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

Moderate drinking for the elderly of both genders is no more than one drink per day, where a drink is defined as 12 oz of beer, 5 oz of wine, or 1.5 oz of spirits. Age does not affect the rate of absorption or elimination of alcohol. Lean body mass decreases and adipose tissue increases with age, however, resulting in a corresponding decrease in the volume of total body water. With a smaller volume of distribution, an alcohol dose identical to that administered to a younger individual of the same size and gender will produce a higher blood alcohol concentration in the elderly. Low-dose alcohol stimulates appetite and promoters regular bowel function. In the well-nourished nonalcoholic elderly, the negative impact of alcohol consumption on nutrition is minimal. Alcohol consumption improves mood by increasing feelings of happiness and freedom from care while lessening inhibitions, stress, tension, and depression. Although in the laboratory low-dose alcohol improves certain types of cognitive function in young men, in other types of task performance, alcohol induces impairment, which worsens with age. The effects of alcohol on sleep are primarily detrimental, worsening both insomnia and breathing disturbances during sleep. Although the role of alcohol consumption in mortality from heart disease has not been investigated in the elderly, moderate drinking appears safe. Under some circumstances low-dose alcohol may produce analgesia whereas in others it may worsen pain. The elderly use a significant proportion of both prescription and over-the-counter medication, a large variety of which interact with alcohol. Alcoholic beverage consumption may exacerbate cognitive impairment and dementias of other etiology. Although some studies suggest that moderate use of alcohol by institutionalized senior citizens appears to produce benefits including improved socialization, separation of the effects of the social situation from those specifically attributable to alcohol remains to be accomplished. Older individuals who want to drink, have no medical contraindications, and take no drugs (prescription or over-the-counter) that interact with alcohol, may consider one drink a day to be a prudent level of alcohol consumption. Patients should be counseled to avoid alcohol consumption immediately prior to going to bed in order to avoid sleep disturbances. They also should be cautioned against potential drug-alcohol interactions and told to avoid alcohol ingestion prior to activities such as driving. The decision to recommend a particular level of alcohol consumption in any given patient must, however, be carefully tailored not only to that individual's specific medical needs but to his or her social and environmental circumstances as well.
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PMID:Alcohol and the elderly. 157 71

Evaluation of therapy for noncardiac chest pain calls for a systematic analysis of all relevant factors. Central chest pain is often experienced as a threat to life. Fear and anxiety concerning heart disease or cancer can increase pain and hamper therapy. The relief of pain can result from factors other than the actual treatment employed (i.e., placebo effects, relief of anxiety, spontaneous improvement, changes in life-style not related to treatment, or other, concomitant therapies prescribed). Therapeutic failure may be explained by diagnostic error, incorrect treatment, insufficient duration of therapy, incorrect dosage regimen, individual response to pharmacologic agents, poor drug absorption, drug interactions, poor compliance, poor surgical technique, and, finally, lack of effective therapeutic options. The rational evaluation of therapy for noncardiac chest pain is also hampered by its multifactorial etiology and the difficulty of selecting study patients with identical pain etiology. Controversies in the treatment of noncardiac chest pain reflect the uncertainty regarding pathophysiology. A primary issue is whether to treat patients medically with life-style modifications and pharmacologic agents, or surgically. A variety of pharmacologic agents and surgical techniques have been used to treat noncardiac chest pain. Treatment includes psychosocial considerations in addition to medical or surgical therapy. The most important role for the physician of a patient with noncardiac chest pain is to listen well, to be confirming and understanding, and to treat the patient not just as an apparatus that needs repair but as a socially integrated human being.
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PMID:Issues in the treatment of noncardiac chest pain. 159 71

A combination of fear and declining compensation may induce cardiovascular accidents in the elderly with heart disease. An accurate cardiac diagnosis and relief of stress and pain during tooth extraction are important. The range of cardiac abnormalities and the regime followed in two clinics in the People's Republic of China are reviewed, together with the precautions which are taken to avoid emergencies or manage them should they arise.
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PMID:Tooth extraction in patients with heart disease. 167 1

1. The cardiovascular effects of the proprietary cold remedies, Mu-cron and Boots Cold Relief tablets were compared with 'placebo' Boots Pain Relief tablets in a double-blind study involving 16 healthy volunteers. Measurements (impedance cardiography, forearm plethysmography) were made over 4 h after oral drug administration. 2. Two Mu-cron tablets (containing phenylpropanolamine [(1R,2S)- plus (1S,2R)-norephedrine] 50 mg) increased blood pressure (maximal effect 18 +/- 1/8 +/- 1 mm Hg (mean +/- s.e. mean), P less than 0.001), stroke volume (4.9 +/- 0.8 ml m-2, P less than 0.05), total peripheral resistance (243 +/- 27 dyn s cm-5 m2, P less than 0.001) and forearm vascular resistance (1.3 +/- 0.3 mm Hg ml-1 min, P less than 0.01) and reduced the ratio of pre-ejection period to ventricular ejection time (-0.031 +/- 0.003, P less than 0.05) and forearm blood flow (-2.6 +/- 0.5 ml min-1, P less than 0.05) but did not affect heart rate or cardiac index. 3. Two Boots Cold Relief tablets (containing phenylephrine 10 mg and caffeine 60 mg) caused a small and short-lived increase in total peripheral resistance but did not have consistent effects on other measurements. Two Boots Pain Relief tablets (containing caffeine 60 mg) did not have important cardiovascular effects. 4. The cardiovascular effects of phenylpropanolamine, including vasoconstriction and an increase in cardiac performance, are consistent with its alpha- and beta 1-adrenoceptor agonist action. While it may help the symptoms of rhinitis, its use in patients with heart disease or hypertension is hazardous.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:A comparison of the cardiovascular effects of phenylpropanolamine and phenylephrine containing proprietary cold remedies. 172 92

"Corkscrew oesophagus" is characterised on the basis of two case reports and attention is drawn to thoracic pain of oesophageal origin. Corkscrew oesophagus is a radiological diagnosis and is characterised by twisted segments in the distal third of the oesophagus. The condition can sometimes be demonstrated endoscopically and it is due to a basic disturbance in the motility of the oesophagus. Painful conditions in the oesophagus are most frequently caused by gastro-oesophageal reflux or disturbances in motility and the latter is frequently complicated by reflux oesophagitis. Pain of oesophageal origin is frequently a diagnosis by exclusion and requires exclusion of ischaemic heart disease. The initial treatment should be directed to the reflux oesophagitis. The diagnosis and information about the origin of the pain and the benign course of the condition will calm the majority of the patients and remove their fear of a possible fatal heart disease.
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PMID:[Corkscrew esophagus]. 173 62

Endovascular infections that involve the right side of the heart present their own unique etiologies, pathophysiologies, clinical manifestations, and therapeutic issues. The pathology of the vegetations of right-sided endocarditis is identical to that of left-sided endocarditis. These vegetations are irregular, friable masses of varying size the contain platelets, fibrin, RBCs, and microorganisms. These lesions serve as a nidus for deep-seated infection and produce sustained bacteremia. Right-sided endocarditis occurs in 5% to 10% of all cases of endocarditis. The most common predisposing factors are IV drug abuse and congenital heart disease. S. aureus is the most common pathogen. The clinical manifestations include fever, chills, rigor, dyspnea, pleuritic pain, productive cough, and hemoptysis. The cardiac manifestations can be notably absent early in the course of the disease, with only 20% of patients initially showing a significant murmur on physical examination. Peripheral embolic lesions can be seen. Echocardiography is helpful in identifying vegetations on the tricuspid valve in a significant proportion of patients. The chest radiograph is characteristic, showing features typical of multiple septic pulmonary emboli. The radiograph shows multiple, small, fuzzy, patchy, peripherally located densities that can change rapidly on serial films. Complications of right-sided endocarditis include pulmonary infarction, pulmonary abscess, progressive right-sided heart failure, and renal abnormalities. The treatment of right-sided endocarditis includes prolonged therapy, with high doses of IV bactericidal antibiotics. Four weeks of antibiotic therapy is generally required, but newer regimens using combination antibiotic therapy can be successful in sensitive strains of viridans group streptococci and S. aureus. Surgical resection of the tricuspid valve is recommended for organisms that do not respond to initial antibiotic therapy, fungal endocarditis, resistant relapsing organisms, or coexistent infection with S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. The prognosis of right-sided endocarditis is generally favorable when compared with left-sided endocarditis. The prognosis is especially favorable in IV drug abusers infected with S. aureus. Patients infected with fungal organisms, Pseudomonas or Serratia, have a worse prognosis. The presence of significant right-sided heart failure also imparts a worse prognosis.
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PMID:Endovascular infections arising from right-sided heart structures. 173 55

We studied the effects of intra-arterial chemotherapy (IAC) with a new nitrosourea (hydroxyethyl-chloroethyl nitrosourea: HeCNU) on the visual system of 68 patients with malignant gliomas. The intra-arterial chemotherapy was given as a complementary treatment of glioma after surgery (19 patients), after tumor recurrence (28 patients) and as the preliminary treatment before radiotherapy (21 patients). Eleven patients (16%) suffered a visual complication after two or more courses of chemotherapy. The main visual symptoms included mild to major decrease of visual acuity and in some cases ocular pain, palpebral edema and conjunctival injection. The delay in onset of ocular symptoms from the last course of IAC varied from 1 week to 9 months. From ophthalmoscopic findings, visual field testing and fluorescein angiography, the visual symptoms presented by our patients could be related to ischemic optic neuropathy or retinal vasculopathy. None of the patients had hypertension, diabetes, cardiopathy or hematological disease. Statistical analysis failed to demonstrate a relationship between the occurrence of visual toxicity and patient age, number of courses of HeCNU, the vascular axis treated, total systemic dose or dose by carotid artery, suggesting a possible specific sensitivity of some patients to chemotherapy. The pathophysiology and the therapeutic implications of this visual toxicity are discussed.
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PMID:Visual toxicity following intra-arterial chemotherapy with hydroxyethyl-CNU in patients with malignant gliomas. A prospective study with statistical analysis. 174 75

Beat-to-beat fluctuations of the spatial QRS-T angle, which are reported to be greater in patients with ischemic heart disease than in healthy subjects, are thought to be a helpful factor in diagnosing ischemic heart disease. In this study, we assessed the usefulness of the standard deviation of the spatial QRS-T angle per beat as an index of magnitude of the fluctuations. The subjects consisted of 27 patients with effort angina, 14 with vasospastic angina, 18 with the "chest pain syndrome" and 36 normal controls. The standard deviations of the spatial QRS-T angle were obtained for 10 consecutive stable beats at rest using Frank's orthogonal X, Y, Z scalar electrocardiogram. The results were compared with those of coronary angiography and exercise tolerance tests. Treadmill exercise tests were performed in all patients using Bruce's protocol to observe decreased ST levels and delta ST/HR indices. QRS-T angle deviation values were 8.10 +/- 8.64 degrees (mean +/- SD) in the effort angina group, 3.63 +/- 1.26 degrees in the vasospastic angina group, 4.13 +/- 1.70 degrees in the "chest pain syndrome" group, and 2.35 +/- 0.85 degrees in the normal control group; the groups of patients with heart disease showed significantly higher values (all p < 0.01) than did the control group. The effort angina group showed a significantly higher value than did the vasospastic angina group and the "chest pain syndrome" group (all p < 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[Ischemic heart disease detected by the standard deviation of the spatial QRS-T angle and by treadmill exercise test]. 184 6

Bacterial endocarditis (BE) is a disease difficult to diagnose and with poor prognosis in older people. A total of 76 episodes of this disease occurring in 73 patients were studied with particular attention to clinical manifestation, underlying heart disease, etiological germs, hospitalary mortality and prognosis within 6 months from diagnosis. All patients were 60 years old or older. Mean age was 72 +/- 7 years and male/female relation 1.7/1 Fever and heart murmur were present in 93% and 89% of patients, respectively; 33% of patients complained of vertebral or paravertebral pain which can be an early symptom of this disease. BE was suspected in 47% of patients at admission. Hospitalary mortality was 33% and increased to 47% within 6 months. The mean age of survivors was 71.7 +/- 7 years, versus 73.9 +/- 6 in the deceased (p = 0.08). Lack of suspicion of BE at admission was related with increased mortality (p = 0.04). The germ more frequently isolated was Streptococcus (73%). 53% of patients had some underlying heart disease. Aortic valve was involved in 50% and mitral valve in 21% of the cases. Of all the patients that in retrospect would have had indication of surgery (n = 25) 9 patients were operated, 6 during the first admission with a mortality of 17%. In those patients who were not operated, the mortality was 100% (16/16), making this difference statistically significant, p less than 0.001.
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PMID:[Bacterial endocarditis in patients over 60 years of age]. 192 90

Nineteen patients from a cardiology practice with complaints of chest pain and with mitral valve prolapse syndrome were compared with 26 patients with chest pain but no discernible cardiac disorder. Instruments included a truncated form of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule, the symptom checklist 90 revised (SCL-90-R), the McGill Pain Questionnaire, and life events, physical activity, and family history questionnaires. Neither panic disorder nor self-rated anxiety were more common in the mitral valve prolapse group. This study failed to confirm the reported high association between mitral valve prolapse syndrome and panic disorder.
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PMID:The prevalence of anxiety disorders among patients with mitral valve prolapse syndrome and chest pain. 196 52


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