Search

We aimed to evaluate the effect of exercise echocardiography (EE) on Right ventricular (RV) deformation parameters in asymptomatic patients with severe rheumatic mitral stenosis (MS) (mitral valve area ≤ 1.5 cm 2 , stage C) and to determine the relation between symptoms and severity of MS. 38 rheumatic MS patients in stage C underwent EE. 20 Patients were defined; as an exercise intolerance group who couldn't reach a maximum heart rate according to their age during exercise due to developing dyspnea The remaining 18 patients who reached a maximum heart rate without dyspnea were defined; as an exercise tolerance group. RV echocardiographic parameters at baseline and peak exercise were compared between the groups. While RV global strain (RV GLS) (21.02 ± 3.33 vs. 21.92 ± 3.03) and RV free wall longitudinal strain (RV FWLS) (23.41 ± 5.66 vs. 25.08 ± 5.00) at baseline were similar in both groups (P = 0.390 P = 0.343), RV GLS (23.38 ± 4.30 vs. 26.05 ± 3.24) and RV FWLS (24.24 ± 5.78 vs. 28.05 ± 4.62) at peak exercise were reduced in exercise intolerance group (P = 0.040 P = 0.033). The best correlations were found between exercise capacity and RV FWLS at baseline and peak exercise in all MS patients (respectively; r = 0.627 P < 0.001; r = 0.697 P < 0.001). RV mechanics has approved the reliability of EE in patients with asymptomatic patients with severe MS. During exercise RV contractile reserve could diminish in MS patients with stage C who develop dyspnea. Moreover, since our study has a close relationship between exercise capacity and RV mechanics, using RV mechanics during exercise echocardiography may be useful for risk stratification in MS patients with severe MS., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethical approval: The study was conducted with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee. All patients signed informed consent. Institutional and financial support: None. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19)-related myocardial injury is an increasingly recognized complication and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become the most commonly used non-invasive imaging technique for myocardial involvement. This study aims to assess myocardial structure by T2*-mapping which is a non-invasive gold-standard imaging tool for the assessment of cardiac iron deposition in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia without significant cardiac symptoms. Twenty-five patients with COVID-19 pneumonia and 20 healthy subjects were prospectively enrolled.Cardiac volume and function parameters, myocardial native-T1, and T2*-mapping were measured. The association of serum ferritin level and myocardial mapping was analyzed. There was no difference in terms of cardiac volume and function parameters. The T2*-mapping values were lower in patients with COVID-19 compared to controls (35.37 [IQR 31.67-41.20] ms vs. 43.98 [IQR 41.97-46.88] ms; p < 0.0001), while no significant difference was found in terms of native-T1 mapping value(p = 0.701). There was a positive correlation with T2*mapping and native-T1 mapping values (r = 0.522, p = 0.007) and negative correlation with serum ferritin values (r = - 0.653, p = 0.000), while no correlation between cardiac native-T1 mapping and serum ferritin level. Negative correlation between serum ferritin level and T2*-mapping values in COVID-19 patients may provide a non-contrast-enhanced alternative to assess tissue structural changes in patients with COVID-19. T2*-mapping may provide a non-contrast-enhanced alternative to assess tissue alterations in patients with COVID-19. Adding T2*-mapping cardiac MRI in patients with myocardial pathologies would improve the revealing of underlying mechanisms. Further in vivo and ex vivo animal or human studies designed with larger patient cohorts should be planned., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Crohn's Disease [CD] is one of the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases that are chronic relapsing inflammatory diseases. Despite the major affected organ is intestine in CD, extra intestinal organs and tissues including cardiovascular system are also affected. Several studies have demonstrated that CD patients may have a higher risk of advancing atherosclerosis. The microvascular endothelial dysfunction plays an essential role for developing coronary atherosclerosis. Microvascular structural abnormalities in the retinal circulation may predict macrovascular events such as stroke and coronary heart disease. In order to assess the the microvascular circulation of the retina; retrobulbar blood flow velocities and resisitive indices [RI] of retrobulbar arteries are measured. The carotid intima media thickness [CIMT] correlates strongly with CV risk in the future. We aimed to investigate whether calculation of RI of retrobulbar arteries can be used as novel, easy and reproducible method to define atherosclerotic risk in CD patients along with CIMT. Thirty CD patients with remission period and thirty healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study. Measurement of carotid intima-media thickness and retrobulbar blood flow velocities were obtained with ultrasound scanner and colour Doppler ultrasonography. The RI of the OA [0.77 ± 0.06 vs. 0.65 ± 0.06, p < 0.001] and CIMT 0.52 [0.50-0.60] vs. 0.40 [0.40-0.50] in patients with CD was significantly higher than the control group. Increased OARI and CIMT values may reflect an increased risk of atherosclerosis and OARI measurement may be used as a screening test for microvascular circulation evaluation in patients with CD.

Purpose: To investigate the soluble Klotho (sKlotho) and fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23) levels and echocardiographic findings in type 1 diabetic patients with no or early diabetic nephropathy., Methods: A total of 147 subjects (mean age 34.1 ± 9.2 years, 55.8 % were females) including type 1 diabetic patients with glomerular filtration rate (GFR) >60 ml/min (n = 71, mean age 34.3 ± 9.5 years, 54.9 % were females) and healthy controls (n = 76, mean age 33.9 ± 9.1 years, 56.6 % were females) were included in this study. Data on demographic characteristics, blood biochemistry, urinalysis, diabetes-related complications and echocardiography were recorded. Serum levels for sKlotho and FGF-23 were determined by ELISA method., Results: Patient and control groups were similar in terms of mean sKlotho (509.2 ± 183.5 and 547.6 ± 424.0 pg/ml, respectively) and FGF-23 (76.2 ± 15.6 and 77.2 ± 15.1 pg/ml, respectively) levels as well as echocardiographic findings. No significant correlation of sKlotho (pg/ml) and FGF-23 (pg/ml) levels with cardiac parameters was noted among diabetic patients. In subgroup analysis, the correlations between FGF-23 levels and isovolumic relaxation time (ms) and early diastolic velocity at medial/septal annulus (E'med) (m/s) were significant only in patients with early diabetic nephropathy (DN) but not in non-DN patients. No significant association of sKlotho levels with echocardiographic findings was noted., Conclusions: Our findings in young adult type 1 diabetic patients with GFR >60 ml/min versus healthy controls revealed no difference between groups in terms of sKlotho and FGF-23 levels and echocardiographic findings, while a significant correlation of FGF-23 (pg/ml) levels and diastolic dysfunction was noted only in patients with DN.