Cardiology Letters, 2012 (vol. 21), issue 2
Original article
Thromboembolic risk profile in patients with atrial fibrillation in internal and cardiologic outpatient clinics in Slovakia: Data from REgistry of AtriaL FIBrillation in real life practice (REALFIB*)
Hatala R, Hlivák P, Urban L, Chroust K
Cardiology Letters 2012, 21(2):98-110 
The REALFIB registry is a cross-sectional multicenter study of the management of atrial fibrillation (AF) in real-life clinical practice in outpatient internal and cardiologic clinics in Slovakia. Aim: The main aim of this analysis of the registry entry data was to map therapeutic approaches used in outpatient practice in the prevention of thromboembolic (TE) complications, in particular stroke. At the same time the aim was to obtain basic data on demographics and clinical profile of patients with all forms of AF in Slovakia. Patients and methods: One thousand thirty two patients with AF managed on an outpatient basis by 51 internists and cardiologists...
Quality of oral anticoagulation therapy with warfarin in the outpatient clinical practice in Slovakia in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation
Hatala R, Urban L, Hlivák P, Smolková K, Spitzerová H
Cardiology Letters 2012, 21(2):113-123
Background: Correct management of oral anticoagulation therapy with warfarin is crucial for effective prevention of stroke and systemic thromboembolism in higher risk patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. Warfarin therapy is effective and safe only under the condition that the achieved anticoagulation level is within the optimal therapeutic range with INR values 2-3. Warfarin is widely used drug for the prevention of thromboembolism of atrial fibrillation in clinical practice in Slovakia, however, there are no systematic data on the quality of anticoagulation management in these patients. Objective: The aim of this retrospective multicentre...
Clinical study
The application of fluorescence analysis in early acute corovary syndrome diagnostics
Bohó A, Tomečková V, Sedláková E
Cardiology Letters 2012, 21(2):124-130
Blood serum is considered to be a dynamic, under physiological conditions relatively constant, biomaterial which contains natural substances characterized by fluorescence capability. These endogenous fluorescent markers are regarded as a source of valuable information about physiological and also pathological processes, and research into them opens new opportunities of early acute coronary syndrome (ACS) diagnostics with the use of minimum sample amount. At the present time there is a constant effort to discover new, quick and available markers or diagnostic methods in the pursuit of improvement and acceleration of the cardiovascular diseases diagnostic...