Medical and Biomedical Researches

Successful management of immunosuppression in a patient with severe hyperammonemia after lung transp

June 29th, 2008
Successful management of immunosuppression in a patient with severe hyperammonemia after lung transplantation. Hyperammonemia after lung transplantation is a rare complication of unknown etiology. Its management is largely supportive and outcomes have been variable. More disconcerting is its immunosuppressive management because the precipitating factors leading to ...

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Everolimus-related pulmonary toxicity in heart transplant recipients.

June 29th, 2008
Everolimus-related pulmonary toxicity in heart transplant recipients. Pulmonary toxicity (PT) is emerging as a frequent and serious complication of sirolimus, a proliferation signal inhibitor (PSI) used in solid-organ transplantation. Everolimus is a more recently developed PSI with molecular structure very similar to that of sirolimus. Surprisingly, ...

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Successful orthotopic heart transplant in an infant with an inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of th

June 29th, 2008
Successful orthotopic heart transplant in an infant with an inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of the left ventricle. A female infant was diagnosed with an inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor involving the left ventricle, which compromised cardiac function. The tumor was endocardial in location and resection was not possible. In ...

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Reoperative cardiac surgery after long-term ventricular support therapy.

June 29th, 2008
Reoperative cardiac surgery after long-term ventricular support therapy. The use of investigational passive support devices continues to be evaluated in the treatment of heart failure. One concern with this technology is the future need for a reoperation such as coronary artery bypass surgery, placement of a ...

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Continuous hemodynamic monitoring in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

June 29th, 2008
Continuous hemodynamic monitoring in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine whether an implantable hemodynamic monitor (IHM) could be used to judge the response of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients to changes in therapy. METHODS: A prospective, non-randomized, multi-center ...

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Quilty effect areas are frequently associated with endocardial C4d deposition.

June 29th, 2008
Quilty effect areas are frequently associated with endocardial C4d deposition. BACKGROUND: The meaning and clinical implications of the Quilty effect (QE) are not entirely clear. In some biopsies we have found complement split C4d deposition in QE areas, but we do fully comprehend the frequency or ...

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Regional heterogeneity of decreased myocardial norepinephrine and increased lipid peroxidation level

June 29th, 2008
Regional heterogeneity of decreased myocardial norepinephrine and increased lipid peroxidation levels in patients with end-stage failing heart secondary to dilated or ischemic cardiomyopathy. BACKGROUND: Regional alterations in norepinephrine (NE) and lipid peroxidation in the myocardium of patients with heart failure is not well known. This study ...

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Follow-up study on the utility of von Willebrand factor levels in the diagnosis of cardiac allograft

June 29th, 2008
Follow-up study on the utility of von Willebrand factor levels in the diagnosis of cardiac allograft vasculopathy. BACKGROUND: Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is the major cause of late death in patients undergoing heart transplantation (HT). The most validated method for its diagnosis is intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), ...

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Current state of combined heart-liver transplantation in the United States.

June 29th, 2008
Current state of combined heart-liver transplantation in the United States. BACKGROUND: Combined heart-liver transplantation (CHLT) has been increasingly performed in the USA, but published data on overall patient and graft outcomes have been limited. METHODS: This study aimed to review the indications, immunosuppression, complications and outcomes ...

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Survival and quality of life in patients with cardiac resynchronization therapy for severe heart fai

June 29th, 2008
Survival and quality of life in patients with cardiac resynchronization therapy for severe heart failure and in heart transplant recipients within a contemporary heart failure management program. BACKGROUND: Current treatment of advanced chronic heart failure comprises pharmacologic approaches, multidisciplinary management strategies and device therapy. We sought ...

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No association between single nucleotide polymorphisms and the development of nephrotoxicity after o

June 29th, 2008
No association between single nucleotide polymorphisms and the development of nephrotoxicity after orthotopic heart transplantation. BACKGROUND: Survival for heart transplantation (HTx) patients is limited by nephrotoxicity of the calcineurin inhibitors cyclosporine and tacrolimus. To determine whether genetic factors are involved in the development of renal dysfunction ...

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Prognostic relationship between two serial determinations of B-type natriuretic peptide and medium-l

June 29th, 2008
Prognostic relationship between two serial determinations of B-type natriuretic peptide and medium-long-term events in heart transplantation. BACKGROUND: Persistent elevation of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels in the first year after transplant appears to be associated with an adverse prognosis. However, there are no data on the ...

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Predictive utility of the 6-minute walk distance on survival in patients awaiting lung transplantati

June 29th, 2008
Predictive utility of the 6-minute walk distance on survival in patients awaiting lung transplantation. BACKGROUND: The 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) is a widely used clinical indicator of exercise capacity. Although used as part of the assessment process in determining a candidate\'s suitability for lung transplantation (LT), ...

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C3d and C4d deposition early after lung transplantation.

June 29th, 2008
C3d and C4d deposition early after lung transplantation. BACKGROUND: Complement staining as a predictor of antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) after lung transplantation continues to be debated. METHODS: In a cohort of 33 lung transplant recipients (LTRs) we assessed early post-transplant (<or=3 months) graft deposition of the complement ...

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Placement of long-term implantable ventricular assist devices without the use of cardiopulmonary byp

June 29th, 2008
Placement of long-term implantable ventricular assist devices without the use of cardiopulmonary bypass. BACKGROUND: Implantation of ventricular assist devices for cardiac support is normally performed using cardiopulmonary bypass. Post-operative complications could be minimized by the placement of these devices without the use of cardiopulmonary bypass. METHODS: ...

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Location and density of alpha- and beta-adrenoreceptor sub-types in myocardium after mechanical left

June 29th, 2008
Location and density of alpha- and beta-adrenoreceptor sub-types in myocardium after mechanical left ventricular unloading. BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that not all subtypes of alpha- and beta-adrenoreceptors undergo similar upregulation and redistribution in human myocardium after mechanical unloading with an assist device. METHODS: We obtained core biopsy ...

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Increased expression of stem cell factor and its receptor after left ventricular assist device suppo

June 29th, 2008
Increased expression of stem cell factor and its receptor after left ventricular assist device support: a potential novel target for therapeutic interventions in heart failure. BACKGROUND: Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) cause an influx of mast cells into the failing heart, but the underlying mechanism is ...

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Design, Synthesis, and Actions of a Novel Chimeric Natriuretic Peptide: CD-NP.

June 29th, 2008
Design, Synthesis, and Actions of a Novel Chimeric Natriuretic Peptide: CD-NP. OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to design, synthesize and test in vivo and in vitro a new chimeric peptide that would combine the beneficial properties of 2 distinct natriuretic peptides with a biological profile that goes ...

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Survival and clinical course at fontan after stage one palliation with either a modified blalock-tau

June 29th, 2008
Survival and clinical course at fontan after stage one palliation with either a modified blalock-taussig shunt or a right ventricle to pulmonary artery conduit. OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine whether the type of shunt used at stage one palliation (S1P) affected the survival and the perioperative ...

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Toward predictable repair of regurgitant aortic valves a systematic morphology-directed approach to

June 29th, 2008
Toward predictable repair of regurgitant aortic valves a systematic morphology-directed approach to bicommissural repair. OBJECTIVES: Our purpose was to investigate a new approach to bicommissural repair of regurgitant aortic valves. BACKGROUND: Repair of regurgitant aortic valves is not widely accepted, but interest is increasing, particularly for ...

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Marked impairment of protease-activated receptor type 1-mediated vasodilation and fibrinolysis in ci

June 29th, 2008
Marked impairment of protease-activated receptor type 1-mediated vasodilation and fibrinolysis in cigarette smokers smoking, thrombin, and vascular responses in vivo. OBJECTIVES: We sought to test the hypothesis that cigarette smoking adversely alters protease-activated receptor type 1 (PAR-1)-mediated vascular effects in vivo in humans. BACKGROUND: Distinct from ...

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Relationship Between Biomarkers of Oxidized Low-Density Lipoprotein, Statin Therapy, Quantitative Co

June 29th, 2008
Relationship Between Biomarkers of Oxidized Low-Density Lipoprotein, Statin Therapy, Quantitative Coronary Angiography, and Atheroma Volume Observations From the REVERSAL (Reversal of Atherosclerosis with Aggressive Lipid Lowering) Study. OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to test the hypothesis that circulating biomarkers of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (OxLDL) are affected ...

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Coronary artery calcium to predict all-cause mortality in elderly men and women.

June 29th, 2008
Coronary artery calcium to predict all-cause mortality in elderly men and women. OBJECTIVES: We sought to study the prognostic utility of coronary artery calcium (CAC) in the elderly. BACKGROUND: The prognostic significance of CAC in the elderly is not well known. METHODS: All-cause mortality was assessed ...

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Acute heart failure syndromes and coronary perfusion.

June 29th, 2008
Acute heart failure syndromes and coronary perfusion. Acute heart failure syndromes (AHFS), with a high post-discharge mortality and rehospitalization rate, represent a significant public health burden. The treatment of patients hospitalized with AHFS often includes the use of vasoactive medications such as inotropes and vasodilators. Although ...

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Radionuclide imaging a molecular key to the atherosclerotic plaque.

June 29th, 2008
Radionuclide imaging a molecular key to the atherosclerotic plaque. Despite primary and secondary prevention, serious cardiovascular events such as unstable angina or myocardial infarction still account for one-third of all deaths worldwide. Therefore, identifying individual patients with vulnerable plaques at high risk for plaque rupture is ...

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