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Objective: The present study aims at investigating the association of systolic and diastolic eccentricity indexes with cardiac biomarkers in hemodynamically stable patients with acute pulmonary embolism (APE)., Methods: Thirty hemodynamically stable (systolic blood pressure >90 mmHg) patients with APE (17M, mean age 61.67±17.6 years) were included in this cross-sectional observational study. The associations of serum troponin I, D-dimer, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and heart type fatty acid binding protein (hFABP) levels with systolic and diastolic eccentricity indices, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), myocardial performance index (MPI), systolic pulmonary artery pressure and the index of the inferior vena cava were investigated. The relationships between parameters were evaluated by Pearson and Spearman correlation analysis according to the distribution of data., Results: Correlation analysis revealed that the most significant relationship between cardiac biomarkers and echocardiographic measurements was in the BNP value. Meanwhile, systolic and diastolic eccentricity indexes were found to have significant correlation with serum troponin I (respectively r=0.470, p=0.009/r=0.310, p=0.095) and BNP (respectively r=0.402, p=0.028/r=0.384, p=0.036) values. On the other hand, elevated D-dimer levels led to statistical significance in none of the echocardiographic parameters., Conclusion: According to our results, hFABP was rarely positive in normotensive patients with APE. An elevated D-dimer alone was not significant in predicting RVD. Eccentricity indexes revealed significant relationship with BNP and troponin I values. The results obtained indicate that early echocardiographic evaluation is important in patients with abnormal cardiac biomarkers.

Valvular heart diseases still continue to be an important health problem. Surgical replacement of cardiac valves keeps a widely used treatment method for the present. However, the efficiency of minimal invasive and percutaneous methods targeted to repair and replacement of the diseased valves has been searched for nowadays. The first clinical experiences and early stage outcomes on the applicability of these methods are encouraging. Nevertheless, it should be kept in mind that percutaneous valvular interventions are at their development stages. Long term confidence and efficiency studies of these treatment modalities are needed. The present review emphasizes the studies on percutaneous techniques initiated in the treatment of valvular heart diseases.