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Serum lactate, a marker of tissue hypoxia, is an important prognostic factor in sepsis, trauma, and cardiogenic shock. Data on the direct correlation of serum lactate and in-hospital mortality in normotensive acute pulmonary thromboembolism (APE) patients, however, remains scarce.

Lately, easier and shorter tests have been used in the functional evaluation of cardiac patients. Among these, walking speed (WS) and Timed Up and Go (TUG) tests are associated with all-cause mortality, mainly cardiovascular and the rate of re-hospitalization, especially in the elderly population. We prospectively analyzed a group of 38 patients admitted to the Cardiology Clinic from Elias Hospital, Romania, with chronic coronary syndrome (CCS) (n=22) and STEMI (n=16). We assessed the patients immediately after admission and before discharge with G-WALK between the 1st and 30th of September 2019. Our study group had a mean age of 62.7±12.1 years. Patients with a low WS were older (69.90±12.84 vs. 59.90±10.32 years, p=0.02) and had a lower serum hemoglobin (12.38±1.20 vs. 13.72±2.07 g/dl, p=0.02). The WS significantly improved during hospitalization (p=0.03) after optimal treatment. The TUG test performed at the time of admission had a longer duration in patients with heart failure (14.05 vs. 10.80 sec, p=0.02) and was influenced by patients' age (r=0.567, p=0.02), serum creatinine (r=0.409, p=0.03) and dilation of right heart chambers (r=0.399, p=0.03). WS and TUG tests can be used in patients with CCS and STEMI, and are mainly influenced by age, thus having a greater value among the elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Objective: We evaluated the effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) therapy on functional capacity and oxidative stress in patients hospitalized for acute heart failure (AHF). Design: We included 30 consecutive patients admitted for AHF with a left ventricular ejection fraction ≤ 50% who were randomized into two groups: NMES therapy added on conventional rehabilitation (CR) (n = 15, 67.2 ±13.35 years) and CR alone (n = 15, 63.26 ± 10.29 years). NMES therapy was performed at the level of the quadriceps muscle bilaterally, daily, for 60 minutes with a frequency of 10 Hz. Results: The mean duration of NMES therapy was 6.93 ± 2.54 days. Functional capacity assessed by the 6 minute walk test was significantly improved in the group with NMES therapy (p=0.036). The oxidized LDL value showed a decreasing trend compared to the admission value in the group with NMES therapy, but without statistical significance. Conclusion: This paper shows that for patients with AHF, NMES therapy used for a short term and initiated early during the hospitalization period improves exercise tolerance, suggesting the importance and possible necessity of including it as standard cardiac recovery therapy. NMES did not influence the plasmatic value of oxidized LDL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]