Backgrounds: The exercise treadmill test can be used in ventricular dysfunction patients for functional capacity or predicting prognosis. The cardiac image with 123I MIBG shows cardiac sympathetic activation.

Pressure changes in the aorta, left atrium, and main pulmonary artery were measured before, during, and after inducing increased intracranial pressure in cats. By selectively controlling each of the three pressures, it was concluded that pulmonary arterial hypertension is the single most important precursor of experimental neurogenic pulmonary edema. An earlier observation that neurogenic pulmonary edema may develop in the absence of systemic arterial hypertension was confirmed.

BackgroundThe association of autonomic activation, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and heart failure functional class is poorly understood. ObjectiveOur aim was to correlate symptom severity with cardiac sympathetic activity, through iodine-123-metaiodobenzylguanidine (123I-MIBG) scintigraphy and with LVEF in systolic heart failure (HF) patients without previous beta-blocker treatment. MethodsThirty-one patients with systolic HF, class I to IV of the New York Heart Association (NYHA), without previous beta-blocker treatment, were enrolled and submitted to 123I-MIBG scintigraphy and to radionuclide ventriculography for LVEF determination. The early and delayed heart/mediastinum (H/M) ratio and the washout rate (WR) were performed. ResultsAccording with symptom severity, patients were divided into group A, 13 patients in NYHA class I/II, and group B, 18 patients in NYHA class III/IV. Compared with group B patients, group A had a significantly higher LVEF (25% ± 12% in group B vs. 32% ± 7% in group A, p = 0.04). Group B early and delayed H/M ratios were lower than group A ratios (early H/M 1.49 ± 0.15 vs. 1.64 ± 0.14, p = 0.02; delayed H/M 1.39 ± 0.13 vs. 1.58 ± 0.16, p = 0.001, respectively). WR was significantly higher in group B (36% ± 17% vs. 30% ± 12%, p= 0.04). The variable that showed the best correlation with NYHA class was the delayed H/M ratio (r= -0.585; p=0.001), adjusted for age and sex. ConclusionThis study showed that cardiac 123I-MIBG correlates better than ejection fraction with symptom severity in systolic heart failure patients without previous beta-blocker treatment.

Blood pressure is not adequately controlled in almost 50% of patients with hypertension who are in receipt of antihypertensive therapy. This multicentre, prospective, open-label trial was designed to determine whether or not once-daily telmisartan 80 mg reduced blood pressure during the last 6 h of the 24-h dosing interval in patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension who were unresponsive to previous antihypertensive therapy. The study comprised 100 patients (47 males, 53 females) who had failed to respond satisfactorily to prior treatment given for a minimum of 3 months. At screening, 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) was conducted after the patient had been treated with the currently prescribed antihypertensive medication. Following 5 weeks of telmisartan 80 mg treatment, ABPM was repeated. Telmisartan significantly reduced mean systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and pulse pressure compared with previous antihypertensive therapy over each time interval (24-h, morning, night-time and the last 6 h of the dosing interval [2.00 a.m.)8.00 a.m.]) analysed. In addition, more than 90% of patients responded successfully (clinic DBP <90 mmHg or a >10 mmHg reduction in clinic DBP) at the end of telmisartan treatment. In conclusion, telmisartan provides effective blood pressure control throughout the 24-h dosing interval in patients with mild-to-moderate hypertension who were unresponsive to previous antihypertensive medication.

BackgroundAppropriateness Criteria for nuclear imaging exams were created by American College of Cardiology (ACC) e American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) to allow the rational use of tests. Little is known whether these criteria have been followed in clinical practice.ObjectiveTo evaluate whether the medical applications of myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) in a private nuclear medicine service of a tertiary cardiology hospital were suitable to the criteria of indications proposed by the American medical societies in 2005 and 2009 and compare the level of indication of both.MethodsWe included records of 383 patients that underwent MPS, November 2008 up to February 2009. Demographic characteristics, patient's origin, coronary risk factors, time of medical graduation and appropriateness criteria of medical applications were studied. The criteria were evaluated by two independent physicians and, in doubtful cases, defined by a medical expert in MPS.ResultsMean age was 65 ± 12 years. Of the 367 records reviewed, 236 (64.3%) studies were performed in men and 75 (20.4%) were internee. To ACC 2005, 255 (69.5%) were considered appropriate indication and 13 (3.5%) inappropriate. With ACC 2009, 249 (67.8%) were considered appropriate indications and 13 (5.2%) inappropriate.ConclusionsWe observed a high rate of adequacy of medical indications for MPS. Compared to the 2005 version, 2009 did not change the results.

Cardiac sympathetic overdrive provides inotropic support to the failing heart. However, as myocardial insult evolves, this compensatory response impairs contractile function and constitutes an independent mortality predictor and a primary target in the treatment of heart failure (HF). In this prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled crossover trial, we proposed cervicothoracic transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (CTENS) as a nonpharmacological therapy on cardiac sympathetic activity in patients with HF. Seventeen patients with HF were randomly assigned to an in-home CTENS (30 min twice daily, 80-Hz frequency, and 150-μs pulse duration) or a control intervention (Sham) for 14 consecutive days. Following a 60-day washout phase, patients were crossed over to the opposite intervention. The heart-to-mediastinum ratio (HMR) and washout rate (WR) (indexes of sympathetic innervation density and activity from planar 123iodo-metaiodobenzylguanidine myocardial scintigraphy images, respectively), as well as blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR), were quantified before and after each intervention. HMR, BP, and HR did not change throughout the study. Nonetheless, CTENS reduced WR (CTENS −4 ± 10 vs. Sham +5 ± 15%, P = 0.03) when compared with Sham. When allocated in two independent groups, preserved (PCSI, HMR > 1.6, n = 10) and impaired cardiac sympathetic innervation (ICSI, HRM ≤1.6, n = 7), PCSI patients showed an important attenuation of WR (−11 ± 9 vs. Sham +8 ± 19%, P = 0.007) after CTENS. Nonetheless, neither Sham nor CTENS evoked changes in WR of the ICSI patients ( P > 0.05). These findings indicate that CTENS attenuates the cardiac sympathetic overdrive in patients with HF and a preserved innervation constitutes an essential factor for this beneficial neuromodulatory impact. Clinical Trial Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Identifier: NCT03354689. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We found that short-term cervicothoracic transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (CTENS) attenuates cardiac sympathetic overdrive in patients with heart failure and a preserved autonomic innervation may constitute an essential factor to maximize this beneficial neuromodulatory effect. CTENS then emerges as an alternative noninvasive and nonpharmacological strategy to attenuate exaggerated cardiac sympathetic drive in patients with heart failure.

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RESUMOIntrodução: O teste de esforço cardiopulmonar (TECP) fornece dados que orientam tratamento, prognóstico e tomadas de decisões. Entretanto, seu uso na insuficiência cardíaca de fração de ejeção normal (ICFEN) ainda não está bem esclarecido, em especial considerando novas variáveis que vêm despontando. Objetivos: Comparar o comportamento das principais variáveis diagnósticas e prognósticas do TECP entre dois grupos: pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca de fração de ejeção reduzida (ICFER) e pacientes com ICFEN. Métodos: Foram avaliados 36 pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca em classe funcional II-III da NYAH: 20 com ICFEN e 16 com ICFER do ambulatório de insuficiência cardíaca do Hospital Universitário Antônio Pedro (UFF). Os pacientes do Grupo ICFER selecionados foram os com FE < 35% e os do grupo ICFEN seguiram os critérios diagnósticos da Sociedade Europeia de Cardiologia de 2007. Realizou-se TECP, em esteira com protocolo de rampa, com analisador de gases VO2000. Foram aplicados teste t de Student, Mann-Whitney, teste de Fisher, modelo linear generalizado e de Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel para as análises estatísticas. Resultados: O grupo ICFEN apresentou níveis mais elevados da pressão arterial em repouso, na resposta ao esforço, na potência circulatória e ventilatória, além de um maior tempo de recuperação da cinética do consumo de oxigênio. Não houve diferença em relação a outras variáveis prognósticas do TECP para o grupo ICFER. Conclusões: A pressão arterial de repouso e em esforço, a potência circulatória e ventilatória e a cinética de recuperação do VO 2 (T1/2) foram as variáveis que apresentaram maior valor discriminativo entre os grupos pelo TECP.Palavras-chave: teste de esforço; insuficiência cardíaca, exercício. ABSTRACTIntroduction: The cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPX) provides data that guide treatment, prognosis and decision making. However its use in heart failure with normal ejection fraction (HFnEF) is still not all clear, especially considering new variables that are emerging. Objective: To compare the behavior of key diagnostic and prognostic variables of CPX testing between two groups; patients with heart with reduced ejection fraction of (HfrEF) and those with HFnEF). Methods: 36 patients with heart failure were evaluated in Nyah functional class II-III: 20 with HFnEF and 16 patients with HFrEF at the Hospital Universitário Antônio Pedro (UFF). The patients from HFrEF group were those with EF<35%, and those from the HFnEF group follow the diagnostic criteria of the European Society of Cardiology 2007. CPX was performed on a treadmill with a ramp protocol, with gas analyzer VO2000. The Student t test, Mann-Whitney test and Fisher, generalized linear model and the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test for statistical analysis were applied. Results: The HFnEF group presented higher levels of blood pressure at rest, higher response to exertion, higher circulatory and ventilatory power, and longer recovery kinetics of oxygen uptake. There was no difference in relation to other prognostic variable...