Background: Many etiologies causing pulmonary hypertension (PH) have been reported, and one of the background disease seen with patients with PH is chronic renal failure (CRF); however, the pathogenesis of PH in this group of patients is not explained satisfactorily. Objectives: The aims of this study were to evaluate the incidence of unexplained PH among patients with CRF and to suggest possible etiologic factors. Methods: Two hundred and eleven patients with CRF were evaluated and the ones who have comorbid conditions that cause PH were excluded. Pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) and cardiac functions were evaluated by Doppler echocardiography. Arteriovenous fistula (AVF) flow was measured by Doppler sonography. The patients were followed for at least 6 months. Results: Forty-eight CRF patients (20 males, 28 females) were included: 23 were predialysis patients, and 25 patients received hemodialysis via AVF. Patients were followed for 7.5 ± 1.01 months. Systolic PAP >35 mm Hg was found in 56% (14/25) of patients receiving hemodialysis (36.8 ± 10.7 mm Hg) and in 39.1% (9/23) of predialysis patients (29.5 ± 9.5 mm Hg). The parathyroid hormone level, cardiac output values and CRF duration were found to be increased in patients with elevated systolic PAP (p < 0.05). AVF flow and AVF duration were positively correlated with systolic PAP in patients receiving hemodialysis (p < 0.05). There was a negative correlation between systolic PAP and residual urine volume (p < 0.05). AVF compression in hemodialysis patients decreased systolic PAP from 36.8 ± 10.7 to 32.8 ± 10.5 mm Hg. Systolic PAP values were increased at the end of the study in the predialysis group, whereas they were decreased at the end of the follow-up in the hemodialysis group (36.9 ± 10.5 and 32.04 ± 10.5 mm Hg, respectively). Conclusions: This study demonstrates a high incidence of PH among patients with CRF. CRF duration, AVF flow, parathyroid hormone level and cardiac output may be involved in the pathogenesis of PH. The effective hemodialysis and dry weight reduction decreased systolic PAP values.

In the present study, we found that NLR levels were significantly correlated with BP variability. The measurement of NLR may be used to indicate increased risk of HT-related adverse cardiovascular events.

Abnormal left ventricle (LV) geometric patterns are associated with an increased risk of vascular complications of hypertension (HT). The association between red-cell distribution width (RDW) and HT has been recently investigated; however, the relationship between abnormal LV geometric patterns and RDW has not been studied before. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between RDW and abnormal LV geometric patterns in patients with untreated essential HT. Measurements were obtained from 139 patients with untreated essential HT (mean age=51.3±16.3 years). Four different geometric patterns (NG, normal geometry; CR, concentric remodeling; EH, eccentric hypertrophy; CH, concentric hypertrophy) were determined according to the LV mass index (LVMI) and relative wall thickness (RWT). RDW, lipid parameters and other biochemical markers were measured in all patients. While the highest RDW values were detected in the CH group (P<0.05, for all), it was similar among the NG, CR and EH groups (P>0.05, for all). RDW was associated with age, LVMI and LV geometry in bivariate analysis (P<0.05, for all). In a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, a level of RDW>14.5 predicted CH with 81% sensitivity and 59% specificity. Age (beta=0.309, P=0.001), LV geometry type (beta=0.228, P=0.01) and RWT (beta=-0.278; P=0.25) were independent predictors of high RDW in multiple linear regression analysis. In conclusion, the highest RDW values were observed in the CH group in the untreated essential HT patients. RDW seems to be a useful tool for the prediction of end-organ damage in patients with untreated essential HT.

The results show that lesser degrees of nocturnal dip and eLVH are associated with increased degrees of depression, implying that hypervolemia is strongly associated with depression and might be a component of strong relationships involving malnutrition, inflammation, and atherosclerosis in CHD patients.

Transient contrast neurotoxicity is a rare but well-recognized complication of angiography that is due to neurotoxicity of the contrast agent. Patients with renal dysfunction may be inclined to develop contrast medium neurotoxicity due to delayed elimination of the contrast medium in renal metabolism. In this report, we present an unusual case of transient neurotoxicity in a patient with severe chronic kidney disease following percutaneous coronary intervention mimicking clinically and radiologically subarachnoid hemorrhage. The patient’s clinical symptoms improved rapidly and fully recovered after hemodialysis and conservative treatment. We believe that performing early hemodialysis is an effective treatment to improve symptoms in end-stage renal disease patients with contrast-induced encephalopathy.

Purpose: The syndromes of myocardial infarction/myocardial ischemia with No Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease (MINOCA/INOCA) are seen more and more often. Endothelial dysfunction (ED) leading to ischemic events has been reported in many of these patients. We aimed to compare patients with MINOCA and INOCA regarding brachial artery flow-mediated endothelium-dependent vasodilation (flowmediated dilation [FMD]) and plasma concentration of cardiotrophin-1 (CT-1).Methods: We included 42 patients with MINOCA and 38 patients with INOCA.Endothelial function was assessed by measuring FMD% and nitroglycerin-mediated dilatation (NMD%) in the brachial artery. The plasma level of CT-1 was determined by solid-phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results: FMD% was significantly lower in MINOCA than in INOCA patients (6.45

Background: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the degree of malnutrition and inadequate volume control evidenced by echocardiography. Methods: In this study 72 chronic hemodialysis patients were investigated in a cross-sectional manner. The malnutrition score was calculated using Subjective Global Assessment. M-mode echocardiography was performed in all patients. Results: The highest malnutrition score (23.2 ± 1.5 points) and lowest vena cava inferior collapse index (35 ± 2%) were observed in the eccentric left ventricular hypertrophy group. The malnutrition index was found to be in positive relationship with the left atrium diameter and index, left ventricular mass and index, and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter. On the other hand, a negative correlation was detected with the vena cava inferior collapse index. When all parameters that were found to be related to malnutrition were assessed by multivariate analyses, a statistically significant relation was found between the left ventricular end-diastolic diameter and the malnutrition index. Conclusion: The results of our study show that the progressive worsening of the nutritional status follows a parallel course along with the deterioration in the echocardiographic parameters concerning hypervolemia. This in turn suggests that increasing degrees of malnutrition are associated with more profound derangements in the volume status. Volume excess might be a mechanism explaning the increased mortality and morbidity caused by malnutrition in hemodialysis patients. Owing to its cross-sectional design, this study cannot provide unequivocal evidence regarding the cause and effect relationship between volume overload and malnutrition in hemodialysis patients.

Coronary artery dissection is a rare complication after blunt chest trauma. Patients usually present with sudden death and the diagnosis is frequently missed. In this report, we present a case of a 46-year-old with a hyperacute anterior wall myocardial infarction after blunt chest trauma. Diagnostic coronary angiography showed total occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) starting at the takeoff of the vessel from the left main coronary artery (LMCA). A bare-metal stent was immediately deployed at the proximal LAD and TIMI 3 flow was achieved; however post-procedural images revealed no satisfactory results. A proximal dissection and intraluminal thrombus extending to the LMCA was observed. Because of the proximity of the lesion to the LMCA, re-intervention was considered to be risky and urgent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) was planned. Coronary artery stenting is the advised treatment modality for coronary occlusion after blunt chest trauma. However, post-traumatic percutaneous coronary intervention was sometimes considered to be risky because of the anatomic features of the lesion. Timing is cardinal in achieving early reperfusion in the course of myocardial infarction after blunt chest trauma and CABG should be the preferred procedure for initial reperfusion treatment especially in proximal LAD dissections with subsequent thrombus formation leading to total occlusion of the artery.Key Words: Chest trauma; coronary artery dissection; percutaneous coronary intervention.Künt göğüs travması sonrası koroner arter diseksiyonu nadir bir komplikasyondur. Hastalar genellikle ani ölüm ile gelirler ve tanı çoğu zaman atlanmaktadır. Bu yazıda künt göğüs travması sonrası hiperakut önyüz miyokart enfarktüsü gelişen 46 yaşında bir olgu sunuldu. Tanısal koroner anjiyografi sol ana koroner arter çıkışından başlayan sol ön inen arterin (LAD) total oklüzyonunu göstermekteydi. Koroner anjiyografi sonrası hızlıca proksimal LAD'ye çıplak stent yerleştirildi ve TIMI 3 akım elde edildi; fakat işlem sonrası görüntüler tatminkâr sonuçlar göstermedi. Proksimal bir diseksiyon ve sol ana koronere yayılan intraluminal trombüs gözlendi. Lezyonun sol ana koroner artere yakınlığından dolayı tekrar girişim riskli bulundu ve acil koroner arter baypas greftleme (CABG) planlandı. Koroner arter stentleme, künt göğüs travması sonrası gelişen koroner tıkanıklıkta tavsiye edilen tedavi yöntemidir. Fakat lezyonun anatomik özelliklerine bağlı olarak perkütan koroner girişim bazen riskli olarak kabul edilmektedir. Künt göğüs travması sonrası miyokart enfarktüsü durumunda erken reperfüzyonun sağlanmasında zamanlama önemlidir ve CABG özellikle damarın total oklüzyonuna yol açan trombüs oluşumu ile birlikte olan proksimal LAD diseksiyonlarında başlangıç reperfüzyon tedavisi için tercih edilen yöntem olmalıdır.Anahtar Sözcükler: Göğüs travması; koroner arter diseksiyonu; perkutan koroner girişim.