Posted by: Johnson Francis on: 15 Jan, 2010
Anthracyclines like adriamycin and epirubicin are good chemotherapeutic agents which improve the long term survival, especially in breast cancer. But a small number of them develop cardiotoxicity, which is less with epirubicin than with doxorubicin (adriamycin) on a milligram per milligram basis. The chance for cardiotoxicity is more in the elderly and those with pre-existing [...]
Posted by: Johnson Francis on: 09 Jan, 2010
Any CHD patient with heart failure and dyssynchrony will benefit from CRT regardless of QRS morphology. LBBB is far less common in children with heart failure than in adults. Pacing induced cardiomyopathy can be improved by either cardiac resynchronization therapy or by turning the pacemaker off.
Posted by: Johnson Francis on: 04 Dec, 2009
More benefit has been shown in heart failure with non selective beta blockers than with selective beta one blockers. Additional intrinsic sympathomimetic activity was found to be deleterious. In CARMEN study, combination of cardvedilol with enalapril was superior to either enalapril or carvedilol alone. In certain genotypes, bucindolol works better than carvedilol.
Posted by: Johnson Francis on: 03 Dec, 2009
Left ventricular (LV) remodeling includes infarct expansion, wall thinning and LV dilatation. There is a direct relation between remodeling and mortality, though initially LV remodeling is beneficial. Statin has been found to reduce apotosis and may help in reducing ventricular remodeling. But GISSI-HF trial with rosuvastatin did not find any significant difference in this aspect. [...]
Posted by: Johnson Francis on: 03 Dec, 2009
Signs and symptoms of heart failure with ejection fraction > 50%, and diastolic dysfunction constitutes the group of heart failure with normal ejection fraction (HNEF). HNEF contributes to about 50% of heart failure. Diastolic dysfunction is common in elderly, but all do not develop HF. Elderly women, hypertensive, those with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), obesity, [...]
