Harvesting the saphenous vein with surrounding tissue provides high short- and long-term patency rates comparable to the left internal thoracic artery.

The superior long-term patency rate using the NT vein-graft technique at CABG could be explained by a significantly slower progression of atherosclerosis.

Left ventricular systolic and diastolic function can be assessed by studying mitral ring motion. Reference values for a wide range of age and body size are lacking however. The motion of the mitral ring was studied with M-mode echocardiography using the apical four- and two-chamber views. Data are reported as the average of measurements of four points on the mitral ring. Data were analysed using the stepwise multiple regression technique, with age, gender, height, weight, body surface area and heart rate as independent variables. A total of 70 healthy subjects were studied. In children and adolescents under age 18, there was strong correlation between mitral ring motion and body size, age and heart rate. The ring motion was best described as mitral ring motion (mm) = 2.2 + 0.078 x height (cm) (SEE = 1.0 mm). In adults, mitral ring motion was correlated with age, height and heart rate but not with weight or body surface area. Ring motion could be described from the following equations: mitral ring motion (mm) = 12.7 - 0.060 x age (years) + 0.031 x height (cm) (SEE = 1.2) or, if only age is taken into account, mitral ring motion = 18.4 - 0.065 x age (SEE = 1.2). In both children and adolescents up to age 18 and in adults, atrial contribution correlated significantly and positively to age and inversely to heart rate but not to height, weight, body surface area or gender. Atrial contribution was best described by the equation: atrial contribution = 0.15 + 0.0039 x age (SEE = 0.027). Thus, age and body size influences mitral ring motion and should be taken into account when interpreting patient data.

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ObjectiveWe aimed to investigate the effect of liraglutide treatment on heart function in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with subclinical heart failure.MethodsRandomized open parallel-group trial. 62 T2D patients (45 male) with subclinical heart failure were randomized to either once daily liraglutide 1.8 mg, or glimepiride 4 mg, both add on to metformin 1 g twice a day. Mitral annular systolic (s′) and early diastolic (e′) velocities were measured at rest and during bicycle ergometer exercise, using tissue Doppler echocardiography. The primary endpoint was 18-week treatment changes in longitudinal functional reserve index (LFRIdiastolic/systolic).ResultsClinical characteristics between groups (liraglutide = 33 vs. glimepiride = 29) were well matched. At baseline left ventricle ejection fraction (53.7 vs. 53.6%) and global longitudinal strain (−15.3 vs. −16.5%) did not differ between groups. There were no significant differences in mitral flow velocities between groups. For the primary endpoint, there was no treatment change [95% confidence interval] for: LFRIdiastolic (−0.18 vs. −0.53 [−0.28, 2.59; p = 0.19]), or LFRIsystolic (−0.10 vs. −0.18 [−1.0, 1.7; p = 0.54]); for the secondary endpoints, there was a significant treatment change in respect of body weight (−3.7 vs. −0.2 kg [−5.5, −1.4; p = 0.001]), waist circumference (−3.1 vs. −0.8 cm [−4.2, −0.4; p = 0.019]), and heart rate (HR) (6.3 vs. −2.3 bpm [−3.0, 14.2; p = 0.003]), with no such treatment change in hemoglobin A1c levels (−11.0 vs. −9.2 mmol/mol [−7.0, 2.6; p = 0.37]), between groups.Conclusion18-week treatment of liraglutide compared with glimepiride did not improve LFRIdiastolic/systolic, but however increased HR. There was a significant treatment change in body weight reduction in favor for liraglutide treatment.