Background: We investigated the usefulness of the left atrial (LA) strain measurement on the prediction of upcoming cancer therapeutics-related cardiac dysfunction (CTRCD) after trastuzumab therapy in patients with breast cancer who did not develop CTRCD after chemotherapy. Methods: A total of 72 females with breast cancer who did not develop CTRCD after chemotherapy and underwent additional trastuzumab therapy were divided into CTRCD (n = 13) and no CTRCD group (n = 59). Echocardiographic measurements including left ventricular global longitudinal strain (LVGLS) and peak atrial longitudinal strain (PALS) decline were compared. Results: CTRCD was identified in 13 patients (18.1%) after additional trastuzumab therapy. Baseline echocardiographic findings were not different. After the completion of chemotherapy, conventional echocardiographic parameters were not different, but PALS decline (15.0 ± 4.7 vs. 8.9 ± 3.2%, p < 0.001) and LVGLS decline (10.5 ± 1.3 vs. 9.1 ± 1.1%, p = 0.002) were significantly greater in CTRCD than in no CTRCD group. PALS decline at the time of chemotherapy completion could predict future CTRCD after trastuzumab therapy with better sensitivity and specificity (cutoff value 11.79%, sensitivity 76.9% and specificity 81.4%) than LVGLS decline (cutoff value 9.9%, sensitivity 69.2% and specificity 78.0%). Conclusions: PALS or LVGLS decline developed before developing overt CTRCD after chemotherapy for breast cancer, and PALS decline showed better sensitivity and specificity in predicting future CTRCD than LVGLS decline. Serial measurement of PALS can be used as a useful parameter in the prediction of future CTRCD.
BackgroundTo investigate the impacts of carotid plaque and intima-media thickness (IMT) on future vascular events (VEs) in the patients with acute ischemic stroke.MethodsA total of 479 consecutive Korean patients with acute ischemic stroke were divided into 2 groups according to development of VEs; VE group (65.4 ± 10.9 years) vs no VE group (62.8 ± 13.2 years). VEs were defined as the development of recurrent stroke, coronary events, peripheral arterial disease, and death. Clinical, laboratory, and imaging findings were compared between the groups.ResultsDuring 105.5 ± 29.0 months of follow up, VEs were developed in 142 patients (29.6%). In univariate analysis, VEs were significantly associated with age, gender, diabetes, renal function, lipid levels, left ventricular function, carotid plaque or IMT. In multivariate analysis, the presence of carotid plaque, diabetes, renal function and male gender were independent predictors of future VEs in the patients with ischemic stroke, but carotid IMT was not a predictor of future VEs. Event free survival was significantly lower in patients with carotid plaque than without carotid plaque on Kaplan-Meier analysis (log rank p < 0.001).ConclusionThe present study demonstrated that diabetes, impaired renal function, male gender, and the presence of carotid plaque rather than IMT were independent predictors of future VEs in Korean patients with acute ischemic stroke. Active medical management and careful monitoring for the development of recurrent VEs are strongly recommended in patients with acute ischemic stroke and carotid plaque.
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a complication of multiple myeloma (MM); however, the clinical outcomes and prognosis are relatively not well known. We aimed to investigate the risk factors of transthoracic echocardiography-defined PH and its impact on the clinical outcome in patients with MM. A retrospective study was performed using data from the Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital database for patients who underwent transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) within 1 month of the MM diagnosis between January 2007 and December 2017. PH was defined as an estimated right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) > 40 mmHg. A total of 390 patients were included. TTE-defined PH was observed in 107 patients (27%). During the follow-up period (median, 688 days), all-cause death was noted for 134 patients (34.4%). In the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, the cumulative overall survival and cardiovascular death-free survival rates were significantly lower in the PH group than in the non-PH group ( P < .001). In the propensity score-matched population, RVSP > 40 mmHg on TTE and history of congestive heart failure (CHF) were identified as the significant independent predictors of all-cause and cardiovascular death. This study reports that the prevalence of TTE-defined PH is higher in patients with MM than in the general population. Moreover, TTE-defined PH and a history of CHF are the independent prognostic factors for all-cause and cardiovascular death in patients with MM. These results highlight the risk of associated cardiovascular disease in patients with MM and emphasize the importance of management strategies that prevent the deterioration of cardiac function.
Background and ObjectivesThis study aims to investigate the clinical features, angiographic findings, and outcomes of younger Korean ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients.Subjects and MethodsWe analyzed major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry from November 2005 to October 2010. The registered patients were divided into two groups; young age group (<65 years) and old age group (≥65 years).ResultsThe young age group included 5281 patients (age, 53±7.8 years), and the old age group included 4896 patients (age, 74.3±6.5 years). Male gender, smoking, family history, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome were more frequently observed in the young age group than in the old age group (89.5% vs. 59.3%, p<0.001; 77.3% vs. 47.2%, p<0.001; 11% vs. 4.6%, p<0.001; 11.2% vs. 7.7%, p<0.001; 67.6% vs. 62.9%, p<0.001). Most of the young Korean adults with STEMI complained of typical chest pain (89.8%), and they had a shorter symptom-to-door time (12±53.2 hours vs. 17.3±132 hours, p=0.010). The young age group showed a favorable prognosis, which was represented by the MACE, compared with the old age group at one month (1.8% vs. 2.8%, p=0.028), six months (6.8% vs. 8.2%, p<0.001), and twelve months (10.1% vs. 11.9%, p=0.025). However, there was no significant difference in the adjusted MACE rate at one month {hazard ratio (HR) 0.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.60-1.51, p=0.828} and twelve months (HR 0.86, 95% CI 0.68-1.10, p=0.233).ConclusionYounger Korean adults with STEMI have clinical outcomes similar to old aged patients, and therefore, they should be treated intensively like the elderly patients.
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