Cardiology Letters, 2024 (vol. 33), issue 6

Editorial

Comment on 2023 ESC Guidelines for the management of endocarditis

Marek Orban, Martin Chudý, Marcela Tavačová

Cardiology Letters 2024, 33(6):353-358

Review

Left ventricular global longitudinal strain in the evaluation of left ventricular heart failure and ischaemic heart disease in modern echocardiography

Yashar Jalali, Jan Stevlik, Gabriel Kamensky, Monika Jalali, Juraj Payer

Cardiology Letters 2024, 33(6):359-370

Since its introduction into echocardiology around 20 years ago, speckle tracking (ST) has developed significantly, finding its place in daily clinical practice. Many applications have been tested and proposed for different modalities of ST. Longitudinal strain (LS) and, specifically, global longitudinal strain (GLS) have become the most utilised and studied modalities of ST. Due to their diagnostic/treatment complexities, heart failure (HF) and ischaemic heart disease (IHD) have become an important domain for the development of GLS. In recent years, many clinical studies, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews have tried to define the clinical applications...

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists: a new pharmacological treatment for chronic heart failure with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction

Norbert Nagy, Martin Jozef Péč, Jakub Jurica, Zuzana Miertová, Boris Focko, Tomáš Bolek, Matej Samoš, Marián Mokáň

Cardiology Letters 2024, 33(6):371-377

Introduction: Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a clinical subset defined by challenging diagnostics, diverse phenotypes, and complex treatment. It accounts for more than half of all hospitalizations due to decompensated heart failure. Current guidelines for HFpEF treatment recommend the use of SGLT2 (sodium glucose co-transporter 2) inhibitors. However, HFpEF is often associated with obesity, and the arrival of new medications in the field of obesity management opens up additional treatment options. Methods: We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar databases to identify topic-relevant literature on patients...

Case report

Rare case presentation of thoracic aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection in adolescent

Lucia Bobik, Peter Tittel, Marek Kardos, Erika Drangova, Michal Hulman, Vladimir Sojak, Fadi Sabateen, Kristina Kasicova, Peter Olejnik, Martin Zahorec, Gabriela Hrckova, Olivia Hamidova

Cardiology Letters 2024, 33(6):378-383

Introduction: Familial thoracic aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection (f/TAAD) is a genetic disease defined by disturbance in encoding the major proteins in the smooth muscle cells (SMC) contractile filaments of alpha-actin ACTA2 and myosin heavy chain MYH11, in an autosomal dominant pattern. MYH11 gene mutation is a rare cause of f/TAAD and is identified primarily in families with non-syndromic TAAD, inherited in association with patents ductus arteriosus (PDA). Case report: We present a 17-year-old girl with TAAD of ascending aorta and MYH11 gene mutation, confirmed respectively. At the first year of age, the patient underwent PDA interventional...