[ISOTOPE BASED CARDIAC DIAGNOSTICS - POSSIBILITIES IN NUCLEAR CARDIOLOGY]
BALOGH Ildikó
MAY 20, 2005
Lege Artis Medicinae - 2005;15(05)
BALOGH Ildikó
MAY 20, 2005
Lege Artis Medicinae - 2005;15(05)
[Methods of nuclear cardiology have been applied for several decades and there is continuous development in this area. The most commonly used modality is the myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS). During stress MPS, the presence and the severity of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) can be detected. Resting MPS can show a freshly developing acut myocardial infarction (AMI) immediately, but new and old infarcted myocardial areas can not be distinguished by this method. Using SPECT (single photon emission tomography) examination and quantitative analysis can improve the accuracy of MPS. With gated SPECT we can analyse both the perfusion and the function of left ventricle. To examine the function of left and right ventricle the “gold standard” non-invasive method is MUGA (multiple gated acquisition) of blood pool scintigraphy. After only a few hours of the onset of AMI we can detect it with the socalled infarct avid scintigraphy using radiopharmaceuticals which accumulate in affected area. Following an AMI it is essential to differentiate among high and low risk patients for revascularisation treatment, therefore distinguishing the viable (hibernating) and non-viable (necrotic) myocardium with imaging techniques is an important task. Preserved metabolism as the sign of viable myocardium can be detected both by SPECT (most accurately by thallium rest-redistribution scintigraphy) and PET (detecting glucose metabolism by F-18-FDG). Adrenerg receptor scintigraphy can show the sympathetic innervation: in the case of a transplanted heart it can detect the reinnervation and in the case of malignant ventricular tachyarrhythmias the risks and the severity of the illness.]
Lege Artis Medicinae
[Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is the progressive management of sudden cardiac arrest with the goal of restoring spontaneous circulation and preserve vital organ functions. Sudden cardiac death occuring out of hospital is still one of the major causes of death among otherwise healthy and young population however, approppriate management - certainly including resuscitation as the first step - might provide a reasonably good quality of life. Long term outcome of resuscitation is mainly determined by the links of the Chain of Survival, eg. early access, early CPR, early defibrillation and early advanced care. The aim of this review is to present the upto- date concepts for the best management of these survival links.]
Lege Artis Medicinae
Lege Artis Medicinae
Lege Artis Medicinae
[The authors assess the two main outcomes of the immunosuppressive therapy after renal transplantation: graft and patient survival. According to their view, evidence from randomised clinical trials results can be well complemented by the several unique transplant registries and outcome research based upon these databases. The comparison of evidence from these two sources addresses the question of achievable outcome under ideal (controlled) versus real life conditions. Based on a systematic review of the relevant clinical trials and registries it can be stated, that in the case of some immunosuppressants (mycophenolate mofetil vs azathioprine, microemulsified cyclosporin vs cyclosporin and tacrolimus vs cyclosporin) the improvement in the intermediate outcome can lead to improved graft and patient survival, while in the case of other drugs no significant difference in hard endpoints were detected (tacrolimus vs microemulsified cyclosporin). Evidence on graft and patient survival differences could not be derived from traditional randomised clinical trials, only from transplant registries. For the sake of improved evidence based therapeutic guidelines in renal transplantation, authors call for further development of the Hungarian transplant registry.]
Lege Artis Medicinae
[Neutropenia is an immunocompromised state commonly occurring in hematological practice. The underlying disorder responsible for a critical drop in absolute granulocyte count can either be of congenital or acquired nature. Neutropenic patients frequently develop serious, at times even fatal infections. Severity of illness, outcome, type of infecting organisms are markedly influenced by additional risk factors such as impaired T- or B-lymphocyte function as well as the injury of biological barriers. Neutropenic infections should generally be treated according to evidence-based guidelines. However, in certain groups of patients, where randomized trials are lacking, all identified components of immunodeficiency should be taken into account and antimicrobial treatment or prophylaxis should individually be tailored.]
Hungarian Radiology
[INTRODUCTION - The prognosis after opening the obstructed infarct-related coronary artery is influenced by several factors. In routine clinical practice revascularization is considered to be successful when the restoration of epicardial blood flow is complete. However, functional impairment in the myocardium can occur even with open epicardial arteries. There are two angiographic parameters closely related to myocardial viability: myocardial blush grade (MBG) that describes the quantity of contrast material in the myocardium, and TIMI myocardial perfusion grade (TMP) that describes its outflow dynamics. Our goal was to assess the prognostic value of these two parameters in the framework of a prospective clinical study. PATIENTS AND METHODS - We compared the two parameters based on visual estimation (MBG and TMP) with those characterizing myocardial impairment, such as ejection fraction (EF), wall motion score index (WMSI), creatine-kinase release and chest pain score in 22 patients with acute myocardial infarction and successful revascularization. Our results were obtained by Spearman's rank correlation and χ2-tests at a confidence interval of 95%. RESULTS - Close correlation with TMP was found in case of both parameters measured by echocardiography (EF: r=0.59, p=0.02; WMSI: r=-0.51, p=0.046). These results were supported by the correlation with creatinekinase release (r=-0.54, P=0.01). By the present number of patients, MBG does not show significant correlation with the measured clinical parameters. Presence of chest pain is associated neither with TMP nor with MBG. CONCLUSIONS - Assessing myocardial perfusion by visual evaluation provides useful prognostic information. The extent of chest pain does not indicate myocardial dysfunction. The clearence of the dye (used in TMP definition) is more characteristic to myocardial viability than maximal contrast density (used in MBG definition).]
Clinical Neuroscience
[Background – Dizziness is one of the most frequent complaints when a patient is searching for medical care and resolution. This can be a problematic presentation in the emergency department, both from a diagnostic and a management standpoint. Purpose – The aim of our study is to clarify what happens to patients after leaving the emergency department. Methods – 879 patients were examined at the Semmelweis University Emergency Department with vertigo and dizziness. We sent a questionnaire to these patients and we had 308 completed papers back (110 male, 198 female patients, mean age 61.8 ± 12.31 SD), which we further analyzed. Results – Based on the emergency department diagnosis we had the following results: central vestibular lesion (n = 71), dizziness or giddiness (n = 64) and BPPV (n = 51) were among the most frequent diagnosis. Clarification of the final post-examination diagnosis took several days (28.8%), and weeks (24.2%). It was also noticed that 24.02% of this population never received a proper diagnosis. Among the population only 80 patients (25.8%) got proper diagnosis of their complaints, which was supported by qualitative statistical analysis (Cohen Kappa test) result (κ = 0.560). Discussion – The correlation between our emergency department diagnosis and final diagnosis given to patients is low, a phenomenon that is also observable in other countries. Therefore, patient follow-up is an important issue, including the importance of neurotology and possibly neurological examination. Conclusion – Emergency diagnosis of vertigo is a great challenge, but despite of difficulties the targeted and quick case history and exact examination can evaluate the central or peripheral cause of the balance disorder. Therefore, to prevent declination of the quality of life the importance of further investigation is high.]
Clinical Neuroscience
[In this paper we present the Comprehensive Aphasia Test-Hungarian (CAT-H; Zakariás and Lukács, in preparation), an assessment tool newly adapted to Hungarian, currently under standardisation. The test is suitable for the assessment of an acquired language disorder, post-stroke aphasia. The aims of this paper are to present 1) the main characteristics of the test, its areas of application, and the process of the Hungarian adaptation and standardisation, 2) the first results from a sample of Hungarian people with aphasia and healthy controls. Ninety-nine people with aphasia, mostly with unilateral, left hemisphere stroke, and 19 neurologically intact control participants were administered the CAT-H. In addition, we developed a questionnaire assessing demographic and clinical information. The CAT-H consists of two parts, a Cognitive Screening Test and a Language Test. People with aphasia performed significantly worse than the control group in all language and almost all cognitive subtests of the CAT-H. Consistent with our expectations, the control group performed close to ceiling in all subtests, whereas people with aphasia exhibited great individual variability both in the language and the cognitive subtests. In addition, we found that age, time post-onset, and type of stroke were associated with cognitive and linguistic abilities measured by the CAT-H. Our results and our experiences clearly show that the CAT-H provides a comprehensive profile of a person’s impaired and intact language abilities and can be used to monitor language recovery as well as to screen for basic cognitive deficits in aphasia. We hope that the CAT-H will be a unique resource for rehabilitation professionals and aphasia researchers in aphasia assessment and diagnostics in Hungary. ]
Hypertension and nephrology
[Affective temperaments (cyclothymic, hypertymic, depressive, anxious, irritable) are stable parts of personality and after adolescent only their minor changes are detectable. Their connections with psychopathology is well-described; depressive temperament plays role in major depression, cyclothymic temperament in bipolar II disorder, while hyperthymic temperament in bipolar I disorder. Moreover, scientific data of the last decade suggest, that affective temperaments are also associated with somatic diseases. Cyclothymic temperament is supposed to have the closest connection with hypertension. The prevalence of hypertension is higher parallel with the presence of dominant cyclothymic affective temperament and in this condition the frequency of cardiovascular complications in hypertensive patients was also described to be higher. In chronic hypertensive patients cyclothymic temperament score is positively associated with systolic blood pressure and in women with the earlier development of hypertension. The background of these associations is probably based on the more prevalent presence of common risk factors (smoking, obesity, alcoholism) with more pronounced cyclothymic temperament. The scientific importance of the research of the associations of personality traits including affective temperaments with somatic disorders can help in the identification of higher risk patient subgroups.]
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Clinical Neuroscience
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