Current Cardiology Reviews - Volume 10, Issue 4, 2014

Advances in the therapy of atrial fibrillation (AF) have not come easily or quickly, despite the recognized need for significantly better antiarrhythmic agents for AF termination and prevention as well as for more user-friendly anticoagulants for the prevention of emboli in patients with AF. Rather, the road has been only slowly progressive and bumpy. This manuscript will introduce the recent issues with dronedarone, the complex d Read More

Patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF) face an increased risk of stroke compared with those in normal sinus rhythm. The vitamin K antagonist warfarin, available for over half a century, is highly effective in reducing the risk of stroke in patients with AF, but it is a difficult drug to use properly. As a result, it is challenging to keep the anticoagulant effect of warfarin in the desired range. Newer oral anticoagulants (N Read More

Dronedarone is an amiodarone analog that differs structurally from amiodarone in that the iodine moiety was removed and a methane-sulfonyl group was added. These modifications reduce thyroid and other end-organ adverse effects and makes dronedarone less lipophilic, with a shorter half-life. Dronedarone has been shown to prevent atrial fibrillation/ flutter (AF/AFl) recurrences in several multi-center trials. In addition t Read More

The sudden onset of atrial fibrillation (AF) is often associated with rapid irregular palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath and considerable anxiety. If a patient presents shortly after the onset of the arrhythmia the physician may adopt initially an expectant “wait and see” policy, perhaps with the help of mild sedation and drug therapy to reduce the ventricular rate. If the arrhythmia does not terminate spontaneously and Read More

The authors of this Mini-Hot-Topic collection of review manuscripts have provided an outstanding review of the development and current status of several of our most recently developed agents in the fight against atrial fibrillation (AF). They have also given the readers a glimpse into the difficulty of drug development and the contrasts that can exist with the same product in different geographies. For their efforts they hav Read More

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a form of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy affecting women in late pregnancy or early puerperium. Although initially described in the late 1800s, it has only recently been recognized as a distinct cardiac condition. The reported incidence and prognosis varies according to geography. The clinical course varies between complete recovery to rapid progression to chronic heart fail Read More

Acute ischemic stroke is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in developed countries. Intravenous thrombolysis with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) within 4.5 hours of symptoms onset significantly improves clinical outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke. This narrow window for treatment leads to a small proportion of eligible patients to be treated. Intravenous or intra-arterial trials, combined intraven Read More

A great bulk of evidence supports the concept that regular exercise training can reduce the incidence of coronary events and increase survival chances after myocardial infarction. These exercise-induced beneficial effects on the myocardium are reached by means of the reduction of several risk factors relating to cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol, hypertension, obesity etc. Furthermore, it has been dem Read More

In the stent era, in addition to restenosis, there are many important consequences deserving more attention. Firstly described in peripheral vascular interventions, it took several years for stent fracture to be known as an appreciable complication of coronary intervention. Especially with the introduction of drug eluting stents and the use of coronary stents in more complex cases, its prevalence has raised and new data ha Read More

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of deaths. Also, cardiovascular risk factors start the atherosclerotic process, which leads to cardiovascular diseases. Nowadays, periodontal disease can also be considered another cardiovascular risk factor. It involves inflammatory, immunological and humoral activities, which induce the production of proinflammatory cytokines and the destruction of the epithelium. Read More

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia and is associated with relevant morbidity and mortality. Besides hypertension, valvular disease and cardiomyopathy, mainly ischemic and dilated, also other conditions like obesity, alcohol abusus, genetic factors and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are discussed to contribute to the progression from paroxysmal to persistent AF. The prevalence of OSA a Read More

In cardiology, optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an invasive imaging technique based on the principle of light coherence. This system was developed to obtain three-dimensional high resolution images to examine coronary artery normal and/or pathological structure. This technique replaces the ultrasound used by its main alternative procedure, intravascular ultrasound, by a near-infrared light source. Acute coronary Read More