ABSTRACT
Introduction: Weight gain and obesity are two important public health problems, which are associated with many diseases such as cardiovascular disorders. Various policies such as bariatric surgery have been proposed for the treatment of morbid obesity
Methods: PubMed and Scopus were searched thoroughly with the following search terms [roux-en-y gastric bypass surgery] AND [ventricular function, OR cardiac risk factors OR heart]] AND [BMI OR body mass index] to find the articles in which the effect of roux-en-Y gastric bypass [RYGB] surgery had been evaluated in severely obese patients
Result: Out of 120 articles which were found in PubMed, and 28 records which were found in Scopus, only 18 articles fully met the inclusion criteria. Out of 2740 participants in the included studied, 1706 were patients with body mass index [BMI] over 40 kg/m2 who had undergone RYGB surgery, and 1034 were control participants. Results of the studies showed that RYGB surgery could reduce BMI, and cardiac risk factors, and improve diastolic function, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and aortic function, postoperatively
Discussion: Obesity is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, impaired cardiac function, and hypertension. It is shown that RYGB surgery reduces the serum level of biochemical markers of cardiac diseases. Cardiac structure, parasympathetic indices of autonomic function, coronary circulatory function, hypertension, epicardial fat thickness, and ventricular performance improve after bariatric surgery
Conclusions: It is concluded that RYGB surgery is an effective strategy to improve ventricular function and cardiac risk factors in morbid obese patients
ABSTRACT
B-type natriuretic peptide [BNP] level is known to increase in patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis. In this systematic review, we aimed to discuss the possible association between plasma BNP level and the success rate of percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy. PubMed and Scopus databases were searched systematically, using the following key terms: "B-type natriuretic peptide" OR "BNP" AND "percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy" OR "percutaneous transluminal mitral commissurotomy" OR "PTMC" OR "percutaneous balloon mitral valvotomy" OR "PBMV". The title, keywords and abstract of relevant articles were searched thoroughly. Among 27 articles found in these databases, 18 studies were excluded during different stages of article selection, based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. A total of 333 patients were evaluated in the selected studies. Overall, 75 and 191 cases were male and female, respectively. Sex ratio was not specified in two studies, evaluating a total of 67 patients. The obtained results showed that BNP level may decrease after a successful PTMC. Furthermore, post-operative plasma levels of BNP and N-terminal proBNP could be considered as predictors of the success rate of PTMC. Based on the results reported in the evaluated articles, there may be an association between post-operative plasma levels of BNP family and the success rate of PTMC
ABSTRACT
Adipose tissue surrounding the heart may contribute in the progression of coronary atherosclerosis due to its proximity to the coronary arteries. In addition, epicardial adipose tissue has paracrine and endocrine functions. It can secrete numerous bioactive molecules. Most previous studies examined the relation between coronary artery disease and epicardial adipose tissue have used echocardiography and have reported controversial results, probably due to differences in measurement techniques and study populations. This study aimed to give a brief review on the value of echocardiographic assessment of epicardial adipose tissue in the prediction of coronary artery disease severity. Epicardial adipose tissue, easily and non-invasively evaluated by transthoracic echocardiography, can be considered as an adjunctive marker to classical risk factors despite all the limitations. Moreover, it might be recommended as a useful quantitative screening examination for the prediction of the presence and the severity of coronary artery disease and the extent of atherosclerosis