ABSTRACT
This investigation was designed to assess the effectiveness of a team approach to education for hospitalized patients with serious cardiovascular illnesses. No significant immediate increases in knowledge resulted from the educational program regardless of the patient's previous educational achievements. Modest, late posthospital gains were seen. The investigators question whether the anxiety associated with hospitalization for cardiac surgery or other acute life-threatening events may render ineffective educational efforts undertaken at times of physical and psychological stress.
Subject(s)
Coronary Disease/psychology , Patient Care Team , Patient Education as Topic/methods , Evaluation Studies as Topic , Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over , Humans , IowaABSTRACT
Thirty-five patients with angiographically diagnosed anuloaortic ectasia were compared with 18 patients with isolated aortic valve insufficiency to study differences between the presentation, hemodynamic or angiographic findings and clinical course in the two groups. The maximal aortic root diameter in anuloaortic ectasia was 7.6 +/- 2.4 cm (mean +/- 1 standard deviation) versus 4.2 +/- 0.6 in aortic insufficiency. Dissection was a common complication of anuloaortic ectasia (44 percent) but was not seen in aortic insufficiency. Neither the size nor the configuration of the aortic aneurysm was a reliable predictor of dissection. Despite surgical therapy, patients with anuloaortic ectasia have a worse prognosis than those with aortic valve insufficiency.
