Biomarkers in heart failure

Nowadays, heart failure (HF) has an increasing prevalence, particularly in the elderly, and is becoming a clinical problem of epidemic proportion in terms of morbidity and mortality. Developing biological markers, that can aid in the diagnosis of HF and in the differentiation of congestive heart failure (CHF) from other causes of dyspnoea, will reduce the cost of health care. However, an ideal biomarker has not yet been identified. Potential markers of HF include neuro-hormonal mediators, markers of myocyte injury, and indicators of systemic inflammation. Among these, the BNP and NT-pro-BNP are the most widely studied and appear to be useful in patients with dyspnoea of unknown aetiology, a…

Utility of Multi-Slice Computed Tomography Coronary Angiography to Evaluate Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Patency

METABOLIC SYNDROME IN CHILDHOOD AND CARDIOVASCULAR RISK

Morbillo e fenomeno di Brugada: un caso clinico

Peripheral atherosclerosis is associated with the occurrence of restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention

The aim of our study was to evaluate, in patients with proven coronary artery disease (CAD) and treated with elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), whether the coexistence of asymptomatic carotid and femoral atherosclerotic lesions would provide prognostic information in terms of occurrence of restenosis.We studied 104 patients with CAD (M/F=77/27), mean age 60.5+/-9 years. All patients were treated with elective PCI. After PCI the suspicion of restenosis was confirmed by coronary angiography. All patients underwent ultrasound duplex scan of carotid and femoral-popliteal-tibial axis to detect atherosclerotic lesions. According to ultrasound results, patients were classified as n…