Cardiology Letters, 2017 (vol. 26), issue 5
Original article
Demographic and clinical characteristics in patients hospitalised with heart failure in Slovakia. SLOVASeZ II registry.
Gonçalvesová E, Danková M, Lesný P, Varga I, Luknár M, Šimovičová V, Kováčová M
Cardiology Letters 2017, 26(5):269-275 
Introduction: The data collection and subsequent analysis on patients with acute heart failure in the Slovak Republic is provided to the SLOVASeZ registry. Objective: Analysis of characteristics in a non-selected population of patients hospitalised with acute heart failure (AHF). Methodology: We conducted multicenter prospective survey with 592 consecutive patients enrolled in 14 hospitals throughout in Slovakia. Data (120 characteristics in 10 categories) were collected electronically during 3 months (between April 1, 2014 and June 30, 2014) and statistically analysed. Results: Mean age was 73±11.5 years with gender distribution (men/women)...
Mortality of patients with acute pulmonary embolism
Adamcová M, Koller T, Petrovič T, Payer J
Cardiology Letters 2017, 26(5):276-281
Aim: Acute pulmonary embolism is a relatively common and potentially fatal disease. The authors aim to examine 30-day mortality of patients with the suspicion of pulmonary embolism. Patients and methods: 286 patients admitted to hospital with dyspnea were accepted in the study. Apart from 30-day mortality the authors observed the correlations of some laboratory parameters commonly tested in a patient presenting with dyspnea (i.e. CRP, D-dimer, Troponin T, NTproBNP) with the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism and with 30-day mortality in the subgroup with approved pulmonary embolism, or in the subgroup without pulmonary embolism. Results: In the observed...
Review
The mystery of HDL
Kaško M, Kaško V
Cardiology Letters 2017, 26(5):282-287
Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the adult population. Atherosclerosis is widely considered to be the most important cause induced by risk factors, from which dyslipidemia is considered as the most complex factor. Coronary heart disease is the most widespread and most serious clinical manifestation of systemic atherosclerosis. The main pillar of the diagnostics and treatment of clinical manifestations of atherosclerosis is the examination of the lipid spectrum. In clinical practice, the effects of the HDL class are measured only by determining the concentration of HDL cholesterol. It is questionable whether...
Prolongation of the QTc interval induced by systemic tumor therapy
Setteyová L, Mladosievičová B
Cardiology Letters 2017, 26(5):288-294
Cancer patients are at an increased risk of QTc interval prolongation with predisposition to ventricular tachyarrhythmias torsade de pointes due to the multiple drugs used for treatment of malignancies and many risk factors. The unexpected ability to prolong QTc interval is associated with arsenic trioxide and a growing number of kinase inhibitors. In addition, a variety of oncological and non-oncological medications can lead to QTc prolongation. Conditions such as electrolyte abnormalities, nutritional disturbances, hypothyreosis, cardiac, renal, hepatal damage and other factors can prolong QTc interval in cancer patients. Despite the unclear association...
Preeclampsia and cardiovascular diseases - the consequence and cause
Záhumenský J
Cardiology Letters 2017, 26(5):295-298
The author brings a review of new knowledge about the patomechanism of preeclampsia and its consequences on the womens cardiovascular system. There si evidence, that preeclampsia is not a only disease of trophoblast, with subsequent activation of the mother's endothelium, but the maternal organism itself and its enzymatic equipment play an important role here. Women with severe early preeclampsia are at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease in the future, which should be considered when creating preventive programs.
MicroRNA - Information about myocardial damage or biomarker of heart failure?
Valášková Z, Mladosievičová B, Maruščáková L, Hulín I
Cardiology Letters 2017, 26(5):299-302
Heart failure (HF) is a complex syndrome. An adapative process for the maintenance of cardiac output is associated with the cardiomyocytes hypertrophy, cardiomyocytes apoptosis and myocardial fibrosis. The main problem is the decrease of contractile function and the cardiac remodeling. The high heterogeneity of risk factors is probably the cause of that, at this time, it is not possible to clinically exactly define the signalization profile of the failing heart. It is not clear which changes are the cause and which are the consequence of HF. The subcellular changes raised mainly in the progression of HF. Molecular and cellular mechanisms are accompanied...