Increased survival of AIDS patients with heart disease within 10 years?
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Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
Biomedical subjects
E L Kinney
Publications and source records attributed to E L Kinney.
Prediction of coronary artery reperfusion after tissue plasminogen activator infusion.
We investigated whether clinical and laboratory variables can predict perfusion status after t-PA administration, by using the data from 138 patients who received t-PA during the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) I study. All clinical and laboratory variables that were collected at baseline or during perfusion for TIMI I were evaluated by the current study. Via stepwise discriminant analysis, 7 variables were closely associated with perfusion status at 90 minutes (listed in the order of their discriminant effect): baseline grade of stenosis in the infarct-related coronary artery, whether nausea was present during the infusion, baseline aspartate aminotransferase (SGOT) concentration, whether arrhythmias were present during the infusion, baseline fibrinogen concentration, baseline partial thromboplastin time, and baseline diastolic blood pressure. Baseline severity of stenosis and the likelihood of there being reperfusion were inversely related. Eighty-four percent of patients with adequate perfusion after 90 minutes of t-PA infusion were classified correctly, but only 50% of those without perfusion at 90 minutes were classified correctly. In addition, since 70% of the TIMI I patients, on average, did achieve perfusion, the use of these 7 variables added little predictive information. Our findings suggest that 1) there is as yet no practical way to predict reperfusion after t-PA therapy and 2) the severity of coronary stenoses, if known ahead of time, should be considered when selecting patients for thrombolytic therapy.
Discriminant Analysis↗
Successful therapy for Toxoplasma gondii myocarditis in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
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Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
Relationship between body weight and mortality in men aged 75 years and older.
As our population ages, recommendations about weight control in the elderly will assume increasing importance. But such recommendations are not supported by the literature, in that there is little information about the independent effect of obesity on survival in subjects who are more than 70 years old. We studied body weight, as assessed by Quetelet's index (weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters), in 162 men aged 75 to 98 years (mean age = 81 +/- 5.3). Length of follow-up averaged 28.6 months. Early deaths (those occurring within the first year of the study) were attributed to preexisting morbid conditions. Cox regression was determined for the entire group, and then for the same group with early deaths excluded. Covariates were Quetelet's index, age, race, history of cigarette smoking, glucose intolerance, and hypertension. Two variables, a low Quetelet's index and glucose intolerance, were significantly associated with decreased survival for the entire group. When early deaths were excluded, however, the only variable significantly related to survival was age. These data suggest that the inverse relationship of body weight to mortality in aged men is due to preexisting morbid conditions and that when these morbid conditions are accounted for, body weight is not significantly related to survival. Hence, the relationship between body weight and mortality risk in aged men differs substantially from that in younger adults.
Age Factors↗
Echocardiographic score versus wall motion index for risk stratification after acute myocardial infarction.
Two-dimensional echo cardiographic wall motion scores are potentially valuable prognostic indicators because of their association with subsequent mortality in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Because wall motion scores are relatively simple to obtain, they could come into widespread use. But wall motion scores have been found to have a low positive predictive accuracy in respect to one- or three-year survival and a low specificity in respect to pump failure. To clarify the value of wall motion scores in risk stratification the authors analyzed the ability of a wall motion index, in combination with other variables, to predict death within a year of acute myocardial infarction. Patients were 149 consecutive men with acute myocardial infarction. There were no exclusion criteria. By Cox regression, the variables most closely related to survival were the presence of a pericardial effusion, the age of the patient, alcoholism, and the E point septal separation. The wall motion index, by comparison, was only weakly related to survival and was therefore dropped from further analyses. The four variables most closely related to survival were then used to derive a predictive echocardiographic score. The score's negative predictive accuracy was 94%, although sensitivity and positive predictive accuracy were low. These data suggest that, even when applied nonselectively, the echocardiographic score, but not the wall motion index, appears to be an efficient way of characterizing the outcome of acute myocardial infarction, in that it reliably detects low-risk patients.
Echocardiography↗
Do thallium myocardial perfusion scan abnormalities predict survival in sarcoid patients without cardiac symptoms?
Whereas the total mortality rate for sarcoidosis is 0.2 per 100,000, the prognosis, when the heart is involved, is very much worse. The authors used the difference in mortality rate to infer whether thallium 201 myocardial perfusion scan abnormalities correspond to myocardial sarcoid by making the simplifying assumption that if they do, then patients with abnormal scans will be found to have a death rate similar to patients with sarcoid heart disease. The authors therefore analyzed complete survival data on 52 sarcoid patients without cardiac symptoms an average of eighty-nine months after they had been scanned as part of a protocol. By use of survival analysis (the Cox proportional hazards model), the only variable that was significantly associated with survival was age. The patients' scan pattern, treatment status, gender, and race were not significantly related to survival. The authors conclude that thallium myocardial perfusion scans cannot reliably be used to diagnose sarcoid heart disease in sarcoid patients without cardiac symptoms.
Adult↗
Echocardiographic findings in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related complex (ARC).
Although a variety of cardiac abnormalities have been described in AIDS patients, it is unclear whether these are incidental findings or they presage clinically important heart disease. Also, because AIDS-related complex (ARC) is, in general, a milder form of AIDS, we wondered if echocardiographic abnormalities would differ in kind or in frequency, when compared with AIDS. To answer these questions, we studied the echocardiographic findings and the demographic features of 15 patients with AIDS and 24 patients with ARC. The ARC group had abnormalities in the same proportion as in our AIDS group, except for echocardiographic mitral valve prolapse. The MVP, however, did not appear to be due to intrinsic valvular disease. Rather, echocardiographic MVP was associated with low body weight (P = .02) but not with the cardiac signs or symptoms of MVP. Four AIDS patients had LV dysfunction. Of the echocardiographic variables, only a wide EPSS was significantly correlated with survival, as it is in other populations. We conclude that although echocardiographic abnormalities are common in AIDS and ARC patients, most of these abnormalities lack clinical significance.
AIDS-Related Complex↗
The calcium-phosphorus metabolism expert system module: a program developed in the ALEX Smalltalk/V shell.
The object-oriented computing model of Smalltalk/V proved to be very well suited for the creation of a medical expert system on the diagnosis of calcium-phosphorus metabolism abnormalities. A major reason for this was that a disease could be viewed as a self-contained, active, entity. The expert system is implemented in ALEX, an expert system shell that is written in Smalltalk/V. The shell consists of classes and methods that can be modified, as needed, by the developer. The expert system is, at present, 140,000 bytes in size, and includes 43 diseases, arranged in 7 contexts. Sixty case reports were used to test the expert system. In 30 cases, there was complete agreement between clinician and expert system; in 12 cases, the expert system responded appropriately when presented with diseases that were not known to the system; and in 18 cases, the system gave plausible results.
Calcium↗
Efficacy of treatment of patients with echocardiographically detected right-sided heart thrombi: a meta-analysis.
Although echocardiography detected right-sided heart thrombi are frequently associated with massive pulmonary embolism and death, there are conflicting recommendations in the literature about the optimal treatment of this condition. Our objective was to resolve this uncertainty by pooling all existing English language case reports in order to examine the relationship of treatment with survival. There were 71 published reports involving 119 subjects, of which 93% presented with abnormal cardiac signs and symptoms and 7% were asymptomatic but had risk factors for pulmonary embolism. The only factors that were significantly related to survival were whether pulmonary emboli were present, and the type of treatment actually received. Variables not significantly related to survival included cardiac symptoms and the echocardiographic appearance of the thrombus. The estimated probability of survival in patients with pulmonary emboli receiving heparin, thrombolytic agents, surgical embolectomy, or none of the above, was 0.70, 0.62, 0.62, and 0.19, respectively, while the estimated probability of survival in patients without pulmonary emboli for the same four treatment groups, was 0.92, 0.89, 0.89, and 0.53, respectively. We conclude that the efficacy of all three treatments are similar, and that they enhance the probability of survival. Because of the similar efficacy of drug therapy and surgery and the convenience of the former, drug therapy should probably be chosen. In addition, considering the small advantage of heparin with respect to the probability of survival, heparin may be the best choice if the illness is not characterized by a rapid downhill course.
Echocardiography↗
Value of clinical features for distinguishing myxedema ascites from other forms of ascites.
The diagnosis of myxedema ascites is often difficult and delayed, from our experience and the reports of other investigators. To address this situation, previous reports on the diagnosis of ascites were pooled in order to distinguish the features of myxedema ascites from other forms of ascites. These features were confined to variables that would be obtained routinely from patients with ascites requiring paracentesis. The data of 26 patients with myxedema ascites, and 61 patients with ascites from another cause were analyzed. Discriminant analysis was used to select the variables that best separated patients into myxedema and non-myxedema groups. The variables selected were if the ascites was straw-colored or with a protein content less than 2.5 g/dl, if the patient was over age 40, and if there was periorbital edema or hepatomegaly. These variables correctly classified 90.8% of patients. However, considering the roughly 1% prevalence of myxedema ascites among patients with ascites, the predictive value of these variables, in combination, is only 8.7%. With this low rate, these variables should probably not be used to screen for myxedema ascites.
Adult↗
Can the parasternal long axis plane replace the apical four-chamber plane in diagnosing mitral valve prolapse?
Since the mitral anulus is now known to be saddle-shaped, use of the qualitative motion of the mitral valve (MV) leaflets in the apical four-chamber plane to diagnose mitral valve prolapse (MVP) may be unsound, in that superior systolic displacement of the MV leaflets would occur in normal subjects, as well as in patients with MVP. It has therefore been suggested that the parasternal long axis (PLAX) plane should be used to diagnose MVP. To test the feasibility of this approach, the authors examined the predictive accuracy of PLAX prolapse and other isolated echocardiographic abnormalities versus a multivariate decision tree approach. PLAX prolapse, which was significantly associated with marked (greater than 0.7 cm) apical four-chamber prolapse, mitral regurgitation, the presence of a thick mitral valve, and low relative body weight, was 100% specific for MVP but only 44% sensitive. Similarly, marked apical four-chamber prolapse was 100% specific but only 53% sensitive. Apical four-chamber prolapse, if gauged only qualitatively as present or absent, was 94% sensitive but only 50% specific. By contrast, the decision tree classified all 32 initial patients correctly, and in a second, test set, selected 6 additional patients; these 6 patients had many of the clinical features of MVP. These observations suggest that: (1) if prolapse is seen in the PLAX plane, the patient does have MVP; on the other hand, lack of prolapse in this plane does not exclude the diagnosis of MVP and (2) the apical four-chamber plane, used qualitatively, does not reliably distinguish patients with MVP from those without MVP.
Adult↗
The natural history of unexpected Doppler mitral regurgitation.
It is common for patients to be diagnosed as having valvular regurgitation by Doppler echo when no such murmur has been heard by the referring clinician. To test the hypothesis that such patients have clinically unimportant heart disease, the authors evaluated the records of 213 consecutive men in whom mitral regurgitation had been found by pulsed Doppler. In 95 patients (group I) mitral regurgitation was audible, whereas in the other 118, it was not. In 97 patients with inaudible mitral regurgitation there were no structural mitral valve abnormalities by 2D echo. This group of 97 patients (group II) was defined as having unexpected Doppler mitral regurgitation. In group II patients there was a high prevalence of hypertension (50%), congestive heart failure (44%), alcohol abuse (46%), diabetes (27%), coronary artery disease (63%), and atrial fibrillation (13%). The following variables were distributed similarly in groups I and II: survival time, age, presence of congestive heart failure or coronary artery disease, left ventricular short-axis end diastolic and end systolic dimensions, E point septal separation, and the severity of dyssynergy. Atrial fibrillation was more common in group I (p = 0.017), and group I patients had a higher Quetelet's Index (weight/height squared) (p = 0.03). In group II, the factors most closely related to survival were the presence of dyssynergy, of atrial fibrillation, or of congestive heart failure. Although no group II patient had endocarditis or required mitral valve replacement, their survival was markedly decreased compared with people of similar age in the general population. The majority of cardiogenic deaths in group II patients were due to coronary artery disease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Aged↗
Treatment of AIDS-associated heart disease.
Although the diagnosis of AIDS-associated heart disease is becoming routine, its treatment has not been reported except in anecdote. Also, it has been unclear whether the odds of successful treatment are altered because of the presence of cardiac involvement per se. This communication reports the authors' treatment of 18 patients with AIDS-associated heart disease. Their results are combined with the treatment results of all patients reported in the literature to date with AIDS-associated heart disease. Treatment success, defined as eradication of the organism and no relapse, was achieved in their patients with M. tuberculosis (M. tb), cardiac cryptococcosis, and Salmonella typhimurium. M. tb required emergency pericardiectomy (well tolerated in all patients), then administration of rifampin, isoniazid, and ethambutol. Cryptococcosis was treated acutely with amphotericin B and flucytosine, then with maintenance amphotericin B. The response, which included resolution of congestive heart failure, occurred within a week. Salmonella endocarditis was cured with administration of ampicillin and netilmicin for one month. When the patients' data were combined with those of patients from the literature, the authors found that the odds of successful treatment for tuberculous pericarditis were somewhat lower than if the tuberculosis was extracardiac (50% vs 67%). With cryptococcal heart disease, the odds of successful treatment were actually significantly better than when only extracardiac disease was present. The authors conclude that infectious forms of AIDS-associated heart disease are often treatable. Although some cardiac infections are less likely to respond to treatment if there is cardiac involvement, mostly the response to treatment is similar to the response with only extracardiac involvement.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
Survival in patients with heart failure and normal basal systolic wall motion.
To assess the prognostic effect of preserved systolic function in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), the authors analyzed survival curves in 91 nonselected adult patients with CHF. Patients were assigned to one of two groups on the basis of fractional shortening. The first group consisted of 44 patients with a normal fractional shortening (greater than 0.17), and the second group, of 47 patients with a fractional shortening of 0.17 or less. The two groups were similar in respect to all historical and physical findings. Median survival was eleven months for patients with a decreased fractional shortening and twenty-six months for patients with a normal fractional shortening. Patients with a decreased fractional shortening had a significantly shorter survival (p = 0.01). The authors conclude that congestive heart failure with preserved systolic function is common and is associated with a better prognosis, and the literature suggests it may require nonstandard therapy. Their data also suggest, however, that CHF patients with preserved systolic function cannot be reliably distinguished at the bedside. Rather, echocardiography or other tests of systolic wall motion are needed to make the diagnosis.
Aged↗
Risk factors in alcoholic cardiomyopathy.
Although a relationship has been suggested between abstinence from alcohol and improvement in left ventricular (LV) function, no long-term studies in large groups of patients have been done to confirm this impression or to demonstrate an effect on survival. To address these questions, the authors analyzed the outcome in 105 male patients with alcoholic cardiomyopathy and 64 control male patients with nonalcoholic dilated cardiomyopathy. Survival data were available for all patients. The correlates of survival were assessed via the Cox proportional hazards model. Variables considered were age, race, drinking pattern (current drinker versus former drinker), presence of coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertension, and diabetes, and these echo variables: left atrial (LA) size, posterior wall thickness, LV end diastolic dimension (LVDD), minimal E point septal separation, wall motion, presence of incomplete mitral leaflet closure (IMLC) or low cardiac output, and the ratio of relative wall thickness to LVDD. The two study groups were comparable with respect to all echocardiographic variables. At a mean follow-up of 17.2 months +/- 12.1 months, 42.85% of the alcoholics and 41% of the nonalcoholics had died. Nonsurvival in the alcoholic group was significantly associated with only two factors: an increased LVDD and the presence of IMLC. The drinking pattern was not significantly associated with survival. By contrast, in the nonalcoholics,the variables most closely related to survival were LVDD, low cardiac output, increasing age, and abnormal wall motion. Therefore: (1) the risk factors in alcoholic and nonalcoholic cardiomyopathy are similar although IMLC appears to be a relatively specific prognostic factor for alcoholic cardiomyopathy and (2) abstinence from alcohol does not appear to improve survival.
Cardiac Volume↗
Comparison among acquired immune deficiency syndrome patients with and without clinical evidence of cardiac disease.
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AIDS-Related Complex↗
Dichloroacetate and lactic acidosis.
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Acetates↗
A classifier system for the diagnosis of disease from routine laboratory values.
LAB VALUES is an expert system that diagnoses the likelihood of various diseases, given the results of routine blood tests. Its knowledge structure employs bit maps. The similarity between a new case and a bit map in the knowledge base is calculated via a similarity score. The system was tested against published cases with definite diagnostic endpoints, and was found to perform well when compared to these published cases. System performance was not improved by incorporating disease frequency into the results.
Clinical Laboratory Techniques↗