Percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy.

Two hundred patients underwent Percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy (PTMC) from January 2003 to July 2004. Seventy four percent of the patients were female. Age ranged from 10 years old to 61 years and mean age was 29 years. Twenty three percent of the patients were under 21 years of age. Atrial fibrillation was present in 32.0% of the cases. Mean mitral valve area increased from 0.90cm2 (+/- 0.14) to 1.82cm2 (+/- 0.21) (p = 0.018). Left atrial mean pressure decreased from 21 mmHg mean to 7 mmHg. Subjective improvement was reported in 98.0% of the patients immediately after the procedure. There was no mortality during the hospital stay or within the first month of the procedure. Significant mitral regurgitation of grade 3 was noted in 5 patients. Two developed severe mitral regurgitation. The complications were negligible. One had systemic embolisation during the procedure which recovered over a period of time. One developed deep vein thrombosis which recovered after treatment.

Assessment of carotid artery dimensions by ultrasound in non-smoker healthy adults of both sexes.

Assessment of carotid artery lumen diameter and intima-media thickness is becoming as a surrogate marker of early evaluation of cardiovascular disease. Present study aims to describe the normal carotid dimensions in healthy adults of both sexes. A total of 123 healthy volunteers including 65 men and 58 women, aged 21 to 60 years (mean +/- SD; 35.66 +/- 8.84 years) were studied. Ultrasound study of both carotid arteries were performed with a 7.5 MHz linear array transducer. Common carotid artery lumen diameter ranged from 4.3 mm to 7.7 mm. Difference was not noted between left and right common carotid artery lumen diameter (5.78 +/- 0.57 mm and 5.86 +/- 0.66 mm), and internal and external carotid artery lumen diameter as well. Both left and right common carotid artery, internal and external carotid artery lumen diameter tended to be larger (p < 0.05) in men than women. Common carotid artery intima-media thickness ranged from 0.4 mm to 0.8 mm. Difference was not noted between left and right common carotid intima-media thickness when separately analyzed among men, women and the entire population. Difference was also not noted in comparison between men and women. Conclusion: Common carotid artery and internal and external carotid artery lumen diameter tends to be larger in men than women among young adults. There is no difference between left and right carotid artery lumen diameter. Common carotid artery intima-media thickness is similar in comparison between left and right and both sexes.

Study of Prevalence, Awareness,and control of Hypertension in a Suburban Area of Kathmandu, Nepal.

BACKGROUND, In the context of rapidly raising occurrence of cardiovascular diseases in the developing countries, it becomes imperative to study the scenario in its various aspects. The present study in Nepal deals with the hypertension as it is one of the major risk factors of cardiovascular diseases. METHODS AND RESULTS, A house-to-house survey was conducted in a suburban area of Kathmandu valley from February to June 2005 in adult population (age >/=18 years) to estimate the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control rates of hypertension. Blood pressure was measured twice using standardized mercury sphygmomanometer, and an average of the two readings was taken. Total number of subjects were 1114 (men:541; women: 573; mean age: 37.8 -/+ 16.3 years). Overall prevalence of hypertension was 19.7% (22.2% in men and 17.3% in women, p < 0.05).Prevalence of hypertension in age group of >/=40 years was 36%.Awareness, treatment, and control rates were 41.1%, 26%, and 6%, respectively. CONCLUSION, Our study indicates that prevalence of hypertension is significant in Nepal and is comparable with other developing countries of this region. Awareness, treatment, and control rates are poor.