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Query: UMLS:C0018799 (heart disease)
 34,133 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In this overview of the achievements of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the major developments in each major form of heart disease since the birth of the Institute 35 years ago are reviewed. In the case of congenital heart disease, it has become possible to establish an accurate diagnosis, often by noninvasive methods, and to correct by surgical treatment almost all congenital cardiac malformations. The major challenge now is to eliminate these disorders; this will require an understanding of the fundamental molecular basis of these lesions. Acquired valvular heart disease can also now be characterized by hemodynamic, angiographic, as well as noninvasive techniques, principally echocardiography. Surgical treatment is usually successful, but improvement in the durability of valves without thromboembolic potential remains an important challenge. While essential hypertension can now be managed pharmacologically in almost every patient and while such management reduces the excess mortality resulting from this condition, current research focuses on elucidating the underlying basis of this disorder. Atherosclerosis remains the most common cause of cardiac and vascular disease. Although its cause has not been defined, several abnormalities in lipid metabolism that play an etiologic role in many patients with atherosclerosis have been identified. The treatment of these disorders with cholesterol-binding resins, which increase the number of cellular receptors for low-density lipoprotein, and with inhibitors of the enzyme required for cholesterol biosynthesis holds considerable promise. Noninvasive techniques will be used increasingly for detection of atherosclerosis in asymptomatic persons and for determining the efficacy of therapy. The mortality resulting from acute myocardial infarction has been reduced in half by the development of coronary care units and the prompt treatment of potentially fatal ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Current research is focused on preventing pump failure by limiting infarct size; lysis of coronary thrombi now appears to be the most promising method of accomplishing this. Chronic angina pectoris can be relieved by the judicious use of three classes of drugs--organic nitrates, beta-adrenergic blockers, and calcium antagonists, and two mechanical approaches--percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and coronary artery bypass grafting--are usually successful in relieving angina in patients who do not respond adequately to medical management. Whether or not any of these approaches prolong life is not yet settled.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Thirty-five years of progress in cardiovascular research. 638 25

Assessment of the predictive value of preoperative factors in the determination of operative risk in 50 patients who underwent simultaneous aortic and renovascular procedures over a 10-year period is reported. There were six operative mortalities (12%). Factors associated with increased mortal risk were azotemia (43% vs. 7%), associated complex renal or visceral procedures (31% vs. 5%), treatment of aortic aneurysm vs. occlusive disease (17% vs. 5%), positive EKG (19% vs. 4%), age over 60 years (20% vs. 4%), and a history of diffuse peripheral vascular disease (18% vs. 7%). None of these differences, by themselves, had statistical significance. Through discriminate analysis with assignment of weighted scores to the five most powerful predictors of operative death (complex procedure--4, azotemia--4, aortic aneurysm repair--3, positive electrocardiogram--2, history of diffuse vascular disease--2), a weighted score of greater than or equal to 10 predicted operative death with an 83% sensitivity and 93% specificity (p = 0.003). Although advanced age, diabetes, severity of hypertension, and history of heart disease were associated with increased operative risk, they contributed minimal discriminate value to that provided by the preceding five variables. This was because these weaker risk factors were usually found in association with the predictors in the discriminant score. This study suggests that in patients with high weighted discriminant scores (greater than or equal to 10), consideration of operative risk is particularly important in evaluation of the proposed value of combined procedures.
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PMID:Aortic and renal vascular disease. Factors affecting the value of combined procedures. 646 84

In 19 children with acute infantile hemiplegia an ischemic cerebral infarct was found clinically and by serial computertomography. In 11 patients an angiography has been performed in addition. 9 of the children had chronic diseases which are known as predisposing factors for cerebrovascular disease (congenital heart disease in 7 and chronic renal failure with hypertension in 2). One child had a severe hypernatremic dehydration due to infantile diarrhea and in 1 child thrombosis of the internal carotid artery occurred 3 days after a perforating trauma of the soft palate. No obvious reason for the ischemic stroke could be evaluated in 8 children. The onset of symptoms was either acute or slowly progressive. An altered state of consciousness was present in 11 children. Hemiparesis was found in 18 patients (13 right, 5 left) accompanied by facial palsy in 12 and aphasia in 6. Seizures occurred in 6 patients. One patient with incomplete occlusion of a vertebral artery showed acute cerebellar ataxia. In children without predisposing factors the prevalence of girls was higher (2 : 6) and there was a history of a preceding acute febrile illness in 5 of 8 patients. Laboratory investigations showed polycythemia in 4 children with cyanotic heart disease and additional hypochromia in two. Blood sedimentation rate was increased in 6 out of 8 patients without a known predisposing factor. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) showed a slight increase of erythrocytes (36-88/cmm) in 4 children, in two others purulent CSF was obtained after the infarct had developed into a brain abscess. The etiology of ischemic stroke in childhood and the possibility of an inflammatory vascular disease are discussed.
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PMID:Acute infantile hemiplegia caused by cerebral ischemic infarction. Etiology, clinical features and investigations. 647 69

Pulmonary vascular structure was studied by analysing serial reconstructions of the arterial pathways and random sections of tissue in the lungs of 16 children who died with different types of congenital heart disease and pulmonary hypertension. Cases of ventricular septal defect showed an appreciable increase in muscularity of both preacinar and intra-acinar (respiratory unit) arteries, and intimal proliferation was infrequent and mild. By contrast, cases of transposition of the great arteries with ventricular septal defect and atrioventricular septal defect showed an increase in preacinar muscularity, a short heavily muscularised arterial segment containing intimal proliferation at the entrance to the acinus, whereas the intra-acinar arteries beyond showed only a moderate increase in muscularity. In these children who were less than 1 year of age an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance was due to strategically placed small areas of intimal proliferation and not to widespread obliterative pulmonary vascular disease. The study demonstrated and explained differences in the appearance of the peripheral pulmonary arteries in different types of congenital heart disease, which help interpret the findings of lung biopsies.
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PMID:Pulmonary vascular disease in different types of congenital heart disease. Implications for interpretation of lung biopsy findings in early childhood. 649 33

Basic methods for the examination including echocardiography are described. Indications for cardiac catheterization, angiography, and a description of the risk of these invasive methods are given. Cardiac catheterisation is necessary as early as possible in all cyanotic infants who are suspected to have heart defects - even in newborns. In transposition of the great arteries the hemodynamics can be improved by balloon septostomy during the first days of life. After septostomy the children can be operated upon during the second half of the first year of life. Non-cyanotic infants with an uncertain diagnosis or recurrent or medically not treatable heart failure have to be examined to clarify the need for an operation. Generally, early operative correction during the first year of life is the best, even more so with unsuccessful - medical treatment. This is valid especially for children with ventricular septal defects, although up to 60% of them tend to close spontaneously. Early correction almost always prevents obstructive pulmonary vascular disease. In contrast in aortic stenosis, cases for operative treatment should be carefully selected. Only critical stenoses have to be operated on very early. To choose the right time for operation and thereby save the childrens life it is necessary to be sure of an intensive and continuous follow-up by a pediatric cardiologist in all children with congenital heart disease.
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PMID:[Recent viewpoints on the examination and therapy of infants and children with congenital cardiovascular defects]. 670 May 98

In 28 patients with congenital heart disease with a shunt and pulmonary hypertension, lung biopsy specimens were taken during a banding procedure of the pulmonary artery; then, in the same patients, lung tissue became available during correction of the cardiac defect some years later. In this way the regression of pulmonary vascular changes could be studied. Medial hypertrophy appeared to have a prominent tendency to regression. With intimal lesions, regression depended to a large extent on the type of lesion. Intimal thickening based on longitudinal smooth muscle tissue was almost completely reversible. Post-thrombotic intimal fibrosis was also potentially reversible. In plexogenic pulmonary arteriopathy, the earlier lesions, particularly cellular intimal proliferation, showed regression. Concentric-laminar intimal fibrosis regressed as long as it was mild, that is, occluding less than one fifth of the average arterial lumen. If more severe, there was no tendency to regression and often it even progressed. Changes like fibrinoid necrosis and plexiform lesions are ominous because of their tendency to progression. Since preoperative open lung biopsies now are often undertaken for evaluation of hypertensive pulmonary vascular disease, when corrective operability is dubious, these findings may serve as a guide in reporting on such biopsy specimens.
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PMID:Reversibility of plexogenic pulmonary arteriopathy following banding of the pulmonary artery. 672 10

Patients suffering a central retinal vein occlusion should be evaluated for conditions that promote and/or contribute to the formation of a thrombosis in the central retinal vein. These conditions include alterations of blood flow, altered viscosity of the blood, abnormalities of coagulation, and abnormalities of vessel walls. Patients with either a partial or complete central retinal vein occlusion have similarities in the age of onset, associated systemic findings, and laboratory data. At the time of onset, 90% of patients are older than 50 years. Seventy-four percent of patients will have symptoms or signs of associated systemic vascular disease (ie, hypertension, arteriosclerotic heart disease, and diabetes mellitus.) The most common laboratory findings include elevated blood lipids, abnormalities of glucose tolerance testing, and abnormalities of protein chemistries. Evaluation should include both a complete ocular and medical examination with appropriate laboratory tests and special studies. Assessment of central retinal venous pressure may be helpful in identifying those patients who have a severe, complete thrombosis and are at significant risk to develop anterior segment neovascularization.
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PMID:Evaluation of a patient with central retinal vein occlusion. 687 80

The fact that a significant proportion of diabetics die of heart disease has led to the belief that the excess mortality is due to coronary athersclerosis, yet many risk factors for the latter are common to diabetics and non-diabetics. In fact, heart disease in diabetes is not synonymous with coronary heart disease. There is evidence that heart disease in diabetes includes a variable combination of coronary atheroma, cardiomyopathy, micro-angiopathy and autonomioc neuropathy.
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PMID:Diabetic heart disease. 699 26

A retrospective follow-up study of 243 patients with transient ischemic attacks (TIA) is reported. The long-term mortality of the patients was higher than that of the corresponding general population. It is demonstrated that the excess mortality over the whole period of observation, irrespective of the age and sex of the patients, can be characterized by a single figure expressing the slope of the curve obtained by semilogarithmic plotting of the ratios of observed to expected survival against time. The use of this numerical expression--in the present series -0.04--will thus facilitate comparisons of the survival of TIA patients drawn from different populations. Unfavourable prognostic factors were: carotid TIA, associated extracerebral disease, and a history of hypertension. Fatal strokes, being four times as frequent as expected according to published incidence figures, accounted for 20% of the deaths, heart disease 38%. Stroke deaths tended to occur earlier than cardiac deaths. The results support the concept that most TIAs, like strokes, are incidents in the progressive course of a generalized vascular disease. The finding of a constant excess mortality over the years following a TIA makes it difficult to recommend a discontinuation of prophylactic therapy at any particular time.
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PMID:Long-term prognosis after transient ischemic attacks. 721 Nov 82

Open lung biopsy specimens in 72 patients were submitted for evaluation of pulmonary vascular disease. In nine instances, the specimens were inadequate for this purpose. Essentially, there were three indications for taking a lung biopsy specimen. The first was unexplained pulmonary hypertension with 40 patients in this category; plexogenic pulmonary arteriopathy was diagnosed in 14, and chronic pulmonary thromboembolism in 12. Others included pulmonary venoocclusive disease in two patients; two other patients had pulmonary vascular lesions in their lung biopsy specimens, indicative of chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension; and ten patients had severe arterial as well as venous alterations that could have been caused by obstruction to pulmonary venous flow as well as by fibrosis of lung tissue. Since we realized this possible source of error, we have submitted these two alternative possibilities to the clinician. In a heterogeneous group of eight patients, the nature of acquired or congenital heart disease remained doubtful in spite of extensive clinical investigation. In several instances, the biopsy specimen contributed to establishing the diagnosis of the cardiac condition. Finally, in a group of 15 patients with known congenital cardiac disease and pulmonary hypertension, whose state of pulmonary vasculature was considered borderline as far as the possibility of corrective surgery of the cardiac defect was concerned, lung biopsy specimens helped to determine the feasibility of surgery. The results show that in a restricted group of patients with pulmonary vascular disease, a biopsy of the lung has a place in establishing the nature and severity of the vascular alterations.
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PMID:Lung biopsy specimens in the evaluation of pulmonary vascular disease. 736 79


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