Cardiology Letters, 2023 (vol. 32), issue 4

Comment on 2021 ESC Guidelines on cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical practice

Pella D, Jakubová M, Vohnout B

Cardiology Letters 2023, 32(4):229-234  

Survival and causes of death in patients after heart transplantation in the Slovak Republic

Luknár M, Hladká M, Lesný P, Hulman M, Olejárová I, Goncalvesová E

Cardiology Letters 2023, 32(4):235-245  

Background: Heart transplantation (HTx) is an established therapeutic method for a highly selected group of patients with terminal heart disease, unfavourable prognosis, and exploited options of pharmacological, device or surgical treatment. Morbidity and mortality of HTx recipients is determined by a variety of factors ranging from donor and recipient characteristics, peri-operative circumstances to risks of long-term immunosupressive treatment. There is a lack of data on survival and causes of death of HTx patients in the Slovak Republic. The aim of this paper was to analyse the survival and causes of death in patients who underwent HTx in the Slovak...

Coenzyme Q10 in targeted supportive therapy of heart failure - a comprehensive review and proposal of an algorithm for clinical practice

Varga I, Böhm A

Cardiology Letters 2023, 32(4):246-261  

Heart failure (HF) progresses typically as a chronic disease with reduced quality of life and high mortality despite modern therapeutic options. One explanation is that current treatment strategies are not directly aimed at improving the bioenergetics of the failing myocardium. Therapy with some nutraceuticals (e.g. coenzyme Q10 - CoQ10) increases energy generation in the mitochondria of remaining viable cardiomyocytes. Several clinical studies and meta-analyses have confirmed the improvement of myocardial function and quality of life as well as a decrease in mortality and hospitalization for HF with the proper use of CoQ10. The quality and bioavailability...

Direct oral anticoagulants in the treatment of left ventricular thrombosis

Cingel M, Focko B, Nagy N, Péč MJ, Jurica J, Bolek T, Samoš M, Mokáň M

Cardiology Letters 2023, 32(4):262-270  

Introduction: Left ventricular thrombosis is a relatively frequent and serious complication of ischemic and non-ischemic systolic left ventricular dysfunction. Current recommendations prefer vitamin K antagonists (VKA) in the treatment of left ventricular thrombosis (LVT). However, VKA therapy is connected with several limitations and risk and therefore there is an increasing interest in the use of direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) in this indication. This article summarizes currently available data regarding the use of DOAC in the treatment of LVT. Methodology: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar databases to identify topic-relevant...

The role of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase 2 in serious cardiovascular pathologies and its clinical potential

Rajtík T

Cardiology Letters 2023, 32(4):271-280  

Cardiac pathologies such as arrhythmias, myocardial infarction or chronic heart failure are among the significant epidemiological, therapeutic and financial challenges of our time but, despite this, new pharmacotherapeutic tools for their management are still insufficient. Calcium plays a critical role in the pathophysiology of heart, as it mediates the excitationcontraction and excitation-transcriptional coupling in myocytes. Its dysregulation leads to the occurrence of many serious phenotypes of cell damage, from contractile dysfunction to cell death or pathological remodeling, and subsequently dysfunction of the heart as an organ. Despite, or precisely...

Chronic cardiorenal syndrome

Vaszilyová L

Cardiology Letters 2023, 32(4):281-291  

The coexistence of cardiac and renal diseases is becoming more common in clinical practice. Patients with current cardiac and renal impairment have significantly higher morbidity and mortality. Cardiorenal syndrome is defined as impaired heart and kidney function, where acute or chronic dysfunction of one organ can induce acute or chronic dysfunction in the other, and it is divided into five subtypes. In chronic cardiorenal syndrome, chronic heart failure leads to damage or dysfunction of the kidneys. Several mechanisms are involved in the pathophysiology of cardiorenal syndrome: increased central venous and intraabdominal pressure, decreased cardiac...