Assessment of morphological and hemodynamic changes in adult atrial septal defect before and after percutaneous trans-catheter closure: the initial result in Vietnamese patient.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the change of morphology and hemodynamics in a relatively large number of patients with atrial septal defect (ASD) and provide the initial result in Vietnamese patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This longitudinal, prospective case-control study was done at the Vietnam National Heart Institute from January 2012 to December 2017. The participants were divided into two groups: the ASD group, which included patients with ASDs, and the control group, which included healthy individuals or individuals without cardiac-related disorders. RESULTS: There were 94 participants in the ASD group and 83 participants in the control group. Most patients with ASDs in the study group were female, and the average age was 38.65 ± 14.8. The success rate of the ASD group was 98.9%. The right ventricle morphology and function showed right ventricular diameter, pulmonary trunk gradually decreased, FAC and ET increased, IVCT and IVRT decreased, and Tei index gradually decreased after each examination. Morphology and function of the left ventricle after ASD closure showed that the left ventricular diameter gradually increased, and EF% in 3 months after ASD closure increased statistically significantly. IVCT, IVRT, and LV Tei index decreased, and ET increased statistically significantly. After six months from ASD closure, the proportion of patients with NYHA I was 90.3%, with no patient with NYHA IV, and pulmonary vascular resistance gradually decreased. CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous trans-catheter closure in Vietnamese adult atrial septal defect was an effective technique. Ventricle morphological and hemodynamic abnormalities following closure recovered statistical significance over time, particularly in the left ventricle.

Assessing health benefits of controlling air pollution from power generation: the case of a lignite-fired power plant in Thailand.

The impact pathway approach (IPA) is used to estimate quantitatively the level of health effects caused by particulate matter (PM10) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission from a lignite-fired power plant located in the Mae Moh area in northern region of Thailand. Health benefits are then assessed by comparing the levels of estimated health impacts without and with the installation of the flue gas desulfurization (FGD) equipment. The US EPA industrial source complex model is used to model air pollution dispersion at the local scale, and the sector average limited mixing meso-scale model is used to model air pollution transport at the regional scale. The quantification of the health end points in physical terms is carried out using the dose-response functions established recently for the population in Bangkok, Thailand. Monetarization of these effects is based on the benefit transfer method with appropriate adjustment. Finally, it has been found that the installation of the FGD to control SO2 emission at Mae Moh significantly reduces adverse health effects not only on the population living near the power plant but also all over the country. A FGD unit installed at the 300-MW power unit can result, on average, in 16 fewer cases of acute mortality, 12 fewer cases of respiratory and cardiac hospital admissions, and almost 354,000 fewer days with acute respiratory symptoms annually. In monetary terms this benefit is equivalent to US $18.2 million (1995 prices) per annum. This benefit is much higher than the annualized investment and operation costs of FGD (US $7.4 million/yr).