[Spontaneous variations in the characteristics of ventricular extrasystole]. / O spontannykh kolebaniiakh kharakteristik zheludochkovoi ékstrasistolii.

The authors studied 65 patients (mainly with chronic coronary heart disease) with 48 hours of continuous two-channel Holter recordings of antiarrhythmic drugs. Spontaneous qualitative day to day variations in ventricular premature beats (VPB) exceeding 50% were recorded in 22 (33.8%) cases, those exceeding 75%--in 10 (15.4%) cases. Additional cases of severe Lown grade VPB during the second day of monitoring were revealed in 8 (12.3%) cases. We conclude, that marked day to day variation in VPB require a strict criterion (greater than 75% decrease) to define antiarrhythmic drug efficacy.

[Age and late outcome of myocardial infarction]. / Otdalennye iskhody infarkta miokarda v vozrastnom aspekte.

Age-dependent differences in the clinical state, lethality, incidence of repeated infarction, frequency and duration of temporary disability were studied in 993 patients during 2 years after myocardial infarction. The stage of heart failure is the main factor responsible for the less favourable outcomes after myocardial infarction survived in middle and senile age. The incidence rate of repeated myocardial infarction during two years, and preservation of capacity for work in subjects, who returned to work, do not differ significantly in varying age groups.

[Rhythmographic study of the frequency dependence of extrasystole in ischemic heart disease]. / Ritmograficheskoe issledovanie chastotnoi zavisimosti ekstrasistolii u bol'nykh khronicheskoi ishemicheskoi bolezn'iu serdtsa.

Results are given of the rhythmographic study of the frequency of extrasystole at rest, in the orthostatic position and during exercise in 236 patients with chronic ischaemic disease of the heart. The frequency dependence of extrasystole (the rate dependence of premature beats) was seen in 75.4% of cases. In the absence of the rate dependence of extrasystole, novocainamide, propranolol and atropine exerted marked antiarrhythmic effect less frequently than when such a dependence was present.

[Organizational experience in ischemic heart disease control in the Lithuanian SSR]. / Opyt organizatsii bov'by s ishemicheskoi bolezn'iu serdtsa v Litovskoi SSR.

The paper describes the organization and the structure of the system of the ischaemic heart disease control as exists in the city of Kaunas. The importance of the epidemiologic link of the system is stressed, as well as the unity in the work of the prophylactic, diagnostic and therapeutic and rehabilitation links in the system.

[Study method for registering cardiovascular morbidity with automatic processing of medical data]. / Metodika izucheniia ucheta serdechno-sosudistoi zabolevaemosti pri avtomatizirovannoi obrabotke meditsinskoi informatsii.

Automation of the registration of cardiological diseases provides the basis for creating an automated system of control in cardiology, which may be used to analyse the disease incidence for any length of time and to obtain, whenever required, extensive operative information on the activity of therapeutic and prophylactic establishments. This information will serve for judging the condition of specialized cardiological service on the whole as well as in different territorial and production-shop areas, and in cardiological offices, and for estimating the need in hospitalization according to the forms of cardiological diseases. This, in turn, makes it possible to improve the planning of medical care measures.

[Resolver unit for recovery of 12 conventional leads from 3 corrected orthogonal leads]. / Apparat-rezol'ver dlia vosstanovleniia dvenadtsati obshchepriniatykh otvedenii iz trekh korrigirovannykh ortogonal'nykh.

The progress in automatic ECG analysis raised the task to reduce the number of parameters or ECG-leads. Three corrected orthogonal ECG-leads are important. They are unusual for clinicists and lack the verified criteria for diagnosis with their help. The resolver unit proposed is designed to transform the three orthogonal leads into 12 conventional ones. The resolver allows only 3 leads to be recorded, transferred through communication lines and introduced into computer, while, when necessary, one can anlyse data from all 12 conventional leads, and give a conclusion in a form usual for clinicists. This cuts time and costs. The resolver presents also a theoretical interest--as it permits studying the non-dipole components of cardiac vector.

[Organization of the control of the cardiovascular diseases in the Lithuanian SSR]. / Organizatsiia bor'by s serdechno-sosudistymi zabolevaniiami v Litovskoi SSR.

Experience in elaborating and introducing into medical practice the elements of a unified consecutive system of ischemic heart disease control was developed in Kaunas. This system includes epidemiological detection of risk factors, primary prevention, and rehabilitation of patients with myocardial infarction and their subsequent regular medical surveillance. According to the system, the methods of primary and secondard prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation are unified and standardized and a unified system of the registration and hospitalization of cardiological patients is introduced in Kaunas. Mathematical processing of the data was carried out by a computer. Methodical material has been elaborated and suggested for practical medicine.

[Results of the long-term comprehensive rehabilitation of patients who have had a myocardial infarct]. / O rezul'taty dolgosrochnoi kompleksnoi reabilitatsii bol'nykh, perenesshikh infarkt miokarda.

Comprehensive stage-by-stage rehabilitation according to the WHO program was conducted in 73 males after myocardial infarction. The indices of physical working capacity and psychic readaptation were better in them than in the control group, while the need in in-patient treatment and the incidence of repeated infarction were less.

[Use of a biographical questionnaire for studying the social and psychological characteristics of myocardial infarct patients]. / Primenenie biograficheskogo voprosnika dlia issledovaniia sotsial'nykh i psikhologicheskikh osobennostei bol'nykh infarktom miokarda.

An original formalized and standardized biographical questionnaire revealed higher activity and emotional tension in persons with myocardial infarction in the subacute period than in patients of a control group. A formalized and standardized biographical questionnaire is a reliable method for investigating the social and psychological peculiarities in applying measures of rehabilitation and primary and secondary prophylaxis in patients suffering from ischemic heart disease.

[Pathology of sudden extra-hospital death. 1. Obstructive lesions of the coronary arteries and myocardial scars]. / Patologiia vnezapnoi vnebol'nichnoi koronarnoi smerti. 1. Obstruktivnye porazheniia venechnykh arterii serdtsa i rubtsovye izmeneniia miokarda.

The coronary arteries and myocardium were examined morphologically by special unified methods in 127 cases of prehospital sudden coronary death among Kaunas male population from 45 to 65 years of age. Obstruction of at least one of four major coronary arteries was severe (75% or more) in 90% of patients and moderate (50--75%) in the remaining 10%. In most cases one or two coronary arteries had severe obstruction (77% of cases) located predominantly in the proximal and middle segments of the left anterior descending and right coronary arteries. Post-infarction scars and small foci of myocardial sclerosis were found in 72% of hearts any may be considered as special "morphological catamnesis" of past acute coronary events. In 85% of cases the heart mass was more than 400 g. The data presented indicate the undoubted role of coronarogenic factors in the development of an acute terminal episode such as sudden death, the unexpectedness of which is only imaginary.

[Various problems of diagnosis of the pre-infarct state]. / Nekotorye voprosy diagnostiki pred'infarktnogo sostoianiia.

The clinical course of preinfarction states was studied in 246 in-patients. The informativeness of 128 signs of preinfarction state was checked and the most informative ones were used to compile a diagnostic-tactical algorithm for the recognition of preinfarction states and a prognostic algorithm for prognosticating the development of myocardial infarction.

[Prognosis in myocardial infarct complicated in the acute period by heart conduction disorders]. / Prognoz pri infarkte miokarda, oslozhnennom v ostrom periode narusheniiami provodimosti serdtsa.

The influence of disorders of atrioventricular and intraventricular conduction, encountered in the acute period of myocardial infarction, on the immediate and remote prognosis of the disease was studied. In the acute period of myocardial infarction, III degree atrioventricular block and the right branch of the bundle of His block with the left posterior semiblock had a significant deteriorating effect on the prognosis. The remote prognosis was worse only due to the effect of III degree atrioventricular block.

[Calculation of the size of the population group necessary for evaluation of the results of measures for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases (on the example of the Kaunas survey)]. / Raschet velichiny kontingenta naseleniia, neobkhodimogo dlia otsenki rezul'tatov profilakticheskogo issledovaniia serdechno-sosudistykh zabolevanii (na primere materialov kaunasskogo issledovaniia).

A method for estimating the size of the group necessary in evaluation of the efficacy of preventive intervention among the population is described. The parameters for calculating the necessary size of the sample from an equation and the fundamentals of compiling tables by means of electronic computers are discussed. The data of the Kaunas survey conducted according to the WHO program illustrate the statistical approach. The material of the Kaunas survey is also used to estimate the size of the population necessary for testing the hypothesis on the possibility of preventing myocardial infarction by reducing the risk factor.