Diagnostic Techniques – Pubmed

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Extrapulmonary effects are observed in patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), however, few studies have examined these manifestations, particularly regarding balance and muscle oxygenation during exercise. This study aimed to compare balance, functional exercise capacity, muscle oxygenation, respiratory and peripheral muscle strength, and inspiratory muscle endurance in patients with PCD and healthy peers.

CONCLUSIONS: Long-term GAHT initiated during adolescence in both TW and TM shows no apparent cardiac complications with regard to cardiac function, hypertrophy, or chamber dimensions, and does not significantly affect aortic diameters. However, alterations in aortic elasticity were observed, the long-term clinical significance of which remains to be determined.

CONCLUSION: The stratification of VE-VCO2 slope ≥28.42 was an independent predictor of AECOPD. Our study established VE-VCO2 slope as a novel stratified clinical biomarker for predicting AECOPD.

CONCLUSION: CPxEL is a feasible method for identifying ventilatory thresholds and V˙O(2)max, and may be applied to prescribing aerobic exercise with elastic resistance in middle-aged adults. However, it elicits distinct physiological and perceptual responses compared with the CPx and the two protocols should not be used interchangeably. Further studies are needed to confirm the accuracy and safety of CPxEL in different clinical populations.

Aim A comprehensive assessment of retinal microcirculation in patients with stable ischemic heart disease (IHD) exhibiting obstructive and non-obstructive coronary artery (CA) lesions.Materials and methods This observational comparative study included 35 patients with stable IHD, divided into those with CA obstructive lesions (n=25) and those with ischemia with non-obstructive coronary arteries (INOCA) (n=10). A control group consisted of 30 healthy volunteers with no cardiovascular risk...

Aim To evaluate the impact of digital remote monitoring on the effectiveness of intensive dose titration for guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) for the achievement of target doses and the reduction of decompensated heart failure rate and all-cause mortality.Materials and methods The study utilized vital sign monitoring via a personal messenger-based questionnaire (chatbot) and weekly therapy optimization recommendations...

CONCLUSION: Visual acuity in CSC varies across disease subtypes and is associated with distinct OCT, FA, and ICGA features. These findings highlight the value of multimodal imaging in the assessment of visual prognosis and in supporting individualized follow-up and treatment strategies in CSC.

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of exercise stress echocardiography in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) without typical angina symptoms, and to explore its predictive value for intermediate-term prognosis.Material and methods A total of 643 patients aged 45-76 yrs (mean age 58.4±9.7 yrs) with suspected CAD but without typical angina symptoms were retrospectively enrolled in this study. All patients underwent treadmill exercise stress echocardiography using the...

Connective tissue diseases are systemic autoimmune disorders for which diagnosis is often delayed owing to nonspecific early clinical manifestations. However, Raynaud's phenomenon is a common and early symptom that prompts etiological evaluation. In this context, nailfold capillaroscopy plays a pivotal role. It enables the detection of characteristic microvascular abnormalities, particularly the scleroderma pattern, which is strongly associated with systemic sclerosis and included in both...

First-phase ejection fraction (EF1), the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) up to maximal ventricular fiber shortening, has shown strong prognostic value in cardiovascular diseases, outperforming conventional LVEF, but remains uncharacterised in healthy individuals. An in silico cohort of healthy adults (n = 3837), from 25 to 75 years old was analyzed, showing good agreement with in vivo data. EF1 was derived from aortic flow waves as the proportion of end-diastolic volume ejected up to...

Persistent sciatic artery (PSA) is a rare embryonic vascular remnant, with PSA aneurysms represent an uncommon yet clinically critical complication due to inherent risks of rupture and neurovascular compression. Endovascular therapy has emerged as a preferred minimally invasive management option, though its success hinges on precise anatomical characterization via multimodal imaging. We report a case of an early 60s female with a 6.5 cm Pillet-Gauffre type IIa PSA aneurysm complicated by...

CONCLUSIONS: Low body weight at surgery, use of bovine patch augmentation and smaller aortic arch dimensions are significant risk factors for reCoA in infants. These findings emphasise the importance of individualised surgical planning and rigorous postoperative monitoring.

CONCLUSIONS: The 2-Minute Step produced significant increases in heart rate (p < 0.001), blood pressure (p < 0.001), respiratory rate (p < 0.001), and perceived exertion (p < 0.001), accompanied by a slight decrease in oxygen saturation (p < 0.001). A positive correlation was observed between heart rate and step count, stronger in women (r = 0.55; p < 0.001) than in men (r = 0.42; p = 0.023).

CONCLUSION: A single moderate-intensity continuous aerobic session does not promote statistical post-exercise hypotension in adolescents but interval exercise could reduce in males with T1DM adults. However, 12 weeks of continuous aerobic training may reduce SBP significantly for adolescents. Future research should compare blood pressure responses among interval, intermittent, and continuous aerobic exercises in different T1DM ages.

CONCLUSIONS: The functional training program significantly enhanced FMS scores, mobility, and explosiveness, EG improved in the 400-m run performance and target accuracy, but no inter-group difference was observed, suggesting that additional sport-specific technical and endurance components are required to achieve more comprehensive performance gains.

CONCLUSION: Our findings, derived from an artificial intelligence-based fully automated quantitative retinal vascular parameters measurement method, revealed that multiple quantitative fundus parameters-including FD, VD and other morphological parameters were significantly associated with CAD risk. The CAD diagnostic model we developed demonstrates strong performance and high interpretability, making it suitable for early CAD screening and diagnosis.

BACKGROUND: Chagas disease affects millions of individuals across Latin America and imposes a substantial economic burden on healthcare systems, particularly in rural and underserved regions. Chronic Chagasic cardiomyopathy remains one of the leading causes of heart failure-related mortality in endemic countries. Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) has emerged as a potential biomarker of myocardial fibrosis in cardiomyopathies. This study was designed to investigate the association...

CONCLUSION: Serum NETs levels were independently associated with the presence of CAS in patients with T2DM and exhibited a certain predictive value for identifying CAS. However, due to the limitations of the cross-sectional study design, the causal relationship between the two requires further validation in prospective cohort studies.

CONCLUSION: A three-week pulmonary rehabilitation with usual program is effective and comparable to an intensive program in increasing exercise capacity, improving dyspnea, and health-related quality of life in stable COPD Patients.

CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that SIRI and SII are valuable inflammatory biomarkers for evaluating the severity of coronary artery disease in elderly patients, highlighting the role of systemic inflammation in the progression of age-related atherosclerosis. As the first systematic comparison of five hematologic composite indices in a geriatric cohort, our findings suggest that SII and SIRI-both cost-effective and readily available parameters-are closely associated with CAD severity,...

CONCLUSION: This study suggests that non-contrast TTE shows reasonable consistency with IC-ECG, with short operation time and acceptable patient discomfort. TTE may serve as a feasible, real-time, non-invasive alternative for patients in whom IC-ECG cannot be used.

Given that the evidence of a longitudinal association between cumulative blood pressure (BP) levels and cognitive function is inadequate and inconclusive, we conducted this study to determine whether higher cumulative BP was independently associated with subsequent cognitive decline and to evaluate the potential dose-response relationship between them. This cohort study used data from the 2011 to 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). All cognitive test scores were...

This study aimed to evaluate the safety and physiologic effects of sevoflurane anesthesia, induced with a face mask under manual restraint and maintained with intermittent positive pressure ventilation (IPPV) at 1 bpm, in captive juvenile green anacondas (Eunectes murinus). Anesthetic depth parameters were recorded from induction to recovery. Venous blood gas analysis, along with two-dimensional echocardiography were performed under manual restraint prior to induction and during anesthesia....

Aim To determine and compare myocardial strain parameters for the left ventricle (LV), left atrium (LA), and right ventricle (RV) in healthy individuals using speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) across equipment from two different manufacturers.Material and methods The study included 30 subjects with no known cardiovascular disease at the time of enrollment. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) was performed on all participants on the same day within a single hour by the same experienced...

Objective. We developed stroke volume variation (SVV) Net, a deep learning-based model for estimating SVV, and validated its performance and clinical applicability through both large-scale retrospective modeling and prospective real-time deployment within intraoperative settings.Approach. A SVVNet was trained on arterial blood pressure (ABP) waveforms from 2849 patients undergoing general anesthesia at Asan Medical Center (AMC). For retrospective validation, we utilized AMC cohorts and a...

Postprandial hypotension (PPH) is a common but underrecognized condition in older adults that affects nearly half of the population and is frequently associated with autonomic dysfunction. Unlike orthostatic hypotension (OH), PPH often presents with sleepiness and syncope. Its prevalence and severity are influenced by meal composition, particularly carbohydrate content, and the time of day, with morning meals posing a greater risk. Its pathophysiology involves splanchnic blood pooling, altered...

Coronary artery anomalies (CAA) are relatively rare and underdiagnosed congenital heart disease spectrum, however, becoming more visible along with imaging diagnostic advancements. The linkage between a benign course of arteries and serious complications, even as sudden cardiac death, underscores the importance of CAA diagnosis and assessing its effect on heart muscle physiology. Computed tomography with intravenous contrast administration remains the gold standard of imaging, allowing for the...

Thrombotic occlusion of the radial artery is the most frequent complication of transradial angiography. This study sought to investigate biomarker-based predictors of radial artery occlusion (RAO) after coronary angiography (CAG) and/or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Consecutive patients who underwent cardiac catheterization through radial artery route for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes were included in the study retrospectively. The clinical, laboratory, and angiographic data...

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disease frequently complicated by pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Global cardiac function is a key determinant of prognosis and treatment response in SSc-PAH, necessitating precise and dynamic assessment. Echocardiography provides a comprehensive, noninvasive modality for this purpose. This narrative review synthesizes recent advances in echocardiographic evaluation of global cardiac function in...

CONCLUSIONS: MIP is a significant predictor of exercise capacity in HFpEF and HFmrEF; however, its relationship with LAsr was influenced by confounding factors. It is essential to address inspiratory muscle weakness for effective management of patients with HFpEF and HFmrEF.

CONCLUSION: Elevated plasma desLDL levels were significantly associated with the presence of CAD and reflected anatomical disease burden, demonstrating superior predictive performance compared with conventional lipid markers.

Patients referred to specialist hypertension clinics often have complex disease characterized by secondary causes, treatment resistance and coexisting kidney disease. Real-world outcome data in this setting remain limited. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 199 patients attending a tertiary hypertension clinic between January 2017 and December 2023. Baseline demographics, comorbidities, antihypertensive therapy, and blood pressure (BP) were recorded. BP changes were assessed annually...

The DIGIT-HF (Digitoxin to Improve Outcomes in Patients With Advanced Chronic Heart Failure; N Engl J Med 2025; 393(12):1155-1165) trial compared digitoxin with placebo, added to guideline-directed medical therapy in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Compared with placebo, digitoxin reduced the incidence of the composite endpoint of death from any cause or first hospitalization for worsening heart failure by 18% over a median follow-up of 36 months (hazard ratio...

CONCLUSION: The Holmlund-Grooten test is a valid submaximal test for estimating VO₂peak in wheelchair users with SCI and can be easily implemented in clinical settings.

CONCLUSION: The simplified right atrial Ao-SVC GP ablation effectively treats vagal bradycardia. Additionally, combining it with radiofrequency ablation for concurrent tachyarrhythmia offers a safe and innovative therapy.

CONCLUSIONS: In HFpEF, the TyG index and 2D-RVFWLS provide independent prognostic value superior to 3D-RVEF. Their combination offers robust risk stratification, particularly for the vulnerable phenotype of HFpEF with CKD.

CONCLUSIONS: Patients with HFpEF exhibit impaired whole-muscle oxidative capacity of skeletal muscle, as shown by two different 31P-MRS protocols with upper leg measurements, independent of ID status.

Coronary artery fistulas (CAF) are rare and can be subdivided into coronary-cameral fistulas and coronary arteriovenous fistulas. The majority of these fistulae drain into the right atrium or the pulmonary artery. The right coronary artery (RCA) is the most common site for CAF, accounting for approximately 55% of cases, followed by the left coronary artery（LCA ） (35%). Usually, CAF are discovered accidentally for no unique features and symptoms. However, symptoms such as myocardial ischemia,...

CONCLUSION: Pressure and resistance based echocardiographic parameters, namely, TRV, TRPG, PASP, mPAP, the TAPSE/PASP ratio, and PVR estimation, demonstrate good accuracy in diagnosing PH in adult patients with uncorrected secundum ASD. A TRV cutoff of ≥2.96 m/s improves specificity in this population.

Pregnancy is characterized by profound cardiovascular remodeling aimed at meeting the metabolic demands of the mother and the developing fetus. Recent longitudinal studies have reported a progressive reduction in left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LV-GLS) and right ventricular free-wall longitudinal strain during normal pregnancy, despite preservation of conventional indices of systolic function. While these changes have traditionally been attributed to physiological hemodynamic...

CONCLUSIONS: Current evidence suggests that the ratio between TAPSE/sPAP may represent a clinically accessible marker of right ventricular adaptation to pulmonary vascular load in systemic sclerosis. Nevertheless, the available literature remains limited and largely observational, and proposed threshold values differ across clinical contexts. This index should therefore be interpreted within specific clinical scenarios rather than as a universal prognostic cut-off. Further prospective and...

CONCLUSION: AS patients demonstrate a significant subclinical shift toward increased left ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony detectable by 3DE despite normal ejection fraction. This alteration is independently associated with disease activity, suggesting a potential link with systemic inflammatory burden and early myocardial mechanical impairment. These findings indicate that 3DE-derived mechanical dyssynchrony may represent an early and sensitive marker of subclinical cardiovascular...

CONCLUSION: This study indicates that BMT may adversely affect RV systolic and diastolic functions as well as pulmonery artery stiffness (PAS). Advanced echocardiographic assessment in patients at risk of cardiotoxicity during the pre- and posttransplant period may facilitate early detection and implementation of preventive and therapeutic strategies.

CONCLUSIONS: Significant sex-dependent and age-dependent disparities exist in both the prevalence of clinical exclusion criteria and participation rates among eligible patients in an AF screening study. These differences should be carefully considered in the design and planning of future clinical studies to improve representativeness.

Vectorcardiography provides a spatial orientation and magnitude of the electrical activity of the heart, but its complexity and lack of interactive resources have limited its application in medical and bioengineering education. To bridge this pedagogical gap, we developed a low-cost, real-time vectorcardiography simulator integrating a physical wet-lab interface and digital signal processing. The hardware setup consists of a conductive medium and electrodes, enabling users to manually simulate a...

CONCLUSION: Tofacitinib shows promising results in managing treatment-refractory CS, with seven out of eight patients achieving significant reduction in myocardial inflammation and corticosteroid dependency. However, further studies with larger prospective cohorts are essential to solidify these findings and assess the drug's efficacy and safety profile in this complex patient group.

A non-smoking housewife in her 70s with underlying hypertension, dyslipidaemia and kyphoscoliosis presented with chest pain and acute respiratory distress. Reduced breath sounds were noted over the right lung. Initial ECG showed ST-segment elevation in leads V3-V5, and focused echocardiography showed septal wall hypokinesia, suggestive of myocardial infarction. Fibrinolysis therapy was started due to percutaneous coronary intervention service limitation. Despite treatment, there were no signs of...

Hypertension-mediated organ damage (HMOD) plays a central role in cardiovascular risk stratification, yet real-world implementation of guideline-recommended screening remains heterogeneous across Asian healthcare systems. We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study of 315 hospitalized hypertensive patients admitted to a Vietnamese tertiary referral hospital between January and June 2024 to evaluate completion rates of HMOD-related investigations and the detected burden of organ damage...

Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors have demonstrated modest blood pressure-lowering effects in patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The recent real-world analysis by Ito et al. investigated blood pressure changes after SGLT2 inhibitor initiation in individuals not receiving antihypertensive therapy. While the study provides valuable observational data, several methodological and interpretative issues deserve further discussion. These include limitations related to...

The study of associations between an individual's age and imaging and non-imaging data is an active research area that attempts to aid understanding of the effects and patterns of aging. In this work, we have conducted a supervoxel-wise association study between both volumetric and tissue attenuation features in coronary computed tomography angiograms (CCTA) and the chronological age of a subject, to understand the localized changes in morphology and CT attenuation (as a measure of tissue...