Cardiology Letters, 2015 (vol. 24), issue 3

Comments on the 2014 ESC Guidelines on the diagnosis and management of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Hatala R, Hlivák P

Cardiology Letters 2015, 24(3):137-140  

The nurse and nursing in ischemic heart disease secondary prevention

Horanská V, Lizáková Ľ, Kalinin P, Mašterová V

Cardiology Letters 2015, 24(3):150-155  

The aim was to highlight the possibilities as to how nurses may help in the secondary prevention of ischemic heart disease. In analysis of the results we found that in respondents from the group modifiable risk factors were reported in the following order: arterial hypertension, stress, dyslipidemia, obesity, poor diet, smoking, diabetes, physical inactivity. The information that respondents received from IHD nurses was considered sufficient. The low level of knowledge on self-reported diseases may be due to a lack of health awareness, which in turn also affects their attitude to the elimination of risk factors for IHD. Respondents presented sufficient...

Thoracic aortic aneurysm: clinical, surgical and anesthetic consideration

Silvay G

Cardiology Letters 2015, 24(3):156-159  

Surgical repair of thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) is a complex procedure that poses many surgical, anesthetic and perioperative challenges. Its complexity resides not only in challenging surgical aspects such as the need for interrupting the cerebral perfusion, but also the requirement for meticulous monitoring strategy during the perioperative period. Aneurysms are usually defined as a localized dilation of an arterial lumen greater than 50% of its normal diameter. The majority of the patients with TAA are asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis. TAA are usually found incidentally after chest X-ray or other imaging studies. Most patients are hypertensive...

What is a structural myocardial remodeling?

Murín J, Pernický M, Klabník A, Kyčina P, Bulas J, Kiňová S

Cardiology Letters 2015, 24(3):160-165  

Structural myocardial remodeling is an important concept in understanding chronic heart failure disease. Its recognition leads to important treatments of heart failure, mainly to blocking of the activation of neurohormonal systems in these patients. The authors try to summarize known experience about structural remodeling, focusing mainly on cardiovascular inflammation, on collagen matrix alteration and on cardiomyocyte damage during the progression of heart failure. They also try to look for possible treatments. Fig. 2, Lit. 54, Online full text (Free, PDF) www. cardiology.sk

2014 ESC Guidelines on diagnosis and management of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

The Task Force for the Diagnosis and Management of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)

Cardiology Letters 2015, 24(3):166-207  

Functional and structural pattern of conduit arteries in two models of experimental hypertension

Drobná M, Kristek F, Török J

Cardiology Letters 2015, 24(3):141-149  

Aim: The aim of the study was to compare reactivity and structural alterations in thoracic aorta and carotid artery in two different animal models of hypertension NO-deficient and spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHR). Methods: Three groups of animals were used: 1) control normotensive Wistar rats, 2) NO-deficient rats (Wistar rats treated for 6 weeks with NO-synthase inhibitor, NG-nitro-L-arginíne methylester - L-NAME), and 3) SHR. The experiment lasted from the 10th to the 16th week of the animals´ age. At the end of the experiment functional and morphological investigations were performed. For functional study isolated rings from thoracic aorta and...