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Biomedical subjects

G Galanti

Publications and source records attributed to G Galanti.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Noninvasive evaluation of right ventricle systolic pressure during dynamic exercise by saline-enhanced Doppler echocardiography in progressive systemic sclerosis.

Progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) is characterized in its first phases by vascular damage. Lungs are involved in two thirds of patients with initial progressive destruction of the capillary bed and consequent reduction of the functional reserve, which may lead to hypertension of the pulmonary circulation. For these reasons it is of great interest to have early information about the pressure of the pulmonary circulation, both at rest and during exercise, to follow the progression and the evolution of the illness independently from subjective symptoms. The aim of the study was to evaluate by a noninvasive method, saline-enhanced Doppler echocardiography, the behavior of the right ventricular systolic pressure in patients with PSS, at rest and during exercise, without clear instrumental or clinical signs of pulmonary involvement at rest. Nine patients (7 women and 2 men) with PSS, aged 55.7 +/- 8.7 years, and 9 control subjects were evaluated. All patients had normal pulmonary pressure at rest and negative history for effort dyspnea. Subjects underwent Doppler echocardiographic examination at rest and during exercise. Right ventricular systolic pressure was evaluated by saline-enhanced Doppler technique, at rest and throughout exercise. At rest the right ventricular systolic pressure was normal in all patients and controls. At the end of exercise, in 4 patients, values were still normal (40.7 +/- 2.2 mmHg); in the others pathologic values were recorded (59.8 +/- 3.9 mmHg). In the control group values were always normal (35.6 +/- 4.6 mmHg). In our study the saline-enhanced Doppler echocardiography has been demonstrated to be an important diagnostic tool for the noninvasive evaluation of right ventricular systolic pressure, both at rest and during exercise; it could be useful in monitoring the pulmonary vascular damage in patients with PSS.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Left atrial size changes in patients with paroxysmal lone atrial fibrillation. An echocardiographic follow-up.

Left atrial enlargement has been demonstrated to occur as a consequence of the arrhythmia in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation (AF) in the absence of organic heart disease, whereas contrasting results have been reported in patients with paroxysmal lone AF. In the present investigation the behavior of left atrial size was followed up for an average period of 30.3 months in 20 patients with paroxysmal lone AF since their first arrhythmic episode. No significant changes in left atrial size were found at the end of the follow-up period. In 65% of patients the arrhythmia recurred at least once yearly. Left atrial size at enrollment was not significantly different in these patients from those without recurrences and did not change in either group during follow-up. The results suggest that in patients with lone AF left atrial dilatation occurs only after the arrhythmia becomes chronic. Early restoration of sinus rhythm may interrupt the vicious circle leading to atrial enlargement.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Echocardiographic Doppler evaluation of left ventricular diastolic function in athletes' hypertrophied hearts.

It is well known that one of the most evident effects of prolonged and intense physical training is an increase of left ventricular mass. This increase could have a great influence on the diastolic properties of the heart, which can now be accurately evaluated by use of pulsed- and continuous-wave of Doppler echocardiography. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diastolic function of a group of superendurance athletes (professional bicyclists, exercising more than forty hours a week). Sixteen athletes (A), aged between twenty and thirty-one years, during the period of maximal training, and 16 age-matched controls (C) were studied. All subjects were evaluated at rest with mono-dimensional, two-dimensional, and Doppler echocardiography. Diastolic (DD) and systolic (SD) diameter, posterior wall (PW), and interventricular septum (IVS) thickness were also measured. The left ventricular mass (LVM) was calculated. Diastolic function was evaluated by calculating isovolumetric relaxation time (IVR) with continuous-wave Doppler, and deceleration time (DT), rapid filling flow peak (Ep), and atrial filling peak (Ap) were evaluated with pulsed Doppler echocardiography. The LVM (A: 354 +/- 47 g vs C: 170.6 +/- 33.4, p < 0.05), DD (A: 57.7 +/- 3.9 mm vs C: 50.5 +/- 2.7, p < 0.01), PW thickness (A: 11.9 +/- 0.7 mm vs C: 8.4 +/- 0.6, p < 0.05), and IVS thickness (A: 12.3 +/- 1 mm vs C: 8.2 +/- 0.9, p < 0.05) were significantly greater in the athletes than in the controls.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Diagnostic accuracy of peak exercise echocardiography in coronary artery disease: comparison with thallium-201 myocardial scintigraphy.

To evaluate the accuracy of exercise two-dimensional echocardiography for the recognition of coronary artery disease, 53 patients (46 men and 7 women, age range 35 to 69 years) without either previous myocardial infarction or resting wall motion abnormalities, were studied. According to coronary angiography 26 had normal coronary arteries, 14 had one-vessel, seven had two-vessel, and six had three-vessel disease. After withdrawal of any therapy, all patients underwent a single exercise stress test with a stress table during which cine-loop digitized echocardiography was acquired and 74 MBq of thallium-201 (TI-201) were injected. Echocardiographic images were evaluated at rest and at peak exercise. Three-view planar scintigraphic images were collected immediately after exercise and 4 hours later. For the overall recognition of coronary artery disease, exercise electrocardiography had 77.8% sensitivity and 65.4% specificity; myocardial scintigraphy had 100% sensitivity and 92.3% specificity; and exercise echocardiography had 92.6% sensitivity and 96.2% specificity (both NS versus myocardial scintigraphy). Global accuracy was 71.7% for exercise electrocardiography, 94.3% for stress echocardiography, and 96.2% for myocardial scintigraphy. For the classification of the individual involved coronary arteries, the sensitivity of myocardial scintigraphy was 84.8% and that of exercise echocardiography was 63% (p less than 0.01); the related specificities were 98% and 98.2% respectively (NS). It may be concluded that exercise echocardiography is highly accurate for the recognition of coronary artery disease, whereas it appears less sensitive in the identification of the involved vessels, particularly in patients with multivessel disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

[The diameter of the common trunk of the left coronary artery and left ventricular mass in athletes. An echocardiographic study].

The feasibility of two-dimensional echocardiographic visualization of the coronary artery was re-evaluated in adults in the light of technological advances and development of new imaging planes. Athletes are a good model for this type of study. The aim of our study was to visualize in athletes the coronary arteries, particularly the left main artery, and to see if a correlation exists between left-ventricular mass and coronary diameter. Twenty-one endurance athletes, aged between 17 and 30 years, and 21 control subjects, matched for age, sex and body surface area, were examined. All the subjects were examined with mono- and two-dimensional echocardiography, with annular array (3.5 and 5 MHz), with parasternal and apical projections modified in order to visualize the left main coronary artery. Wall thickness, left ventricular internal dimension and left ventricular mass were calculated. Interventricular septum thickness was 10.8 +/- 1.5 mm for athletes (A) versus 8.2 +/- 0.9 mm for controls (C); p less than 0.01. Posterior wall thickness was 10.4 +/- 1.5 mm (A) versus 8.2 +/- 0.6 mm (C); p less than 0.01. The left ventricular diastolic diameter was 54.6 +/- 5.1 mm (A) versus 49.5 +/- 3.4 mm (C); p less than 0.01. The mean left ventricular mass was 278.2 +/- 85.2 g (A) versus 165.6 +/- 35.4 g (C); p less than 0.01. The mean diameter of the left main coronary artery was 4.9 +/- 0.8 mm (A) versus 3.1 +/- 0.4 mm (C); p less than 0.01.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1990

[Magnetic resonance imaging of aortic and mitral valve insufficiency. Comparison with Doppler echocardiography and angiocardiography].

Fourty-five subjects--10 normal volunteers and 35 patients with valvular insufficiency were examined with MRI and [20 of them with mitral (MI) and 15 with aortic (AI) insufficiency] were evaluated with MR imaging and with Doppler echocardiography (echo-Doppler); 22 of these patients were also studied with angiocardiography. The extent of regurgitation jet was classified as follows: minimal (1+), mild (2+), moderate (3+), and severe (4+), according to the max distance of regurgitant jet signal from valvular leaflets. In our series, MR imaging with FFE sequences always showed the regurgitant jet. High agreement was found between MR and echo-Doppler results (80% for MI, and 86% for AI). In 22 patients who underwent angiocardiography, we observed 73% agreement. Cine-MR imaging proved to be an accurate and sensitive technique to recognize and to evaluate severity of regurgitant valvular flow in patients with AI and MI. This technique may be useful in those patients in whom Doppler echocardiography is inadequate or impossible to perform.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

[Right ventricular thrombosis in association with dilated cardiomyopathy: diagnosis by echocardiography and nuclear magnetic resonance].

Thrombus formation in right chambers is an uncommon event which usually follows an acute right myocardial infarction or a thromboembolic disease. In subjects with dilated cardiomyopathy, thrombus formation is common in the left ventricle; so far right ventricular thrombosis has not yet been reported. In this report we describe a case of cardiomyopathy with right ventricular thrombosis as detected by echocardiography and nuclear magnetic resonance.

Cardiomyopathy, Dilated↗
PubMed1984

A study of the antihypertensive effect and some pharmacodynamic aspects of nifedipine in medium-term treatment.

The antihypertensive activity of nifedipine in medium-term treatment has been studied in 30 patients affected by II and III WHO grade essential hypertension. After a 6-day period of placebo, patients were randomly allotted to group A (treated with single 10-mg doses of nifedipine) and group B (treated with single 20-mg doses). Treatment with nifedipine continued for 18 days. Patients in both groups were given one daily dose during the first 6 days, two daily doses in the following 6 days and three daily doses in the last 6 days. 1. Antihypertensive effect: In both groups, only three daily doses gave a satisfactory 24-hour antihypertensive activity. Nifedipine as monotherapy administered in single doses of both 10 mg (group A) and 20 mg (group B) normalized blood pressure (BP) and the measured antihypertensive effect was not statistically different in the two groups. The antihypertensive effect lasted between 7 and 8 hours after drug administration (both doses) and did not diminish with increasing duration of treatment or number of daily doses. 2. Change in heart rate: Nifedipine induced an increase in HR which diminished with shortening of the time interval between daily administrations. The effect on HR was unaltered throughout the whole experimental period. 3. Side-effects: Nifedipine did not induce orthostatic hypotension in any patient. Eleven of the 30 patients complained of side-effects, the most common being headache and palpitations. Incidence and severity of side-effects were not correlated with dose, whereas duration was longer with 20 mg. Side-effects never necessitated withdrawal of the drug.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

[The physiopathological basis for hemorrheological changes in diabetes].

Changes in blood viscosity and blood rheology have been reported in patients with diabetes mellitus. Rheology of blood flow in microcirculation is influenced by both general properties of blood (the so-called structural viscosity) and local conditions such as vessel size, blood flow rate, local pH and especially the presence of platelet aggregates. In patients affected by diabetes mellitus with or without vascular complications and in patients with impaired glucose tolerance, platelet hypercoagulability and hyperaggregability and a reduced prostacyclin production are present. Each one among these alterations can affect the rheology of blood flow. As a consequence of the blood clotting activation, plasma concentration of soluble fibrin complexes is increased and it can be responsible for an increase in plasma viscosity. Moreover, the increased tendency of platelets to aggregate observed in diabetes mellitus may result in the formation of aggregates which markedly increase viscosity in microcirculation. Finally, the reduced prostacyclin formation may be responsible for the reduction of erythrocyte deformability. Thus, changes in blood viscosity and rheological blood flow disturbances can be considered as a consequence of hemostatic system alterations.

Blood Coagulation↗
PubMed1983

[Effect of prostacyclin on erythrocyte deformability and blood viscosity].

The aim of our research was to investigate the effect of prostacyclin (PGI2) on red blood cell deformability and blood viscosity. Ten non-smokers healthy subjects (aged from 25 to 40) were examined. Different PGI2 concentrations were added to the blood sample and then red blood cell deformability and blood viscosity were measured: 1.2 and 2.4 ng/ml PGI2 concentrations, corresponding to plasma PGI2-like activity in man, increased red blood cell deformability and reduced blood viscosity. The PGI2 capacity of affecting red blood cell deformability and blood viscosity seems to be of clinical interest in conditions where the PGI2 production is reduced, such as ischemic heart disease, peripheral artery disease and diabetes mellitus.

Adult↗