Current Cardiology Reviews - Volume 16, Issue 2, 2020

Asymptomatic VPE refers to the presence of this abnormal ECG pattern in the absence of any symptoms. The natural history in these patients is usually benign, and most children (60%) with VPE are usually asymptomatic. However, Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) has been reported to be the initial symptom in many patients too. The increased risk of SCD is thought to be due to the rapid conduction of atrial arrhythmias to the Read More

Cardiac Sarcoidosis (CS) represents a unique diagnostic dilemma. Guidelines have been recently revised to reflect the established role of sophisticated imaging techniques. Trans-thoracic Echocardiography (TTE) is widely adopted for initial screening of CS. Contemporary TTE techniques could enhance detection of subclinical Left Ventricular (LV) dysfunction, particularly LV global longitudinal strain assessment Read More

Coronary Artery Fistulas (CAF) are inappropriate connections between a coronary artery and a major vessel or a cardiac chamber. These fistulas may or may not present with symptoms, but they need to be detected as early as possible in order to decide the most appropriate treatment methodology (i.e. surgery vs. conservative management). We report the case of a 67-year-old female with no modifiable cardiovascular Read More

The association between thyroid disease and cardiovascular manifestations is significant and undeniable. Previous studies have explained several aspects of the effects of thyroid hormone on the heart and cardiovascular system. Accordingly, both hyper and hypothyroidism can cause important alterations in cardiac rhythm, output and contractility as well as vascular resistance and blood pressure. Since treating the thy Read More

Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) has revolutionized the management of Coronary Artery Disease and has become the preferred modality of revascularization in a majority of cases. Nevertheless, situations are encountered frequently where device deliverability to coronary lesions entails technical difficulties due to varied anatomies and lesional complexities like tortuosity, calcifications, length of lesions and vessel Read More

Depressive symptoms are highly prevalent in patients with cardiac diseases. Co-morbid Depression in cardiac patients causes a significant reduction in health-related quality of life for the patients and inflicts an economic burden on the society. Two types of mechanisms that may explain the link between depression and cardiac diseases are the psychosocial and physiopathological mechanisms. Physiopathological mechani Read More

Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) is an effective treatment strategy for heart failure. It significantly improves clinical symptoms and decreases mortality and long-term morbidity. However, some patients do not respond properly to this treatment. In this review, the role of different biomarkers in predicting response to CRT is discussed. Some biomarkers, including natriuretic peptides and inflammatory markers have Read More

Digoxin has been used for more than 50 years in patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF), with the goal of Controlling Heart Rate (HR) and restoring sinus rhythm. In the last two decades, several studies have correlated therapeutic use of digoxin with increased mortality. However, such studies have potential biases that cannot be disregarded, mainly because they are cross-sectional experiments or post-hoc analyses of Randomized Read More

Objective: The debate pertaining to the association between Keratoconus (KC) and Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP) continues to occur among physicians. The results of cross-sectional studies attempting to present the co-existing prevalence of these two diseases remain indeterminate. We compiled the first meta-analysis to determine the pattern of prevalence between the two diseases. Methods: Two separate literature sea Read More

Background: In the last two decades, a new phenotype termed Sarcopenic Obesity (SO), in which sarcopenia and obesity coexist, has emerged. Objective: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was first to assess the prevalence of Metabolic syndrome (Mets) among individuals with and without SO, and second, to determine if SO may increase the relative risk of Mets. Methods: This study was conducted in adher Read More