Biomedical subjects

Alberto Bouzas

Publications and source records attributed to Alberto Bouzas.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Interpretation of electrocardiographic abnormalities in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with cardiac magnetic resonance.

AIMS: To clarify the mechanisms of electrocardiographic abnormalities in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, 102 patients were examined with cardiac magnetic resonance. Distribution and magnitude of hypertrophy and late-enhancement were correlated with electrocardiographic abnormalities. METHODS AND RESULTS: Abnormal Q waves were associated with greater upper anterior septal thickness (22+/-7 mm vs. 18+/-5 mm, P=0.001) and increased ratios of upper anterior septum to mean inferolateral (P=0.01), anterolateral (P=0.002), apical (P=0.001), and right ventricular (P=0.001) wall thickness. There was no relation between abnormal Q waves and late-enhancement, except for Q waves >/=40 ms (P=0.02). Conduction disturbances and absent septal Q waves were associated with late-enhancement (89 vs. 45%, P=0.01 and 75 vs. 39%, P=0.002, respectively). The depth of negative T waves was related to an increased ratio of the mean thickness between apical and basal level (P=0.01), and to the presence of apical late-enhancement (P=0.03). CONCLUSION: Abnormal Q waves reflect the interrelation between upper anterior septal thickness and other regions of the left and right ventricles, and wider Q waves are associated with late-enhancement. Conduction disturbances and absent septal Q waves are associated with late-enhancement. The depth of negative T waves is related to craniocaudal asymmetry and apical late-enhancement.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Risk stratification by treadmill exercise echocardiography.

BACKGROUND: Although exercise echocardiography (EE) has value for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease (CAD), it's not clear whether it may be useful for risk assessment in all categories of patients. To determine whether: 1) there is an incremental value of EE over clinical, exercise and resting echocardiographic variables for the prediction of events according to the pre-test probability of CAD; and 2) the number, location of the diseased territories, and nature of the disease affect the risk stratification, we studied 2436 patients referred for EE that were followed for 2.1 +/- 1.5 years. METHODS: Based on a pre-test score, previous myocardial infarction (MI) or revascularizations, 1242 patients were considered as having high, 1038 moderate, and 156 low pre-test probability. RESULTS: There were 89 hard events (myocardial infarction or cardiovascular death) in the 1203 patients with abnormal EE vs. 31 events in the 1233 with normal EE (p < 0.0001). Gender, Mets, heart rate x blood pressure, resting wall motion score index and number of involved territories at exercise were independently associated to hard events (final Chi-square = 170, incremental p value of exercise echo <0.0001). The incremental value of exercise echo over other variables was found in patients with the different pre-test probabilities. CONCLUSIONS: Exercise echocardiography has incremental value over clinical, exercise and resting echocardiographic variables in patients with different pre-test probabilities of CAD.

Coronary Artery Disease↗

PubMed2006

Prognostic value of mitral regurgitation assessment during exercise echocardiography in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease.

BACKGROUND: Although mitral regurgitation (MR) may be assessed during exercise echocardiography (EE) there are no data regarding its value for predicting outcome in large series of patients. We sought to determine whether the predictive value of EE is maintained over clinical variables and resting echocardiography when the latter included information on MR, and to verify whether postexercise MR may improve the value of EE for predicting outcome. METHODS: In all, 1916 patients (mean age +/- 1SD = 62 +/- 11 years; mean left ventricular ejection fraction +/- 1SD = 56 +/- 11) referred for EE were followed up for 1.9 +/- 1.4 years. RESULTS: There were 87 cardiac events before revascularization: 67 events occurred in 948 patients with abnormal EE and 20 events occurred in 968 patients with normal EE (P < .0001), whereas there were 24 events in the 218 patients with moderate or higher resting MR and 63 events in the 1698 patients with no or mild MR (P < .0001). Previous myocardial infarction, resting MR, peak double product, and peak left ventricular ejection fraction were independently associated to hard events (chi2 model = 144, P < .0001). The same variables were associated to cardiac death (chi2 model = 141, P < .0001). Predictors of cardiac events in patients with abnormal EE were resting MR, resting wall-motion score index, metabolic equivalents, peak double product, and MR worsening (incremental P value of MR worsening = .03). Predictors of cardiac death were resting MR, peak double product, peak left ventricular ejection fraction, and MR worsening (incremental P value of MR worsening = .03). CONCLUSIONS: EE maintains its higher prognostic value over resting echocardiography even when the latter incorporates information on resting MR. MR worsening provides significant incremental prognostic information in patients with abnormal EE.

Comorbidity↗