[Coronary artery disease after renal transplantation: epidemiology, risk factors, and surgical approaches to treatment].

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the main cause of death in renal transplant recipients. The aim of the present study was to determine the frequency and risk factors of post-transplantation CAD and its influence on the long-term results of surgery, as well as to evaluate the efficiency of myocardial revascularization in patients with severe CAD. Analysis of the observation of 479 renal recipients (332 men and 147 women) aged 38.69 +/- 11.2 was performed. The mean follow-up period was 64.56 +/- 37.44 months. Sixty-eight patients had diabetes mellitus. CAD was diagnosed in 14.8% (71 out of 479) renal recipients; in 12.7% of patients it developed de novo and was revealed 32.4 +/- 18.6 months after the surgery. Ten-year survival of renal recipients with CAD was only 39%, while in the group of non-CAD patients it was 75% (p < 0.0001). Age more than 45, male gender, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, infections, pre-existing left ventricular myocardial hypertrophy, and renal transplant dysfunction were defined as significant risk factors of CAD de novo. Multi-factor Cox model found only age more than 45 (p < 0.009), male gender (p < 0.00001), and hyperlipidemia (p < 0.0058) to be independent risk factors of CAD. Myocardial revascularization was performed in 29 patients with coronary lesions: 27 patients underwent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty with stenting and 2 patients underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (5 and 52 months after renal transplantation). However, angioplasty had to be repeated in 6 out of 27 (22%) patients within 3 to 6 months. The average follow-up duration was 23 months (2 to 74 months) after revascularization. Prolonged effect (more than 12 months) was achieved in 17 out of 29 (58.6%) patients. None of the patients developed myocardial infarction after revascularization. Two patients died 28 and 35 months after angioplasty due to extracardial complications (hepatic cirrhosis and an oncological disease); one patient died 78 months after repeated revascularization from progressive cardiac insufficiency while receiving dialysis due to a relapse of renal transplant insufficiency. Thus, CAD develops in 14.8% of renal transplant recipients; in 12.7 of patients it develops de novo. There are conventional and nonconventional post-transplantation CAD risk factors, which include renal transplant dysfunction and post-transplantation infections. Association with myocardial hypertrophy, observed in a significant number of patients, is a feature of post-transplantation CAD. Coronary revascularization, angioplasty with stenting in particular, may be considered to be an effective method of CAD treatment in renal transplant recipients.

[Hyperhydration and the cardiovascular system in patients receiving hemodialysis].

In order to evaluate the influence of volume overload on the cardiovascular system, patients on program hemodialysis were examined using ultrasonography and isotope ventriculography. The study revealed a doubtless correlation between hyperhydration, on the one hand, and arterial hypertension, an increased minute volume, and left ventricular hypertrophy, on the other. A growing left atrial contribution was shown to play an important role for the maintenance of an adequate left ventricular filling during a session of hemodialysis with ultrafiltration. The study also found paradoxal blood sequestration in the venous system during the process of ultrafiltration in patients with high parathyroid hormone levels.

[Activity of myocardial sympathetic-adrenal system with various volume of viable myocardium in patients with chronic cardiac failure]. / Aktivnost' miokardial'noi simpatiko-adrenalovoi sistemy pri razlichnom ob"eme zhiznesposobnogo miokarda u bol'nykh s khronicheskoi serdechnoi nedostatochnost'iu.

AIM: To estimate sympathetic activity in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) complicated by chronic cardiac failure (CCF) depending on the volume of viable myocardium measured by dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Planar myocardial I-231-MIBG scintigraphy and dobutamine stress echocardiography were made in 16 patients (9 males and 7 females) aged 43-75 years with CCF (NYHA class II-III) and ejection fraction under 35%. The ratio maximal MIBG absorption in the left ventricular myocardium to maximal MIBG absorption in the mediastenum (H/M) and lung (H/L) were estimated. RESULTS: By DSE the patients were divided into two groups: responders in whom contractility improved by 4 and more points (9 patients) and non-responders in whom contractility improved by less than 4 scores (7 patients). The groups did not differ by clinical and hemodynamic parameters but group 2 patients had significantly lower H/M and H/L than group 1 patients (1.38 +/- 0.02 and 1.08 +/- 0.06 against 1.61 +/- 0.09 and 1.25 +/- 0.12, respectively, p < 0.05). A direct correlation was found between MIBG absorption (H/M, H/L) and ejection fraction on minimal dobutamine doses (r = 0.77, p < 0.01; r = 0.87, p < 0.001), gain in ejection fraction (r = 0.77, p < 0.01; r = 0.45, p < 0.05), and inverse correlation between MIBG absorption (H/M, H/L) and dyssynergia index on minimal dobutamine doses (r = -0.80, p < 0.001; r = -0.87, p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Patients with CCF demonstrate a correlation between sympathetic activity and volume of viable myocardium, inotropic reserve.

Surgical treatment of patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy: the significance of right ventricular function.

BACKGROUND: Patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICMP) awaiting heart transplantation (HT) have a high mortality rate, in part because of the lack of donor organs. Given this limitation, we propose to broaden the indications for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in this group and to more accurately select patients with ICMP requiring myocardial revascularization or HT. In this study, we assessed the short and long-term results of CABG in patients with ICMP. We also assessed the role of the right ventricle and the diastolic function of both ventricles in patients with ICMP. Using this information, we propose indications for CABG and/or HT in patients with ICMP. METHODS: We analyzed 49 patients with ICMP undergoing workup as potential heart transplant candidates. The patients were divided into two groups. Group A included 19 patients submitted to isolated CABG based on the preoperative assessment of myocardial viability. Group B consisted of 30 patients determined to be best suited for HT (with five patients actually receiving a donor heart). All patients were assessed by radionuclide ventriculography (RVG) and functional testing in order to assess their myocardial viability. RVGs were obtained prior to coronary bypass as well as at two and twelve months postoperatively. RESULTS: Preoperative data in group A were: left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD) 7.0+/-0.32 cm, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 24.2+/-2.6%, and right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF) 32.4+/-2.6%. For Group B, LVEDD was 7.7+/-0.29 cm, LVEF was 22+/-2.7%, and RVEF 26+/-2.6%. The operative mortality in group A was 16.6%. Three patients died in the early postoperative period, two of them due to acute cardiac failure, and one due to cerebral complications. The number of grafted arteries was 3.6+/-0.2. One year after coronary artery bypass, the resting LVEF increased to 33.3% (a 36% improvement compared with preoperative, p < 0.001). Three-year survival was 77% in group A and 26.8% in group B. Examination of the myocardial functional state after CABG showed that the LV diastolic and RV systolic parameters statistically improved. The decrease of RVEF was revealed in the orthostatic test in patients (group A) who died after CABG in the early postoperative period, and in group B that correlated with their parameters of the myocardial viability. CONCLUSIONS: CABG in the patients with ICMP significantly increases the functional reserves of the myocardium of both ventricles, mostly because of the improvement in the diastolic function of the LV. In the RV, the systolic function could restore even in the early postoperative period. Preoperative analysis of the parametric images made after orthostatic test and nitroglycerin intake allow prediction, with 85 % sensitivity and 95% specificity, of the areas of the myocardium which will restore their function immediately after CABG ("hibernated myocardium"). The recovery of regional wall motion amplitude and of the response of the myocardium to coronary revascularization could continue during the first year after revascularization ("stunned myocardium "), most often beginning in the LV. The decrease of the EF of the RV as a response to the "unloading" tests could be a result of the disturbance of the ventricles' interaction as well as the spreading of the scarring of the RV myocardium. This decrease could be a predictor of the possible development of the low cardiac output syndrome after CABG.

[Myocardial perfusion in mitral valve prolapse with arrhythmic syndrome]. / Perfuziia miokarda pri prolabirovanii mitral'nogo klapana s aritmicheskim sindromom.

Myocardial perfusion was studied in 12 patients with mitral valve prolapse concurrent with cardiac arrhythmias by using two-dimensional 201Tl myocardial scintigraphy at rest and during exercise test. Signs of myocardial ischemia were revealed only in one case. Five patients were found to have steady-state perfusion defects whose extent correlated with the depth of mitral valve prolapse. There was an irregular distribution of myocardial blood flow, which ceased on exercise in 10 out of 12 patients. Patients with ventricular premature contraction displayed a decreased reserve of myocardial blood flow as compared to those with supraventricular premature contraction, presumably by enhancing myocardial perfusion at rest.

[The radionuclide diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy: a new approach to assessing myocardial perfusion function by 201Tl scintigraphic data at rest and during the performance of the dipyridamole test]. / Radionuklidnaia diagnostika dilatatsionnoi kardiomiopatii: novyi podkhod k otsenke sostoianiia perfuzii miokarda po dannym stsintigrafii s 201Tl v pokoe i pri provedenii proby s dipiridamolom.

A method for quantitative determination of the percentage of left ventricular myocardial 201Tl isotope uptake at rest and during dipyridamole test was first used in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and coronary heart disease complicated by circulatory insufficiency or chronic myocarditis. This method makes it possible to judge the level of myocardial blood flow and perfusion reserve in these diseases. The most common differences were found between patients with coronary heart disease and those with chronic myocarditis. The patients with chronic myocarditis exhibited the greatest sizes of perfusion defects, highest values of 201Tl uptake at rest and a lower myocardial perfusion reserve during dipyridamole test. In response to exercise, most patients with chronic myocarditis had diminished perfusion defects, whereas those with coronary heart disease displayed increased defects. The myocardial perfusion was varied in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Some patients had a scintigraphic pattern close to that in patients with chronic myocarditis and others had a pattern identical to that in patients with coronary heart disease.

Silent myocardial ischemia in patients with essential hypertension.

The aim of this study was to determine the significance of the "coronary factor" in patients with essential hypertension (EH). Electrocardiogram Holter monitoring was performed in 61 patients with EH stage II (according to the World Health Organization criteria). Silent, ie, painless ST-segment depression, was found in 34 patients on whom echocardiography, a treadmill test, and transesophageal pacing were performed. In 21 patients with EH and silent ischemia, the examination included 201Tl stress scintigraphy, coronary angiography, and a platelet aggregation test. In 15 patients, catecholamines and beta-endorphins were obtained in blood samples during silent ischemia. 201Tl scintigraphy showed transient defects of perfusion without clearance abnormalities (group I) and with clearance abnormalities (group II). The patients in group I had more severe left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and a significantly higher platelet aggregation response to 0.5 mumol/L adenosine diphosphate; one patient in this group had coronary atherosclerosis. LVH and the platelet aggregation response was less pronounced in the patients in group II, but atherosclerotic lesions of a coronary artery were observed in four patients. In both groups, norepinephrine and beta-endorphin levels were increased during silent episodes of ischemia. The results suggest that there are different pathogenetic mechanisms of coronary insufficiency in patients with EH, a hypertensive heart, and silent ischemia.

[Silent myocardial ischemia in patients with essential hypertension]. / "Nemaia" ishemiia u bol'nykh gipertonicheskoi bolezn'iu.

Holter monitoring was performed in 61 patients with essential hypertension. Painless, silent ST segment depression was found in 34 patients. Exercise myocardial scintigraphy indicated the occurrence of transient perfusion defects without abnormal clearance (Group 1) and those with abnormal clearance (Group 2). The patients from Group 1 showed more severe myocardial hypertrophy, higher platelet aggregation, coronary atherosclerosis was detected in 1 case. The patients from Group 2 exhibited less myocardial hypertrophy, lower platelet aggregation. Coronary atherosclerosis was revealed in 4 cases. The patients from the two groups had elevated plasma norepinephrine levels at the onset of silent myocardial ischemia.

[The use of the phase-image method for noninvasive topical diagnosis in certain forms of heart rhythm disorders]. / Ispol'zovanie metoda fazovykh izobrazhenii dlia neinvazivnoi topicheskoi diagnostiki pri nekotorykh formakh narushenii ritma serdtsa.

The authors describe the results of mapping additional conduction pathways in WPW syndrome and ectopic sources of the ventricular rhythm with the aid of phasic images (PI). The mapping data were compared to the readings of 12 ECG leads and to the electrophysiological findings. The mapping with the aid of PI turned out informative in both patients' groups. The PI method demonstrated the possibility of Kent's bundle mapping in latent WPW syndrome. The use of the PI method is suggested to be the first stage in the mapping of Kent's bundle in WPW patients suffering from supraventricular tachycardias as well as of pathological rhythm sources in ventricular tachycardias refractory to drug therapy in patients who are to undergo surgical treatment.

[Use of phase images in radionuclide ventriculography for topical diagnosis of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and sources of pathologic rhythm of the heart ventricles]. / Primenenie fazovykh izobrazhenii v radionuklidnoi ventrikulo-grafii dlia topicheskoi diagnostiki sindroma Vol'fa-Parkinsona-Yaita i istochnikov patologischeskikh ritmov v zheludochkakh.

The paper presents the results of the mapping of various types of the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and ventricular arrhythmias by using phase images of radionuclide ventriculograms as compared to 12 leads and electrophysiological studies. Phase images are a highly informative method that supplements an electrophysiological study in the topical diagnosis of abnormal tracts and ventricular arrhythmias.

"Silent" myocardial ischaemia in essential hypertension.

During 16-h electrocardiographic monitoring of 29 patients with stage II (WHO) essential hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy, the episodes of painless "silent" myocardial ischaemia were registered in 12. In these patients a bicycle ergometry test, transoesophageal atrial pacing, isotope ventriculography at rest and during isometric exercise, and coronary angiography in 3 cases, were performed. A comprehensive evaluation of findings revealed the presence of coronary insufficiency not accompanied by pain syndrome. Absence of angiographic signs of coronary stenosis in 3 patients subjected to coronary angiography suggests the presence of relative coronary insufficiency at least in these patients.

[Comparative analysis of parametric images in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and coronary heart disease by radionuclide ventriculography]. / Sravnitel'nyi analiz parametricheskikh izobrazhenii u bol'nykh dilatatsionnoi kardiomiopatiei i ishemicheskoi bolezn'iu serdtsa po dannym radionuklidnoi ventrikulografii.

After equiponderant radionuclide ventriculography the parametric images (phasic and amplitude) of heart function were estimated in 20 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and in 17 patients with coronary heart disease associated with cardiomegaly. The patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and those with coronary heart disease showed principal differences in local disturbances of the amplitude of movements of left ventricle myocardium walls. While assessing synchronism of myocardial contraction in the patients with dilated cardiomyopathy the presence of the zones of myocardial asynchronism appeared to be a suggestive sign. At the same time the phenomena of asynchronism were not directly connected with impairment of heart conduction and became aggravated as dilatation of the left ventricle progressed, being often coupled with the ECG signs of cicatrical alterations in the myocardium, which came on the phasic images in the form of dyssynergia areas.

[Origin of the pain syndrome in asymmetric myocardial hypertrophy in patients with stable hypertension]. / O geneze bolevogo sindroma pri asimmetricheskoi gipertrofii miokarda u bol'nykh stabil'noi gipertonicheskoi bolezn'iu.

A study of 20 patients with essential hypertension, stage IIB, asymmetrical myocardial hypertrophy and chest pains has suggested that the pain syndrome, presenting as "possible angina", positive functional tests and reduced label accumulation around the ventricular septum may be indicative of coronary insufficiency.

[Value of myocardial scintigraphy using T1-201 in the diagnosis of ischemic heart disease in patients with block of the left peduncle of the bundle of His]. / Znachenie stsintigrafii miokarda s 201T1 v diagnostike ishemicheskoi bolezni serdtsa u bol'nykh s blokadoi levoi nozhki puchka Gisa.

Possible use of loading myocardial 201T1 scintigraphy is considered for patients with blocked left peduncle of His' bundle. The procedure is shown to be of considerable value for the prognosis of coronary heart disease in such patients.