The results demonstrated that hs-cTnT was elevated in a significant number of our HCM patients; therefore, hs-cTnT can be introduced as a valuable marker of myocardial injury in HCM patients.

Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a cardiovascular challenge with potentially fatal consequences.This study was designed to observe the association of novel cardiac biomarkers with outcome in this setting. In this prospective study, from 86 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of PE, 59 patients met the inclusion criteria (22 men, 37 women; mean age, 63.36±15.04 y). The plasma concentrations of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15), heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP), tenascin-C, and D-dimer were measured at the time of confirmed diagnosis. The endpoints of the study were defined as the short-term adverse outcome and long-term all-cause mortality.Totally, 11.8% (7/59) of the patients had the short-term adverse outcome. The mean value of logNT-proBNP was 6.40±1.66 pg/ml. Among all the examined biomarkers, only the mean value of logNT-proBNP was significantly higher in the patients with the short-term adverse outcome (7.88±0.67 vs 6.22± 1.66 pg/ml; OR, 2.359; 95% CI, 1.037 to 5.367; p=0.041). After adjustment, a threefold increase in the short-term adverse outcome was identified (OR, 3.239; 95% CI, 0.877 to 11.967; p=0.078). Overall, 18.64% (11/59) of the patients had expired by the long-term follow-up. Moreover, adjustment revealed an evidence regarding association between increased logNT-proBNP levels and longterm mortality (HR, 2.163; 95%CI, 0.910 to 5.142; p=0.081).Our study could find evidences on association between increased level of NT-proBNP and short-term adverse outcome and/or long-term mortality in PE. This biomarker may be capable of improving prediction of outcome and clinical care in non-high-risk PE.

The utility of pulmonary computed tomography angiography (CTA) in the prediction of short- and long-term outcomes after pulmonary embolism (PE) is controversial. Between November 2011 and September 2014, 190 normotensive patients (age, 61 ± 16.90 years, 53.7 % female) were diagnosed with acute PE using a 128-slice dual-source pulmonary CTA scanner. All the related clinical and cardiovascular measurements were recorded. Primary endpoints were 30-day PE-related death, 30-day composite complications (death, hemodynamic instability, thrombolysis and thrombectomy, inotrope, and mechanical ventilation use), and long-term all-cause mortality during a median follow-up of 14.78 months. Overall 1-month mortality is 5.8 %, and death is PE-related in 4.7 % of total patients. Although non-significant, O2 saturation <90 % and the right ventricular short-axis to left ventricular short-axis diameters (RV/LV) ratio increase the risk of PE-related death by 3.5 and 2 times, respectively. The independent predictors of 30-day complications (15.8 %) are O2 saturation <90 % (OR: 3.924, 95 % CI 1.505-10.229), RV/LV ratio (OR: 3.018, 95 % CI 1.455-6.263), and heart rate ≥ 110 beats/min (OR: 2.607, 95 % CI 1.063-6.391). For long-term mortality (13.7 %), O2 saturation <90 % is an independent predictor (HR: 4.454, 95 % CI 2.016-8.862). The independent impact of the RV/LV ratio on the long-term mortality has a trend towards statistical significance (HR: 1.762, 95 % CI 0.968-4.218; p value = 0.064). The PE-related death is 4.7 % within 30 days after admisson and 13.7 % after a median follow-up of 14 months. Among the pulmonary CTA parameters, only the RV/LV ratio and among the clinical and paraclinical measures, O2 saturation <90 % remain independent predictors of short- and long-term mortality and complications after the diagnosis of PE.

The current practice of Iranian physicians for in-hospital "medical management" of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) has already been known. →What this article adds:The present study is the first to describe the current practice of "percutaneous coronary intervention" on patients with ACS in Iran.

Recently, advances in understanding the etiology of urticaria and updates of diagnostic and therapeutic management guidelines have drawn attention to chronic urticaria (CU) morbidity. The present study aimed to evaluate Iranian dermatologists' practice and real life management of CU patients. A total of 35 dermatologists and 443 patients were included in the study. Number of female patients was 321 (72.5%). Mean (standard deviation) age of the study patients was 38 (13) years and the median (inter quartile range) of disease duration was 12 (6–48) months. Severity of patients' symptoms was mild for 32.1%, moderate for 38.7%, severe for 18.8%, and 10.4% of them had no evident signs or symptoms. The most common diagnostic methods were physical examination (96.6%), differential blood count (83.5%), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (77.4%), and C‐reactive protein (62.8%). The number of dermatologists prescribed nonsedating antihistamines (nsAH) in regular dose and high dose mono therapy were 26 (74%) and 6 (17%), respectively. About 66% of dermatologists were familiar with British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) guideline. The most common first‐line treatment for CU by Iranian dermatologists was nonsedating antihistamines in regular or high doses. The real‐life management of patients with CU in Iran was in accordance with the available practice guidelines.