Search

Objective: To estimate the left ventricular (LV) energy index from the data of 31P-magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS) in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) versus healthy individuals., Subject and Methods: The investigation included 46 persons, including 30 healthy volunteers (Group 1) without cardiovascular diseases and 16 patients with HCM (Group 2). All the persons underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and 31P-MRS using a high-field Achieva 3T TX MRI scanner (Philips, Netherlands). ISIS location and adiabatic pulse with iterative shimming were used to collect data., Results: The PC/ATP energy index (a phosphocreatine to adenosine triphosphate ratio) was employed to evaluate myocardial energy metabolism in the patients with HCM. The PC/ATP index was 2.08 +/- 0.35 in Group 1 and 1.32 +/- 3.3 in Group 2 (p < 0.05)., Conclusion: 31P-MRS may be used to determine the myocardial energy metabolism in patients with HCM.

Objective: To study an independent role of the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) in patients with arterial hypertension (AH) according to the data of a retrospective observation., Subjects and Methods: all patients underwent polysomnographic test (EMBLA Flaga, Iceland) and the frequency of unfavorable events (stroke, myocardial infarction, chronic heart failure, atrial fibrillation, intermittent claudication, or death) was determined during the case-control observational longitudinal retrospective study. The diagnosis of OSAS was made when the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of more than 15 events per hour of sleep; the patients with an AHI of less than 15 formed a control group., Results: Among 120 enrolled patients, 64 (53%) had OSAS. In the patients with OSAS, the baseline AHI was 50.9 +/- 23 events per hour whereas in the control group it was 8.9 +/- 5.2 per hours. Both groups were comparable in age, height, weight, body mass index, snore duration, drowsiness, and respiratory standstill during sleep, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and creatine. While analyzing OSAS, there was no change in the risk for a combined end point (all-cause death, stroke, myocardial infarction, chronic heart failure, atrial fibrillation, or intermittent claudication). Our study was retrospective, the patients were few and AH is itself an important cardiovascular risk factor which should be borne in interpreting the results of our study. We consider that the study of the independent role of OSAS should be continued within a well-designed prospective observation.

Nonspecific aortoarteritis (NAA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the aorta and its branches. The clinical manifestations of this disease are of a great variety and depend on the site of a lesion and the stage of the disease. A wide range of highly informative noninvasive imaging techniques, such as duplex scanning (DS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed tomography (CT) of the aorta and its branches, are used to make a more accurate diagnosis and to determine the site and extent of a vascular bed lesion. The given clinical example suggests that CT angiography of the aorta and its branches is a high-precision technique in determining the site of vascular bed lesion in patients with NAA and the pattern and extent of arterial involvement and that it may be used for both the diagnosis of the disease at its developmental stages and the monitoring of the vessels during pathogenetic therapy.