The role of the presence of fragmented QRS in predicting disease severity in patients with pulmonary hypertension

Pulmonary arterial hypertension is a malignant pulmonary vascular disease primarily caused by increased pulmonary vascular resistance, which leads to right ventricular hypertrophy, fibrosis, right heart failure and death. Fragmented QRS (fQRS) indicates non-homogeneous ventricular activity caused by myocardial fibrosis. This study aims to investigate the importance of fQRS in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) and to determine the role of the presence of fQRS in indicating the severity of the disease. The study included 94 (85 patient group 1 PH and 9 patient group 4 PH) patients. The patients were divided into two groups according to the presence of fQRS in their surface electrocardiography (ECG). The patients' laboratory, transthoracic echocardiography, and right heart catheterization parameters were compared between the two groups . FQRS was detected in 55 (58%) patients, and the mean age of these patients was 51.8±18.0, and 29.1% of them were male. Systolic pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) measured by transthoracic echocardiography (p [Med-Science 2022; 11(4.000): 1619-24

Diagnostic Accuracy of Early Systolic Notching in Pulmonary Embolism

Objective Recently, a cardiac sonography finding, early systolic notching (ESN), was reported with high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) in a limited population. The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of ESN finding for PE in emergency department (ED) patients. Method This prospective multicenter study was conducted in 4 academic EDs. All patients who underwent computed tomography angiography for suspected PE were included in the study. After inclusion, cardiac ultrasound including the right ventricular outflow tract Doppler signal was performed. The diagnostic tests of ESN finding were used for PE and its subgroups. Results In the study, 183 of 201 patients met the study criteria. Of all patients, 52.5% had PE (n = 96), and 19.7% (n = 36) had ESN finding. In all ED patients, the sensitivity of ESN for PE was 34% (95% CI 25-45), and the specificity was 97% (95% CI 90-99). In the subgroup analysis, the sensitivity of ESN for PE with high or intermediate-high risk was 69% (95% CI 49-85), and the specificity was 90% (95% CI 84-94). Inter-rater reliability for ESN finding between the cardiologist and emergency physician was strong with a kappa statistic of 0.87. Conclusion The pulmonary Doppler flow of ESN was moderate to high specific but low sensitive for PE in all ED patients. In the subgroup analysis, this finding was moderate specific and low sensitive

Demographics of patients with heart failure who were over 80 years old and were admitted to the cardiology clinics in Turkey

WOS: 000468584300005PubMed ID: 30930455Objective: Heart failure (HF) has a high prevalence and mortality rate in elderly patients; however, there are few studies that have focused on patients older than 80 years. The aim of this study is to describe and compare the age-specific demographics and clinical features of Turkish elderly patients with HF who were admitted to cardiology clinics. Methods: The Epidemiology of Cardiovascular Disease in Elderly Turkish population (ELDER-TURK) study was conducted in 73 centers in Turkey, and it recruited a total of 5694 patients aged 65 years or older. In this study, the clinical profile of the patients who were aged 80 years or older and those between 65 and 79 years with HF were described and compared based on the ejection fraction (EF)-related classification: HFrEF and HFpEF (is considered as EF: >= 50%). Results: A total of 1098 patients (male, 47.5%; mean age, 83.5 +/- 3.1 years) aged 80 years and 4596 patients (male, 50.2 %; mean age, 71.1 +/- 4.31 years) aged 65-79 years were enrolled in this study. The prevalence of HF was 39.8% for patients who were >= 80 years and 27.1% for patients 65-79 years old. For patients aged >= 80 years with HF, the prevalence rate was 67% for hypertension (HT), 25.6% for diabetes mellitus (DM), 54.3% for coronary artery disease (CAD), and 42.3% for atrial fibrilation. Female proportion was lower in the HFrEF group (p=0.019). The prevalence of HT and DM was higher in the HFpEF group (p= 80 years with HFrEF (p<0.01). Conclusion: HF is common in elderly Turkish population, and its frequency increases significantly with age. Females, diabetics, and hypertensives are more likely to have HFpEF, whereas CAD patients are more likely to have HFrEF.Turkish Society of CardiologyThis study was supported by Turkish Society of Cardiology

Demographics of patients with heart failure who were over 80 years old and were admitted to the cardiology clinics in Turkey

Objective: Heart failure (HF) has a high prevalence and mortality rate in elderly patients; however, there are few studies that have focused on patients older than 80 years. The aim of this study is to describe and compare the age-specific demographics and clinical features of Turkish elderly patients with HF who were admitted to cardiology clinics. Methods: The Epidemiology of Cardiovascular Disease in Elderly Turkish population (ELDER-TURK) study was conducted in 73 centers in Turkey, and it recruited a total of 5694 patients aged 65 years or older. In this study, the clinical profile of the patients who were aged 80 years or older and those between 65 and 79 years with HF were described and compared based on the ejection fraction (EF)-related classification: HFrEF and HFpEF (is considered as EF: >= 50\%). Results: A total of 1098 patients (male, 47.5\%; mean age, 83.5 +/- 3.1 years) aged 80 years and 4596 patients (male, 50.2 \%; mean age, 71.1 +/- 4.31 years) aged 65-79 years were enrolled in this study. The prevalence of HF was 39.8\% for patients who were >= 80 years and 27.1\% for patients 65-79 years old. For patients aged >= 80 years with HF, the prevalence rate was 67\% for hypertension (HT), 25.6\% for diabetes mellitus (DM), 54.3\% for coronary artery disease (CAD), and 42.3\% for atrial fibrilation. Female proportion was lower in the HFrEF group (p=0.019). The prevalence of HT and DM was higher in the HFpEF group (p<0.01), whereas CAD had a higher prevalence in the HFrEF group (p=0.02). Among patients aged 65-79 years, 43.9\% (548) had HFpEF, and 56.1\% (700) had HFrEF. In this group of patients aged 65-79 years with HFrEF, the prevalence of DM was significantly higher than in patients aged >= 80 years with HFrEF (p<0.01). Conclusion: HF is common in elderly Turkish population, and its frequency increases significantly with age. Females, diabetics, and hypertensives are more likely to have HFpEF, whereas CAD patients are more likely to have HFrEF