0000000000713440
AUTHOR
V. Amato
Tolerability and efficacy of high-dose furosemide and small-volume hypertonic saline solution in refractory congestive heart failure
Thirty patients aged 65-85 years, with refractory New York Heart Association (NYHA) class IV congestive heart failure (CHF) were treated with an intravenous infusion of furosemide (250-2000 mg/d) and small-volume hypertonic saline solution (150 mL of 1.4-4.6% NaCl) twice a day for 6 to 12 days. A daily fluid oral intake of 1000 mL and previous cardiac therapy were maintained. Clinical signs and symptoms of CHF, such as dyspnea, edema and weakness, improved, as did severity of illness as defined by NYHA class. The infusion was well tolerated. After a 12-month follow-up, 24 patients (80%) were alive and in the NYHA class assigned on discharge from the hospital. This therapeutic combination is…
Analysis of 24-h noninvasive ambulatory blood pressure profiles by a third-degree polynomial approach
Extensive experience of the circadian variation of blood pressure (BP) has been reported. But some problems exist concerning the correct and satisfactory evaluation of 24-h BP profiles. A well-known approach is the Halberg's 'cosinor' method. But it could be considered inadequate for blood pressure recordings because it is based on a rigid model that does not practically fit empirical data. We suggest an approach based on a cubic function as a suitable method for such an analysis. Our investigation studied the behavior of 24-h blood pressure by a model where the function f(t) is a third-degree polynomial. We recruited 52 untreated patients affected by essential hypertension. Ambulatory BP r…
Effects of a short-term hypoenergetic diet on morphofunctional left ventricular parameters in centrally obese subjects
BACKGROUND: We aimed to study centrally obese subjects without other diseases, to establish whether a short-term hypoenergetic balanced regimen is able to positively modify left ventricular (LV) patterns. METHODS: We studied 32 obese subjects (out of 52 recruited for this study) with central fat distribution and without associated diseases. Each subject had undergone a moderately hypoenergetic diet for a four-month follow-up period and had a regular loss in weight. Some relevant clinical and echocardiographic parameters were evaluated. Baseline data and those evaluated at the end of the follow-up period were used for outcome analysis. RESULTS: We found a considerable reduction in LV mass an…
[Prevalence of pericardial effusion in subjects with rheumatoid arthritis: an echocardiographic study].
We used echocardiography to determine the prevalence of pericardial effusion in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients without cardiac systems and compared our results to those obtained in a control group of age-matched subjects. Thirty-six patients with RA (6 men, 30 women; mean age 51 +/- 11 years) were selected from a patient population in treatment at our outpatient Rheumatology Clinic. None of the patients had any symptoms of cardiac disease, and all patients with signs and/or systems of extracardiac disease were excluded from the study. The control group consisted of 60 volunteers (mean age 51 +/- 12 years) randomly selected from a larger group of subjects with neither symptoms, signs and…