Cardiology Letters, 2017 (vol. 26), issue 4
Original article
Prognosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction in 3-years follow up: A comparative analysis
Cenkerová K, Dúbrava J, Pokorná V, Kalužay J, Jurkovičová O
Cardiology Letters 2017, 26(4):228-235 
Background: Data related to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) are limited, even though the prevalence is high. Compared to heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFREF), prognosis is similarly poor. Objective: The main objective of this monocentric study is to evaluate mortality and prognosis of patients with HFPEF in 3-years follow up. Methods: A total of 109 consecutive patients (HFPEF: n=63 a HFREF: n=46) hospitalized for HF in internal department were included. They were divided into two groups: HFPEF with EF > 40% and HFREF with LVEF ≤ 40%. Each patient underwent complex examination every 6 months for 3 years....
Registry CLARIFY - an overview of Slovak data after five years
Murín J, Kamenský G
Cardiology Letters 2017, 26(4):236-246 
Coronary artery disease is one of the most common and serious cardiovascular diseases in the developed countries. The analysis of current situation offers the international, prospective, observational, longitudinal registry CLARIFY (the Prospective Observational Longitudinal Registry of Patients with Stable Coronary Artery Disease) of 32 703 outpatients with proven stable coronary artery disease (CAD) from 45 countries in the world including 183 patients from Slovakia. This analysis compares 5 years data from Slovakia to the rest European data. The participating doctors were cardiologists, and internists while each of this doctors included 10 - 15...
Reflection
Flash update on MitraClip based treatment of mitral regurgitation
Ondrus T, Penicka M, Kotrc M, Vanderheyden M, Bartunek J
Cardiology Letters 2017, 26(4):223-227 
Despite the evidence of unfavourable prognosis, around half of patients with severe MR are not referred for surgery due to high per-operative risk. MitraClip (Abbott Vascular-Structural Heart, Menlo Park, California, United States) implantation is an emerging percutaneous technique with edge-to-edge MV repair inspired by the Alfieri surgery. Favourable safety profile together with improvement of functional status and decrease of MR severity in high-surgical-risk patients have been demonstrated in randomized clinical trials and ''real-world'' registries for both primary and secondary MR. Our own data confirmed its safety and efficacy comparing to minimally...
Prognostic significance of adrenomedullin, galectin-3 and soluble ST2 in heart failure
Huňavý M, Gášpár P, Gonsorčík J
Cardiology Letters 2017, 26(4):247-253 
Heart failure is the leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity, mortality and hospitalization. Clinical symptoms and echocardiographic proof of myocardial dysfunction are critical to establish diagnosis of this syndrome. Biomarkers currently used for diagnosis of heart failure based on the guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology are natriuretic peptides. During the last few years, novel prognostic biomarkers have been extensively studied. Despite their great number, only a few of them have made it into clinical practice. The aim of this review article is to describe the role of adrenomedullin, galectin-3 and soluble ST2, which as markers of...
