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Biomedical subjects

H E Kulbertus

Publications and source records attributed to H E Kulbertus.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Predictors of spontaneous predischarge ischemia following acute myocardial infarction.

To determine if the occurrence and the consequences of spontaneous predischarge postinfarction ischemia could be predicted early after hospital admission, a consecutive series of patients with acute myocardial infarction was studied and followed for 3 years. No patient was treated by thrombolysis. Spontaneous predischarge ischemia was defined as angina that occurred at rest before hospital discharge, at least 3 days after the acute event, and that was accompanied by electrocardiographic changes, but not by an increase in cardiac enzymes. Patients who died within the first 3 days were excluded from analysis. Among the 943 patients who survived at least 3 days, 165 (17.5%) had spontaneous ischemia before discharge. They had a higher 1-year post-hospital mortality (16 vs. 10%), but did not have significantly higher total 3-year mortality rates. Four independent, early available variables predictive of the occurrence of spontaneous ischemia were selected from a stepwise logistic discriminant analysis: history of angina before infarction, non-Q-wave infarct, absence of smoking, and higher age. Among the 165 patients with spontaneous ischemia, 3 independent variables predictive of 3-year mortality were selected stepwise: left ventricular function score, history of previous infarction, and absence of smoking.

Coronary Disease↗
PubMed1991

Long-term follow-up of elderly patients with severe aortic stenosis treated by balloon aortic valvuloplasty. Importance of haemodynamic parameters before and after dilatation.

Early and late prognosis after percutaneous balloon aortic valvuloplasty (PBAV) was assessed in 38 consecutive elderly patients (mean age, 78.5 +/- 6.1 years). Significant valve opening was achieved in 35 patients. The hospital mortality was 8% (three patients); two other patients died within the first month and three underwent aortic valve replacement. At 2 years follow-up, there were 10 additional deaths (seven cardiac deaths) and five patients had symptom recurrence managed by aortic valve replacement (3) or repeat PBAV (2). Overall, six patients underwent surgery without untoward events and six had repeat PBAV. Only two out of six patients with repeat PBAV had sustained improvement; one was referred to surgery and the remaining three died soon after the second PBAV. One- and 2-year survival were respectively 72 and 62% and percentage of survivors with persistent improvement 68 and 41%. Although aortic valve area after PBAV was associated with outcome, predictors of poor long-term prognosis were primarily related to the pre-operative haemodynamic status. Patients with pulmonary resistances greater than 400 dynes cm-1 s-5 had the poorest outcome (chi 2 = 18.4-P less than 0.0001). Overall, signs of heart failure were predictors of poor long term follow-up. These data indicate that long-term success of PBAV is mainly related to the left ventricular dysfunction noted prior to intervention.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Antiarrhythmic treatment of atrial arrhythmias.

Atrial premature beats seldom require an antiarrhythmic treatment; reassurance and suppression of coffee, alcohol, and tobacco generally suffice. Acute atrial fibrillation is best treated by electrical cardioversion if it induces acute cardiovascular decompensation. If it is not poorly tolerated, the arrhythmia may be treated with digitalis at doses sufficient to keep the ventricular response rate at 70-90/min. This therapy may restore sinus rhythm, but conversion to sinus rhythm often requires the combined use of digitalis with a beta-blocker or class I antiarrhythmic drug (quinidine, disopyramide, procainamide, propafenone, or flecainide). Digitalis must be avoided in the presence of a preexcitation, and class IA agents, which facilitate atrioventricular (AV) nodal transport, must never be used without digitalis. Chemical cardioversion may also be achieved by i.v. amiodarone. Long-term prevention of recurrences after cardioversion or in the presence of recurrent paroxysmal atrial fibrillation requires digitalis combined with a class I agent, or a beta-blocker, preferably sotalol. Amiodarone is also very efficacious. Special mention should be made of atrial fibrillations of vagal or sympathetic origin, which are best treated by amiodarone, or beta-blockade (nadolol), respectively. In the presence of chronic established atrial fibrillation, digitalis in combination with a beta-blocking agent or a calcium antagonist, such as verapamil or diltiazem, may be useful to slow the ventricular response rate. If successful control cannot be obtained, catheter ablation of the AV node with implantation of a rate-responsive pacemaker must be contemplated. The therapeutic approach in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation, whether or not associated, is similar to atrial flutter.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Identification of viable myocardium by echocardiography during dobutamine infusion in patients with myocardial infarction after thrombolytic therapy: comparison with positron emission tomography.

To assess the presence of viable myocardium salvaged by coronary artery reperfusion, 17 patients with acute anterior myocardial infarction were studied. Each received intravenous thrombolysis within the first 3 h of symptoms and underwent two-dimensional echocardiography before and during dobutamine infusion (10 micrograms/kg per min) 7 +/- 4 days after admission and positron emission tomography 9 +/- 5 days after admission. Echocardiography and positron emission tomography were again performed 9 +/- 7 months later. Six comparable segments specific for the territory of the left anterior descending artery were selected for comparison of the two techniques. Wall thickening was evaluated by using an echocardiographic score index. Segmental perfusion and glucose uptake were measured and normalized to the peak activity. A ratio of glucose uptake to perfusion was calculated for each segment. Concordant interpretation of the two techniques was found in 79% of affected segments for both acute and follow-up studies. Positron emission tomography revealed the presence of viable myocardium in 11 patients (group 1); perfusion was within normal limits in 5 of these (group 1A). Myocardial thickening improved with dobutamine infusion in these five patients, the echocardiographic score index decreasing from 12 +/- 2 at rest to 7.8 +/- 1.3 during dobutamine infusion (p = 0.003). Functional recovery was demonstrated in all five patients (follow-up score index 7.4 +/- 1.7). Six patients exhibited decreased perfusion but an abnormally high glucose to perfusion ratio (group 1B); their score index improved with dobutamine from 14.8 +/- 2.2 to 12 +/- 2.1 (p = 0.05), but late functional recovery was found in only one of the six patients (mean follow-up score index in group 1B 16 +/- 1.7). In the six remaining patients in whom no viable myocardium was detected with positron emission tomography (group 2), the echocardiographic score index did not change with dobutamine (15 +/- 0.9 to 14.7 +/- 0.8, p = NS) and there was no functional recovery (follow-up score index 15.5 +/- 1.0). Echocardiography during dobutamine infusion is a promising method to unmask viable myocardium in acute myocardial infarction. Early recovery of perfusion in the area at risk is associated with a good functional outcome, whereas a high glucose to perfusion ratio indicates jeopardized myocardium that frequently loses viability.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Exercise-induced sustained symptomatic ventricular tachycardia: incidence, clinical, angiographic and electrophysiologic characteristics.

Among 112 patients with sustained ventricular tachycardia, 15 were found to have exercise-induced symptomatic ventricular tachycardia. This population was divided into two subgroups: group 1A included five patients with coronary artery disease and group 1B consisted of 10 patients with no structural heart disease. All patients underwent clinical examination, exercise electrocardiography, left ventriculography, coronary angiography (n = 14) and electrophysiologic study. In group 1B, right ventriculography (n = 7), M mode and two-dimensional echocardiography were also obtained. Group 1A patients were compared with a population of 27 patients with coronary artery disease and chronic sustained ventricular tachycardia not related to exercise (group 2). There were no statistically significant differences between group 1A and group 2 in terms of age, sex, incidence of prior myocardial infarction, NYHA functional class, angina pectoris, symptoms during arrhythmia, severity and extent of coronary arterial lesions, ventricular dysfunction and wall motion abnormalities. In group 1B, coronary angiography and right and left ventricular function were normal. During electrophysiologic study, ventricular tachycardia was initiated in four group 1A patients. In group 1B, ventricular tachycardia was initiated in eight patients. In four of these patients ventricular pacing had to be combined with isoproterenol administration. In group 2, ventricular tachycardia was induced in 26/27 patients. From this study we conclude that in patients with coronary artery disease the electrophysiologic substrate of exercise-related sustained ventricular tachycardia does not differ from the substrate of non-exercise-related ventricular tachycardia. Re-entry is the most likely electrophysiologic mechanism. In patients without structural heart disease, the mechanism of the arrhythmia remains speculative.

Angiography↗
PubMed1990

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Communication↗
PubMed1990

Clinical efficacy of flecainide acetate in atrial fibrillation.

Seventy-seven patients with symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF) received oral flecainide acetate (247 +/- 8 mg/day). In 66 patients, previous antiarrhythmic trials consisted of 1-9 drugs. In 55 cases, AF was paroxysmal. It was persistent in 22 patients. Conversion and/or no recurrence of AF was achieved in 40 patients (52%) by flecainide alone and in 11 (14%) by the combination of flecainide and amiodarone. The mean flecainide serum level was 535 +/- 46 ng/ml. Age, presence of coronary artery disease or electrocardiographic parameters were not useful for predicting clinical response. In persistent AF, flecainide efficacy decreased with the duration of arrhythmia. Side effects concerned conduction (26%) and congestive heart failure (5%).

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Characteristics associated with early (less than or equal to 3 months) versus late (greater than 3 months to less than or equal to 3 years) mortality after acute myocardial infarction.

To define the independent variables predictive of early versus late mortality after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), 420 consecutive patients were studied and divided into 3 groups: the 45 patients who died within the initial 3 months (group 1), the 45 patients who died greater than 3 months and less than or equal to 3 years after AMI (group 2) and the 330 greater than 3-year survivors (group 3). The stepwise logistic discrimination method was applied to clinical and laboratory variables recorded during hospitalization to distinguish among the 3 groups. Six independent variables were found to be predictive of early mortality: left ventricular function score (chi-square 26.2; p less than 0.00001), ventricular fibrillation (chi-square 9.3; p = 0.002), bundle branch block (chi-square 9.0; p = 0.003), history of previous AMI (chi-square 8.7; p = 0.003), age (chi-square 5.8; p = 0.02) and atrioventricular block (chi-square 3.8; p = 0.05). Three independent variables were found predictive of late mortality: age (chi-square 13.8; p = 0.0002), anterior location of the AMI (chi-square 4.0; p = 0.04) and a low peak creatine kinase-MB level (chi-square 3.8; p = 0.05). Only 2 variables were able to distinguish between early and late nonsurvivors: peak creatine kinase-MB level (chi-square 8.7; p = 0.003) and ventricular fibrillation (chi-square 4.6; p = 0.03). Thus, the sets of independent risk factors for early and late mortality after AMI are substantially different--suggesting that differing mechanisms are responsible for outcome.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1989

Prognostic significance of a low peak serum creatine kinase level in acute myocardial infarction.

To assess the prognostic significance of a low peak creatine kinase (CK) level, 723 consecutive patients admitted with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) within 16 hours after onset of symptoms were studied. Thrombolytic therapy was not attempted during the study. Patients were dichotomized according to their peak CK levels, determined from a cluster analysis of peak CK distribution among the population of patients who died within 3 years after hospital discharge. The 139 patients with low peak CK (less than or equal to 650 IU/liter) (group 1) were compared to the 584 patients with high peak CK (greater than 650 IU/liter) (group 2). Patients in group 1 were older and had a higher incidence of previous AMI, angina pectoris before AMI and non-Q-wave AMI. Despite a lower incidence of in-hospital complications and a nonsignificantly lower hospital mortality rate (4 vs 9%) the group 1 three-year posthospital mortality rate was higher (26 vs 17%; p less than 0.02), especially in the subgroup of patients with a Q-wave infarct (mortality 31% in group 1 vs 16% in group 2; p less than 0.001). Among the 491 patients who had a first Q-wave AMI, 55 had a peak CK less than or equal to 650 IU/liter. Compared to the 436 patients with a higher peak CK, these 55 patients had a higher incidence of early postinfarction angina (31 vs 14%; p less than 0.01), a similar hospital mortality (4 vs 7%) but a higher 3-year posthospital mortality (23 vs 12%; p less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Clinical Enzyme Tests↗
PubMed1989

Prediction of mortality after myocardial infarction by simple clinical variables recorded during hospitalization.

Simple clinical variables obtainable in any coronary care unit and in any patient were recorded in 769 consecutive patients who were admitted with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and who were discharged from the hospital and followed for up to 3 years. To identify the patients at highest and lowest risk of posthospital mortality, a prognostic index was established from a stepwise logistic discriminant analysis of variables obtained in a consecutive series of 418 patients discharged alive from one of two coronary care units admitting new patients on alternate days. This prognostic index was validated by applying it to a comparison group of 351 consecutive control patients discharged from the other coronary care unit. In the training group, 59 of the 418 patients (14%) died during the first year after hospital discharge and 34 (8%) died during the second or third year. The stepwise logistic discriminant analysis made it possible to distinguish between 1-year survivors and nonsurvivors, but not between the patients who died during the second and third years and the 3-year survivors. Four variables were selected for obtaining a 1-year prognostic index: the maximum grade of left ventricular function during hospitalization (0 to 4), history of previous AMI (1 or 0), predischarge cardiothoracic ratio (0 to 0.99), and complete bundle branch block (1 or 0). Prognostic index = 7.0196-0.6515 function - 1.6623 previous AMI - 0.0729 cardiothoracic ratio - 1.0813 bundle branch block. This index was validated in the comparison group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Bundle-Branch Block↗
PubMed1989

Relative prognostic value of clinical, biochemical, echocardiographic and haemodynamic variables in predicting in-hospital and one-year cardiac mortality after acute myocardial infarction.

This study examined the relative value of clinical, biochemical, echocardiographic and haemodynamic variables, obtained early after acute myocardial infarction in predicting in-hospital and one-year cardiac mortality in 66 consecutive patients. Clinical examination and cross-section echocardiography were obtained in all 66 patients. An echocardiographic score index was calculated by grading wall motion from 0 to 5 in each of 16 left ventricular segments. Right-sided cardiac catheterization was performed soon after admission in 51 patients. Cardiac enzymes were measured every fourth hour in all patients and peak levels were identified in 55. During the follow-up of one year, 14 patients died of cardiac causes, seven of them during hospital stay; three patients died of a non-cardiac cause and were excluded from analysis. The echocardiographic score index was the best predictor of cardiac death and survival (chi 2 = 35), followed by Killip class on admission (chi 2 = 22), stroke volume index (chi 2 = 17) and a biochemical risk index (chi 2 = 11). Stepwise logistic discriminant analysis performed in the patients in whom all variables were obtained resulted in three independent prognostic variables: the echocardiographic score index, systemic vascular resistance at the time of catheterization and the development of infarct expansion. High- and low-risk patients are well identified by echocardiography in the acute phase of myocardial infarction.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1989

Mechanisms of termination of supraventricular tachycardias by intravenous class III antiarrhythmic agents. A comparison of amiodarone and sotalol.

The effects of amiodarone and sotalol were studied with programmed electrical stimulation of the heart in 19 patients with inducible tachycardia (AV nodal tachycardia: 10 cases, circus movement tachycardia: 9 cases). Amiodarone was administered intravenously at a dose of 300 mg over 2 min and sotalol at a dose of 1.5 mg kg-1 over 10 min. Both i.v. amiodarone and sotalol lengthened the transnodal conduction time, the effective refractory period of the AV node and the AV nodal Wenckebach cycle length. Only sotalol significantly lengthened the effective refractory periods of the right atrium and the right ventricle. Infused intravenously during tachycardia, amiodarone interrupted arrhythmia in five of six patients and sotalol in seven of ten cases. Tachycardia was stopped by blockade of the impulse into the AV node in three amiodarone patients and in five sotalol patients. In the remaining four cases, the weak link of the circuit was the accessory pathway. Thus i.v. sotalol exhibits electrophysiologic effects consistent with both class II and III activity, whereas the effects of i.v. amiodarone are the result of different activities throughout all areas of the cardiac tissue.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Haemodynamic alterations during ischaemia induced by dobutamine stress testing.

To identify the haemodynamic response to ischaemia induced by dobutamine stress testing, 15 patients with a first acute myocardial infarction underwent right-sided heart catheterization during dobutamine stress cross-sectional echocardiography. Haemodynamic variables and echocardiography were recorded at rest and during dobutamine infusion at each dose from 5 to a maximum of 40 micrograms kg-1 min-1. Ischaemia was diagnosed by cross-sectional echocardiography if asynergy appeared in at least two ventricular segments other than the area of acute myocardial infarction. Ischaemia was absent in six patients (group I) and identified in nine (group II). Response curves for each haemodynamic variable in the two groups were compared by applying Zerbe's method. The response curves were similar in the two groups for heart rate, arterial, right atrial, pulmonary arterial and pulmonary artery wedge pressures. The response curves were significantly different in groups I and II for thermodilution cardiac output, stroke volume and systemic vascular resistance (P less than 0.05). An increase in stroke volume was observed at low dosage of dobutamine in both groups. From low to maximum dose, stroke volume remained unchanged in group I and was significantly decreased in group II. Ischaemia induced by dobutamine stress testing leads to a decrease in stroke volume with no change in pulmonary artery wedge pressure.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Long-term prognostic significance of atrioventricular block in inferior acute myocardial infarction.

Among 477 consecutive patients admitted for inferior acute myocardial infarction (AMI), 2nd or 3rd degree atrioventricular (AV) block developed in 88 (20%). Compared with the 359 without AV block, these 88 patients presented a higher incidence of Killip class greater than 1 (52% vs 28%, P less than 0.001), pericarditis (30% vs 17%, P less than 0.01), atrial fibrillation (26% vs 11%, P less than 0.01), complete bundle branch block (12% vs 4%, P less than 0.01) and in-hospital mortality (24% vs 4%, P less than 0.001). The 3-year post-hospital mortality was not significantly different in the two groups (12% vs 15%). Among the 88 patients with AV block, those who died at hospital were older (66 +/- 11 vs 59 +/- 11 years, P less than 0.05), had a higher incidence of Killip class greater than 1 (86% vs 42%, P less than 0.001) and bundle branch block (29% vs 7%, P less than 0.05). Thus, patients with inferior AMI who developed AV block had a poor hospital outcome but long-term prognosis was similar in hospital survivors who had AV block and in those without this complication.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Clinical experience with a new activity sensing rate modulated pacemaker using autoprogrammability.

Sensolog 703 is a new single chamber activity sensing rate modulated pacemaker that offers an automatic adjustment of settings called Autoset. Units were implanted in 11 patients (mean age: 67 years) for atrioventricular block (two patients), sinoatrial block (three patients), sick sinus syndrome (four patients), chronotropic incompetence (one patient), and atrial fibrillation with slow ventricular response (one patient). The devices were programmed in VVIR mode using Autoset. The accuracy of the settings was verified by the built-in histogram function. In 6/11 patients, these settings were not satisfactory. Autoset was repeated at 6 months (nine patients) and 10 months (five patients) after implantation. External telemetric recordings during daily life activities, Holter monitoring, bicycle or treadmill stress tests helped in the evaluation of the rate response obtained with the automatic programming. The following problems were encountered: maximum pacing rate for a low level of exercise (four patients), insufficient rate increase (four patients), higher pacing rate during low than during heavy exercises (four patients). A time-consuming (15 to 48 minutes) manual programming was necessary in eight out of nine patients (6 months) and five out of five patients (10 months). In our study, Sensolog 703 algorithm tended to behave as an on/off system; automatic programming was time consuming and only indicative.

Adult↗