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Query: UMLS:C0018801 (heart failure)
 72,216 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A 77-year-old man was referred to hospital because of dyspnea on exertion. Although the patient had been fully medicated for chronic heart failure (CHF) caused by hypertensive heart disease, the echo-estimated left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level had continued to be high for at least 2 years. Pulmonary functional examination revealed concomitant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Because beta-agonists were expected to exacerbate the CHF, inhalation of tiotropium, a non-beta-adrenergic bronchodilator and novel M3 muscarinic receptor antagonist, was used to treat the COPD. Not only did the pulmonary function improved but the treatment also safely ameliorated CHF signs including LVEDP and plasma BNP.
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PMID:Tiotropium, a novel muscarinic M3 receptor antagonist, improved symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated by chronic heart failure. 1747 91

The increased incidence of obesity in the world has resulted in more and more people attempting to lose weight through a variety of diets. Many of these diets employ caloric reduction through the elimination of certain food groups. These diets may initially be associated with weight loss (including water weight) but follow up reports of these diets show high drop out rates, proinflammatory changes which can precipitate heart disease and weight gain following cessation of these diets. Efforts to use prescription anorexic medications have been associated with valvular disease and other health concerns. Dissatisfaction with the medical community and a subsequent increase in the availability of information on the Internet, are only two of the reasons why people are looking at alternative medicine to assist with health care issues. This includes the use of herbal supplements for appetite suppression. A review of the literature reveals several problems with some of these supplements, including Ephedra. Potentially serious adverse effects include dysrhythmias, heart failure, myocardial infarction, changes in blood pressure, and death have occurred. Unfortunately, one half of all patients experiencing a myocardial infarction have total cholesterol levels below 150 mg/dL and/or no prior cardiac symptoms. This means that the development of inflammatory changes which can precipitate myocardial infarction may go unnoticed by conventional testing and unless markers of inflammation and coronary perfusion are looked for, changes which can precipitate myocardial infarction may go unnoticed until cardiac injury occurs. The following case presentation shows how an individual with exertional dyspnea and concerned about her weight was affected by both the ingestion of a low-carbohydrate diet and ephedra.
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PMID:The effect of ephedra and high fat dieting: a cause for concern! A case report. 1735 Nov 65

Pleural effusion has various causes. In the setting of aortic stenosis, new onset pleural effusion is generally considered as a consequence of heart failure. Here, we describe a 50-year-old male patient who had been followed with aortic stenosis for 30 years. During his admission he presented with exertional dyspnea and pleuritic chest pain. He had no other symptoms or findings of cardiac failure. Complete blood count revealed neutrophilic leukocytosis, a normal hemoglobin level and normal platelet count. Left sided pleural effusion was noted on the posteroanterior chest X-ray. Examination of the pleural fluid revealed myeloid blasts. Bone marrow aspiration smear and flow cytometric analysis of the bone marrow and pleural fluid were consistent with acute myeloid leukemia.
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PMID:An unusual cause of unilateral pleural effusion in the setting of aortic stenosis: acute myeloid leukemia. 1738 3

A 64-year-old man presented with chief complaints of exertional dyspnea and palpitation. He had previously undergone left nephrolithotomies twice. A chest roentgenogram showed pleural effusion on both sides with cardiac dilation, and electrocardiography showed a frequent occurrence of ventricular premature contractions. An echocardiogram showed diffuse hypokinesis of the left ventricular wall motion (ejection fraction, 45%) and dilation of the left ventricle (left ventricular end-diastolic dimension, 61 mm). We administered diuretics, ACE inhibitors and a beta-adrenergic blocking agent after making a diagnosis of cardiac insufficiency. Because coronary angiography showed 90% stenosis of the left anterior descending coronary artery (No. 7), we performed coronary angioplasty in this locus. Though both the left ventricular wall motion and ejection fraction improved, and the clinical symptoms disappeared, the left ventricular end-diastolic dimension, and arrhythmia did not improve. Furthermore, the brain natriuretic peptide increased despite these treatments. Thereafter, a left renal artery aneurysm (extrarenal aneurysm measuring 5 cm in diameter and an intrarenal aneurysm measuring 3 cm in diameter) and a left renal arteriovenous fistula were discovered when abdominal echography was performed because of epigastric discomfort. As a result, a left total nephrectomy was performed. Subsequently, the left ventricular end-diastolic dimension and arrhythmia improved, and the brain natriuretic peptide returned to a normal value. We herein report a case that developed cardiac insufficiency due to a renal aneurysm and renal arteriovenous fistula after undergoing left nephrolithotomies twice.
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PMID:Two giant renal aneurysms and renal arteriovenous fistula associated with cardiac insufficiency and a sustained elevation of atrial natriuretic peptide and brain natriuretic peptide. 1750 74

An 81-year-old man was referred to our hospital with exertional dyspnea following cold-like symptoms. Electrocardiography revealed ST elevation and positive T wave in leads I, II, aVL, aVF, and V2-V6. The diagnosis was acute myocarditis complicating heart failure. He was conservatively managed. On hospital day 8, brain infarction developed and echocardiography disclosed massive mural thrombus in the left ventricle. Left ventriculotomy was performed on hospital day 21 and histological examination showed inflammatory cell infiltration mainly composed of eosinophils and monocytes, degeneration of myocytes with replacement fibrosis, and fresh fibrin thrombus overlaying the endocardium. These findings were compatible with a diagnosis of acute necrotizing eosinophilic myocarditis(ANEM). He recovered uneventfully without specific therapy. This case suggests that a subtype of ANEM might be self-limiting.
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PMID:Survival after acute necrotizing eosinophilic myocarditis complicating a massive left ventricular mural thrombus: a case report. 1780 96

Diagnosing the underlying etiology of dyspnea on exertion in adults can be challenging, often requiring the clinician to distinguish cardiac or pulmonary pathological conditions from metabolic, neurological, or hematological conditions or from chest wall abnormalities. We report such a case involving a 29-year-old, male, active duty Army soldier. With a history of a median sternotomy, symptoms of right- and left-side heart failure, and examination findings suggesting elevated right atrial pressure, pericardial disease was pursued. Echocardiography and cardiac catheterization revealed constrictive physiological features, namely, elevation and near-equalization of right- and left-side pressures and ventricular interdependence, whereas computed tomography illustrated pericardial thickening, ultimately leading to the diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis. The patient was treated with a complete pericardiectomy, leading to symptom resolution and improved exercise capacity. This case report of a rare condition offers a concise etiological and physiological overview of constrictive pericarditis and demonstrates an effective multimodal diagnostic approach. The scientific evidence provided may assist general practitioners in making decisions to differentiate this clinical condition from similar cardiac or cardiopulmonary conditions.
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PMID:Constrictive pericarditis: a cause of exertion-induced dyspnea in a soldier with a prior sternotomy. 1806 2

Left ventricular noncompaction (LVNC) is a recently identified and probably rare congenital cardiomyopathy characterized by changes in the structure of the myocardium secondary to incomplete embryogenesis. The purpose of this report is to describe three cases of LVNC involving African patients. To our knowledge these are the first cases described in Africa. All three patients in this series were men from sub-Saharan Africa ranging in age from 23 to 45 years. The first patient in whom cardiomegaly was recognized on a routine chest x-ray was asymptomatic. The second who presented with exertional dyspnea developed left bundle branch block. The third was admitted to the hospital for acute pulmonary edema. In all three cases transthoracic echocardiography suggested diagnosis. The left ventricle was dilated and hypokinetic and the myocardium exhibited a spongy aspect in association with the presence of prominent trabeculations separated by crypts located at the apex and lateral wall. Color Doppler demonstrated that intratrabecular recesses were filled by intraventricular blood flow. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) specifically confirmed this morphological feature. Sudden death due to arrhythmia, cardiac insufficiency, and systemic emboli are the main complications of LVNC. The incidence of LVNC, which is certainly underestimated, is highest in young adults but it can be diagnosed at any age. Echocardiography and MRI are effective tools for detection of the morphologic diagnostic criteria. Recent evidence suggests that LVNC is of genetic origin and the data reported here shows that the underlying mutations are present in sub-Saharan populations. Family screening in African populations is still difficult. Therapeutic management is currently based on symptomatic treatment of cardiac insufficiency and can require techniques not readily available in tropical settings.
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PMID:[Left ventricular noncompaction: a cardiomyopathy in young individuals. Description of first cases in Africa]. 1830 May 20

Diagnostic criteria of heart failure (HF) are the presence of typical signs, symptoms, and objective evidence of cardiac dysfunction. Exertional dyspnea is a key symptom but highly unspecific, calling for standardised focused diagnostic algorithms. These include 12-lead ECG, chest X-ray, routine laboratory values, measurement of natriuretic peptides, and the quantification of systolic and diastolic dysfunction by echocardiographic methods. Further options in the diagnostic armamentarium comprise laevocardiography, coronary angiography, scintigraphic techniques, cardiac computer tomography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, and endomyocardial biopsy. As a primary diagnostic aim, the underlying cause of heart failure should be determined in all subjects because the therapeutic strategy may depend on this information.
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PMID:[Primary diagnosis of heart failure in ambulatory and hospitalized patients]. 1835 7

Four patients with chronically well-compensated, non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NIDC) presented with occlusive atherosclerotic coronary artery disease as the cause of subacute decompensation (FC III-IV heart failure) 8-13 years following the diagnosis of NIDC. In addition to the atherogenic condition of heart failure, 3 of the patients acquired major atherosclerotic risk factors (dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus) during the interval between the diagnoses of NIDC and problematic atherosclerotic coronary disease. For each patient, dyspnea on exertion was the primary symptom during the subacute decompensation. Only 1 patient noted precordial chest pain in the form of atypical angina during some of the dyspneic events. The diagnosis of occlusive coronary artery disease was made by coronary angiography, followed by angioplasty-stent deployment in 3 patients and coronary artery bypass surgery in 1; all improved to their baseline FC I-II status following these coronary interventions. As survival of patients with NIDC increases, occlusive coronary artery disease may enter an otherwise stable clinical course to provoke unanticipated decompensation (principally dyspnea), and can do so without causing angina pectoris as a heralding symptom.
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PMID:Latent development of occlusive coronary atherosclerosis as a cause of decompensation of non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. 1858 63

A 35-year-old Sri Lankan woman (gravida 3, para 3, abortus 0) presented to the Jewish General Hospital (Montreal, Quebec) with shortness of breath and diffuse swelling. She was five months postpartum of her most recent delivery, which was complicated by pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes. She described a three-week history of progressive exertional dyspnea, orthopnea and paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. There was no history of recent viral illness, and the patient had no traditional risk factors for coronary artery disease. A physical examination, laboratory results and echocardiography were typical for heart failure. A presumptive diagnosis of peripartum cardiomyopathy was made. To initiate a transplant referral, coronary angiography was performed. Six discrete atherosclerotic lesions were found, notably left main equivalent disease. A diagnosis of ischemic cardiomyopathy was made, and the patient was referred for high-risk coronary artery bypass surgery and transplant. The present case illustrates the excess burden of coronary artery disease borne in south Asian patient populations.
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PMID:A young woman with dyspnea. 1861 6


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