clinical study was carried out on 31 patients with spasm of normal coronary arteries. The series comprised 24 males and 7 females aged 30 to 68 years (mean age: 48 years) with isolated resting chest pain (61 p. 100) or with resting and effort chest pains (39 p. 100). Their cardiovascular risk factors were compared to 735 unselected patients with coronary insufficiency undergoing coronary coronary angiography. Abnormalities of lipid metabolism (45 p. 100) and obesity (14 p. 100) were less common but there was a higher incidence of smoking (74 p. 100 compared to 48 p. 100). Sixteen patients had a psychological test: repressed aggressivity and severe anxiety were found in all patients, a state of separation coincided wtih the onset of the illness in 10 of the 16 patients. On admission, 13 patients presented with attacks of Prinzmetal variant angina, with myocardial infarction in 2 cases. Eighteen patients had non-invalidating angina with sporadic attacks. Coronary angiography was normal in 8 patients and showed lesions with less than 50 p. 100 narrowing in the other 23 patients. Mitral valve prolapse was found on left ventriculography in four patients. Exercise electrocardiography was positive in 7 out of 20 patients, and notably in those who had not had effort angina. All patients were treated with calcium antagonist drugs (25 Nifedipine, 6 Diltiazem), the efficacity of which was tested in 20 patients with a control ergometrine test. Thirty patients were followed up for 6 to 46 months (mean: 15 months). The exercise stress tests were repeated in the 7 patients with positive results before treatment and the results were negative in all cases. Twenty three patients were completely pain free or significantly improved, although 25 p. 100 of control tests remained positive (4/16). Six patients continued to have as much chest pain, and three had positive control tests. One patient with a negative control test developed acute myocardial infarction six months later in the territory of the spasm: during hospitalisation the ergometrine test became positive again.

[Comparative evaluation of phonocardiogram and echocardiogram in mitral valve prolapse diagnosis (author's transl)]. / Valutazione comparative del fonocardiogramma e dell'ecocardiogramma nella diagnostica del prolasso mitralico.

In order to determine the correlation between echocardiography (ECHO) and phonocardiography (PHONO) in the evaluation of the Mitral Prolapse Syndrome (PM), 87 subjects with echo or phono criteria of PM were studied using both techniques. The phonocardiographic criteria used for PM diagnosis were the presence of a telesystolic click and/or a telesystolic murmur. The echocardiographic criteria were a telesystolic or holosystolic posterior movement of a mitral leaflet continuously seen through systole or of both mitral leaflets seen in part of systole. In the 63 patients with ECHO indicative of PM, the PHONO was positive in 55 cases (87%). Methoxamin administration, in 5 cases whose basal PHONO was normal, allowed the observation of 3 telesystolic murmurs and 2 clicks. The drug also diminished the number of clicks and increased tfhe telesystolic murmurs. In 79 subjects with PHONO indicative of PM, the ECHO was positive in 57 cases (72%): this technique was of particular value in patients with olosystolic murmur; valuable also to evaluate the diastolic diameter of the left ventricle and the left atrium and other signs having a possible use for a more accurate physiopatologic definition of the PM syndrome.