No abstract

Subjects and methodsCardiac catheterization laboratory records were reviewed to identify all patients who had undergone both diagnostic catheterization for evaluation of aortic stenosis and coronary arteriography from the date it became routine policy in our hospitals to perform the latter procedure on all cases of left ventricular outflow obstruction before surgery. Since we were interested in examining only those patients with unequivocally severe aortic stenosis who were in an age range which could make concomitant coronary atherosclerosis a reasonable possibility, the following criteria were established for inclusion in the study: i) A systolic aortic valvular gradient of more than 5o mmHg (6.7 kPa) or calculated aortic valve area of less than 0.75 cm2, and 2) age over 35 years.Several patients included in the study had associated trivial aortic regurgitation or mitral valve disease, but in all cases aortic stenosis was clearly the dominant lesion. Aortic valve areas were calculated by the hydraulic formula of Gorlin and Gorlin (i95i), where applicable. Four patients were included in whom the aortic valve could not be traversed at the time of catheterization but in whom the presence of severe aortic stenosis was confirmed at surgery.Selective coronary arteriography was performed by the Sones' or Judkin's technique. In the majority of cases, the coronary arteries were opacified in at least two views, usually the left and right anterior oblique. An occasional case was retained in which a vessel was seen in one on 28 April 2019 by guest. Protected by copyright.

SummaryThe aim of the present study was to evaluate whether the baseline thiol/disulfide state can predict the occurrence of anthracycline induced cardiac toxicity. A total of 186 cancer patients receiving anthracycline (doxorubicin)-based chemotherapy were enrolled. All patients underwent 2-dimensional (2D) speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) to determine their left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and blood samples for measuring thiol forms were obtained before treatment and 4 weeks after completion of the chemotherapy. The mean dose of doxorubicin exposure was 255 ± 39.2 mg/m 2 . Baseline native thiol was found to be lower whereas baseline disulfide and the disulfide/total thiol ratio were found to be higher in patients who had a decrease in LVEF after anthracycline therapy. Also, the amount of decrease in LVEF was well correlated with the delta value of the thiol forms. Logistic regression analysis revealed that changes in BNP and global longitudinal strain (GLS), baseline level of native thiol, disulfide, and the disulfide/total thiol ratio were strong predictors for a decrease in LVEF.The thiol/disulfide pathway may be a factor for predicting chemotherapy-induced cardiac toxicity as one of the oxidative stress mechanisms. (Int Heart J 2017; 58: 69-72)

Neopterin is a biomarker reflecting ongoing inflammatory process in deteriorating heart. High level of serum neopterin concentrations was associated with mortality and morbidity in systolic HF.

Lower thiol levels may be associated with the higher risk of aortic aneurysm development and may increase after surgical therapy.