The Role of Modification of the Original Ozaki Technique in the Treatment of Aortic Valve Diseases

Adrián Kolesár, Tomáš Toporcer, Petr Kačer, Miroslav Gejguš, Martin Sivčo, František Sabol

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):547-550 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.048  

The aim of this pilot study is to present our one-year experience with the modification of the original Ozaki procedure for patients with an aortic valve stenosis and aortic valve infective endocarditis. Thirteen patients at the age of 70.5 ± 10 (women/men: 8/5) underwent a replacement of the aortic valve using autologous or heterologous equinus pericardium. The indication for surgery was aortic valve stenosis (n = 10) or aortic valve regurgitation due to infective endocarditis (n = 3). Concomitant MAZE procedure (n = 2), aortocoronary bypass (n = 1), and left ventricular outflow tract myectomy (n = 1) were performed in four patients. One patient...

Long-term outcomes of mitral valve repair with the Classic and Physio rings

Abubakari I. Sidiki, Alexandr G. Faybushevich, Alexandr N. Lishchuk, Alexandr N. Koltunov

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):551-558 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.054  

Background: The Carpentier-Edwards semi-rigid Physio ring (PR) is considered an improvement of the rigid Classic ring (CR). Hence, the former is nowadays widely used in mitral valve (MV) repair. We sought to compare the long-term outcomes of MV repair with the CR and PR in degenerative mitral valve disease (MVD). Methods: In a computerized registry of our institution, 306 patients were found to have had MV repair with the CR (139 patients) or PR (167 patients) between 2005 and 2015. Fifteen of them had concomitant tricuspid valve repair. Out of the total number, 92 patients (30.1%) were diagnosed with Barlow's disease and 214 patients (69.9%) with...

(Epidemiology of infective endocarditis in south Bohemia)

David Foral, Jiří Haniš, František Toušek, Štěpánka Šindelářová, Aleš Mokráček, Magdaléna Horníková

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):559-565 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.052  

Purpose and methods: The characteristics of infective endocarditis (IE) have long been changing. The aim of the present study was to map the incidence of IE in south Bohemia in the 2013-2019 period and to review the current status of the disease. Using an unselected retrospective group of patients diagnosed with IE in the 2013-2019 period, we analyzed the incidence in individual years, characteristics of infection, pathogens therapeutic strategy and mortality. Subgroups of patients with IE caused by Staphylococcus aureus (STAU) bacteria and streptococci were assessed separately. Results: Overall, 171 cases of IE with an incidence of 3.4 cases...

Do patients with heart failure and preserved, mid-range or reduced ejection fraction have different outcomes?

Ralitsa Pancheva, Svetoslav Yovev, Vasil Kolev, Blagovest Stoimenov

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):567-573 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.089  

Introduction: The therapeutic strategies and prognosis in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) are well established. However, the prognosis of HF patients with preserved EF (HFpEF) and HF with mid-range EF (HFmrEF) remains not well understood. Purpose: To investigate the risk factors, clinical and echocardiographic characteristics and prognosis of Bulgarian patients with HFpEF, HFmrEF, and HFrEF. Methods: In this observational study 890 patients were included. All of them were admitted to our Cardiology department between the years 2012 and 2014 for decompensated chronic HF. Results: The patients with HFpEF (609, 68.4%), HFmrEF (145,...

(Stenting of arterial duct and right ventricular outflow tract as alternative to surgical shunts in children with cyanotic congenital heart defects)

Ondřej Materna, Petr Tax, Jan Janoušek, Oleg Reich

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):574-577 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.078  

Aim: Analysis of right ventricular outflow tract and arterial duct stenting used as alternative to surgical systemic to pulmonary shunts in newborns and infants with congenital heart defects and critically low pulmonary blood flow. Methods: From 7/2012 to 12/2019 15 consecutive patients aged 2-102 (median 14, IQR 8-27) days having a median weight of 3.1 (IQR 2.6-3.7) kg were treated. In 11 patients with tetralogy of Fallot or Fallot type double-outlet right ventricle stents were implanted into the right ventricular outflow tract. In the remaining four patients (three patients with critical pulmonary valve stenosis and insufficient right ventricular...

(Current trend in minimally invasive aortic valve surgery in the Czech Republic)

Ján Gofus, Svetlana Drábková, Martin Voborník, Marek Pojar, Jan Vojáček

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):578-582 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.096  

Aims: Minimally invasive surgical approaches to aortic valve replacement are a popular compromise between standard replacement through median sternotomy and transcatheter aortic valve implantation. The aim of our study was to analyze the respective surgical approaches and their outcomes in the last five years in the Czech Republic. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of all the isolated surgical aortic valve replacements performed in the Czech Republic between 2015 and 2019 from the aspect of surgical approach. For this purpose, we took the cohort data from National Registry of Cardiovascular Surgeries and Interventions. We assessed the...

A Google Trends Analysis: Change in internet searches related to cardiovascular disease during COVID-19 outbreak

Yakup Alsancak, Murat Gul

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):583-587 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.072  

Aim: A rapidly grown up information about coronavirus (COVID-19) has been regularly broadcast on internet websites or social media. We investigated the Google research trends in searches regarding cardiovascular system diseases or symptoms such as chest pain, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, heart attack during the COVID-19 pandemic in two countries, Turkey and Italy, which are most affected by this disease. Methods: The Google Trends^TM (GT^TM) was used to retrieve data on Internet user search activities and pat- terns of Google search queries. We searched most known keywords related to cardiovascular disease and symptoms such as...

(Interventions in Care of Patients with Heart Failure for Improvement of Quality of Life)

Katka Bobčíková, Radka Bužgová

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):588-594 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.038  

Aim: The aim of the overview article is to analyze any studies focusing on the evaluation of the quality of life of patients with heart failure in connection with interventions in the care of these patients which could improve their quality of life. Methods: The databases Medline, Cinahl, and PubMed were used for the research. Studies published between 2014 and 2019, in Czech and English language, available in full text were searched. They also had to focus on the evaluation of quality of life using a tool designed for the quality of life assessment in patients with heart failure. The overview includes studies which focused on the quality of life evaluation...

(The Role of PET/CT in Non-perfusion Cardiology)

David Zogala

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):595-601 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.036  

The positron emission tomography combined with computer tomography (PET/CT) is a well established imag- ing modality in the oncological practice. The most frequently used radiopharmaceutical is 2-deoxy-2-(¹⁸F)fluoro-D-glucose (FDG). Due to the unspecific nature of its biodistribution high uptake of FDG reflects also increased metabolic turnover in the cells mediating inflammatory reaction. The most important role of FDG PET/CT in cardiac non-perfusion imaging is in the detection of the inflammation of the heart compartments, ev. implantable devices. The neoplastic diseases of the heart represent another (less frequent) possible role for...

(The Role of PET/CT in Angiology)

David Zogala

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):602-608 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.037  

The positron emission tomography combined with computer tomography (PET/CT) is a well established imag- ing modality in the oncological practice. The most frequently used radiopharmaceutical is 2-deoxy-2-(¹⁸F)fluoro-D-glucose (FDG). Due to the unspecific nature of its biodistribution high uptake of FDG reflects also increased metabolic turnover in the cells mediating inflammatory reaction. The most important role of FDG PET/CT in vascular imaging is in the detection of infection/inflammation. It is used mainly in the diagnosis of vasculitis, vascular graft infection, and inflammatory aneurysm and rarely in the diagnosis of vascular tumors....

A review of cardiac involvement in COVID-19 infection

Zeinab Mohseni Afshar, Arefeh Babazadeh, Mostafa Javanian, Elham Ramezani, Reyhaneh Shemshadi, Soheil Ebrahimpour

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):610-615 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.102  

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Some studies reported SARS-CoV-2 may result in cardiovascular complications such as myocarditis, myocardial injury, acute myocardial infarction, arrhythmia, heart failure, and cardiomyopathy. It has been shown that COVID-19 patients with pre-existing medical conditions, such as heart disease, are at higher risk of increased mortality. Physicians should be well aware of cardiovascular complications when examining and treating patients with COVID-19 infection. Therefore,...

(Dapagliflozin and heart failure)

Jindřich Špinar, Lenka Špinarová, Jiří Vítovec

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):618-623 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.103  

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is common in patients with chronic heart failure and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Significant advances have recently occured in the treatment of T2DM and cardiovascular diseases. Several new glucose lowering drugs have shown either neutral or positive cardiovascular effect especially on hospitalisations, but also on mortality. Some of these drugs have safety characteristics with strong practical implication in heart failure, for example dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP-4), glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1) and sodium-glucose co-transporters type 2 inhibitors (SGLT-2). Position...

(Do we need another intravenous beta-blocker?)

Tomáš Janota

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):625-628 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.112  

Beta-blockers are useful in a number of clinical situations. However, the benefits of new short-acting drugs in critically ill patients are not well-known or fully appreciated. The following article is mainly devoted to the benefits of landiolol with a very short duration of action and extraordinary β1 selectivity in patients with tachycardia or tachyarrhythmias and concomitant heart failure to shock, aortic dissection, perioperative period, acute coronary syndromes, takotsubo syndrome, but also angiography.

Acute mesenteric ischemia caused by floating thrombus of the descending thoracic aorta - case report

Ernest Biroš, Robert Staffa, Tomáš Novotný, Robert Vlachovský, Miroslav Krejčí

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):629-632 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2020.091  

Introduction: Floating thrombus of the descending thoracic aorta (FTDTA) is defined as the presence of a thrombus inside the thoracic aorta, which is caused by an injury to the thoracic aortic wall (dissection, atherosclerosis, tumour, or trauma) or a thrombophilic state in the absence of a thoracic aortic wall injury. It is a rare condition, but can result in peripheral embolisation mainly into the limbs or visceral circulation. Report: A 63-year-old woman presented with signs of visceral embolisation into the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) and splenic artery (SA). Preoperative CT angiography (CTA) discovered the presence of FTDTA. She underwent...

Odešel velikán české a evropské kardiologie – prof. MUDr. Jiří Widimský, DrSc.

Michael Aschermann

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):635  

Milan Kvapil (ed.): Diabetologie 2019

Prof. MUDr. Jan Petrášek, DrSc.

Cor Vasa 2020, 62(6):636