Blood Pressure ; Humans

Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Vascular Diseases ; diagnosis

Antihypertensive Agents ; therapeutic use ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Humans ; Hypertension ; drug therapy

Cardiovascular Diseases ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Renin ; antagonists & inhibitors

Humans ; Hypertension ; therapy

Endoscopy ; instrumentation ; methods ; trends ; General Surgery ; methods ; Humans

Objective To investigate the independent factors associated with the apex of left atrial appendage(LAA) spontaneous echo contrast (SEC) in patients with valvular atrial fibrillation (VAF). Methods Seventeen normal subjects and 21 patients with VAF were included. Plasma fibrinogen (Fg),vov Willebrand factor (vWF),D-dimer (DD),P-selectin,thrombin-antithrombin complexes (TAT) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1(PAI-1) were measured. The apex of LAA SEC was assessed quantitatively by integrated backscatter (IBS). LAA flow and pulmonary venous flow were detected by transesophageal echocardiography. Results Fg,vWF,DD,TAT and PAI-1 were increased significantly in patients with atrial fibrillation compared with control ( P

Objective To establish the method of depict ing the left ventricular (LV) pressure-volume loop automatically by computer which incorporates LV catherization simultaneous with LV acoustic quantification echocardiography and to assess echocardiography non-invasive evaluation LV chamber stiffness. Methods Thirteen patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) underwent LV catherization simultaneously with echocardiography. LV pressure and volume curves were sent to computer, and LV pressure-volume loop was depicted automatically and modulus of LV chamber stiffness (Kc) was obtained. Pulsed Doppler echocardiography of mitral intraventricular flows was obtained in patients with HCM. Results Patients with HCM had significantly higher Kc obtained from LV pressure-volume loop ( 0.43 ? 0.11 vs 0.27 ). R-E 3/R-E 0, (R-E 2)-(R-E 1), (R-A 3)-(R-A 2) were correlated to Kc(r= 0.61 , 0.57 , 0.58 ,respectively). Conclusions This method provides a simple and reliable technique for automatically tracing pressure-volume loop and should facilitate further investigation of the left ventricular diastolic function in clinical practice. R-E 3/ R-E 0, (R-E 2)-(R-E 1), (R-A 3)-(R-A 2) offer new non-invasive indices in evaluating LV chamber stiffness.

Adolescent ; Anti-Arrhythmia Agents ; therapeutic use ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Echocardiography, Doppler, Color ; Electrocardiography ; Exercise Therapy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome ; Ventricular Premature Complexes ; diagnosis ; etiology ; therapy

Objective To evaluate correlations between left atrial(LA) and left ventricular(LV) function in patients with hypertension by acoustic quantification(AQ) technique. Methods Forty-eight hypertensive patients and twenty control subjects were studied. Patients with hypertension were divided into two groups by left ventricular mass index(LVMI),normal LVMI group(32 cases) and left ventricular hypertrophy(LVH) group(16 cases). Left atrial ejection fraction(LAEF),atrial emptying volume(AE),conduit volume(CV) and reservoir volume(RV) were measured with AQ technique. Results RV and AE significantly increased in normal LVMI subgroup and LVH subgroup;CV and LAEF respectively decreased or increased in LVH subgroup. LA booster pump function positively correlated to onset atrial emptying volume and RV,negatively correlate to CV and LV diastolic function. LA conduit function positively correlated to LV diastolic function,negatively correlated to LAEF and AE,RV as well as onset atrial emptying volume. LA reservoir function positively correlated to onset atrial emptying volume and LAEF,negatively correlated to CV. There was no significant correlation between LA reservoir function and LV diastolic function. Conclusions LV diastolic dysfunction induces decreased LA conduit function and increased reservoir function,which may facilitate early diastolic filling of the left ventricle. The changes of LA conduit function and reservoir function may increase of LA preload. Enhancement of LA preload and LA systole makes increased LA booster pump function,which facilitate late diastolic filling of left ventricle.