Diagnóstico de infarto miocárdico perioperatorio dentro de las primeras 72 horas posteriores a la cirugía cardiaca / Diagnosis of perioperative myocardial infarction within the first seventy-two hours after cardiac surgery

One of the most frequent complications of cardiac surgery is the perioperative myocardial infarction (PMI). Incidence of PMI shows a wide variation because an accurate detection of this complication is difficult in the early postoperative stage. The objectives of the present study were to determine in our population of patients the incidence of PMI during the first seventy two hours after cardiac surgery as well as associations among the accepted criteria to diagnose this complication. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred sixty four adults patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery were studied. With baselines preoperative studies, serial electrocardiographic, enzymatic [(determination of serum creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB)] and echocardiographic studies were performed during the first 72 hours after cardiac surgery. Diagnosis of PMI was established with two or all the three positive criteria [electrocardiographic (ECG), enzymatic (CK-MB) and echocardiographic (ECHO)]. RESULTS: In 24 (15%) patients PMI was diagnosed. In this group 13 (54%) all the three criteria were positive. In 8 (33%) patients CK-MB and ECHO were positive. In 3 (13%) patients CK-MB and ECG were positive. CONCLUSIONS: In our population the incidence of PMI (15%) is agree with the reported in previous studies. In most of cases of PMI all the three diagnostic criteria are positive. When diagnosis is established only with two criteria, in most of cases these are CK-MB and ECHO.

Correlación entre la radiografía de tórax y el ecocardiograma para la valoración de cardiomegalia en pacientes con hipertensión arterial sistémica / Correlation between chest radiography and the echocardiogram to evaluate cardiomegaly in patients with systemic arterial hypertension

The chest radiography is used routinely by the clinician as a tool in the scan of patients with systemic arterial hypertension (SAH) to evaluate the dimensions of the heart. However the highest reported sensitivity for the evaluation of heart growth with this method is 77.3% in contrast to the transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) that reaches between 90 to 100%. The aim of this study was assess in our population of patients with SAH, the correlation between chest radiography and the TTE in regard to cardiomegaly. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seventy two patients with SAH and radiological cardiomegaly, graded by measuring the cardiothoracic ratio (CTR), were evaluated by transthoracic echocardiography. The Pearson's and Spearman's correlation coefficients between both methods were assessed. Significance level was set at < 0.05. RESULTS: Forty one (56.9%) patients were women and 31 (43.1%) were men. The age was 62.4 +/- 10 years (43-83 years). Left ventricular concentric hypertrophy (LVCH) was found in 56 (77.8%) patients. In 13 (18%) patients the left ventricular end diastolic diameter (LVEDD) was higher than the normal value. The correlation coefficient between the diastolic ventricular septal thickness (DST) and CTR was 0.285 (p < 0.05) and between the LVEDD and radiological cardiomegaly was 0.203 (p = NS). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with SAH, the radiological evidence of cardiomegaly keeps a correlation with ventricular hypertrophy, but not with ventricular dilation.