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Biomedical subjects

E Shen

Publications and source records attributed to E Shen.

53 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Programmed ventricular stimulation in patients without spontaneous ventricular tachycardia.

Programmed ventricular stimulation was performed in 52 patients who had not had a documented or suspected episode of spontaneous ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF). Programmed stimulation with up to three extrastimuli was performed from the right ventricular (RV) apex in all patients and from the left ventricular (LV) apex in 14 patients. A maximum response of one to five intraventricular reentry beats was induced in 52% of patients. Nonsustained VT (six or more repetitive beats terminating spontaneously within 30 seconds) was never induced in the 16 patients without structural heart disease but was induced (usually with triple extrastimuli) in 45% of nine patients with mitral valve prolapse and in 37% of 27 patients with other types of heart disease. Sustained VT was never induced; however, sustained VF was induced in two patients. During programmed RV and LV stimulation with up to three extrastimuli (with 2 msec pulses, 5 mA in intensity), (1) a maximum response of one to five repetitive beats is a nonspecific finding of no predictive value; (2) nonsustained VT was not induced in patients without structural heart disease who had not had spontaneous VT; (3) nonsustained VT was frequently induced in patients with structural heart disease who had not previously been known to have had VT; (4) the induction of sustained VT appears to be a response specific to patients who have had spontaneous VT or VF; and (5) sustained VF can be induced infrequently in patients who have never had spontaneous VT or VF.

Aged↗

Electrophysiologic testing in the management of survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Forty-five patients survived a cardiac arrest due to ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF). Programmed ventricular stimulation was performed with the patients taking no antiarrhythmic medications. Sustained VT was induced in 26 patients (58%) and nonsustained VT in 8 (18%). With treatment aimed at the underlying heart disease (plus empiric antiarrhythmic therapy in 2 patients), the 11 patients who had no inducible VT have had no recurrence of symptomatic VT or cardiac arrest over a follow-up period of 19 +/- 9 months (mean +/- standard deviation). Conventional antiarrhythmic drugs suppressed the induction of VT and were used for chronic treatment in 9 of 34 patients (26%) with inducible VT. Three of these 9 patients had recurrent VT or sudden death, whereas 6 have had no recurrence over follow-up of 20 +/- 7 months. In the 25 of 34 patients in whom the induction of VT was not suppressed by conventional antiarrhythmic drugs, 23 were treated with amiodarone (daily dose 550 +/- 120 mg), and 2 underwent coronary artery bypass grafting with either aneurysmectomy or map-directed endocardial resection. One of the latter 2 patients died suddenly 12 months after surgery. Among the 23 patients treated with amiodarone, 2 had fatal VT or sudden death and 21 (91%) did not, over 18 +/- 14 months of follow-up. In survivors of a cardiac arrest, the chief value of electrophysiologic testing is in identifying patients without inducible VT, who appear to have a low risk of recurrent sudden death with treatment directed at the underlying heart disease. Serial electropharmacologic testing with conventional antiarrhythmic drugs is disappointing, with a low incidence of arrhythmia suppression.

Adult↗

Intravenous amiodarone in the acute treatment of recurrent symptomatic ventricular tachycardia.

Fifteen patients aged 59.3 +/- 11.5 years (mean +/- standard deviation [SD]) had recurrent symptomatic ventricular tachycardia (VT) refractory to at least 2 conventional antiarrhythmic drugs. All patients had organic heart disease; 4 had an acute myocardial infarction. The mean ejection fraction was 0.30 +/- 0.09. TWelve patients had overt congestive heart failure. Five had bundle branch block. Before treatment with intravenous amiodarone, the patients had had 6 to 40 episodes of symptomatic VT over 1 to 8 days of hospitalization. All patients received an initial bolus of 5 mg of amiodarone/kg over 15 minutes. Seven patients also received a continuous infusion of 600 to 1,000 mg of amiodarone over 12 to 24 hours. Additional doses depended on the patients' clinical responses. In 11 of 15 patients, antiarrhythmic drugs that had failed to suppress VT were continued during administration of amiodarone. In 12 of 15 patients acute control of VT was obtained with intravenous administration of amiodarone either alone or in combination with previously ineffective drugs. Three patients continued to have frequent episodes of VT while being treated with intravenous amiodarone. Mobitz type I atrioventricular block developed in 1 patient. No patient had high degree atrioventricular block, symptomatic hypotension, or a clinically apparent worsening of congestive heart failure. The use of intravenous amiodarone represents a significant advance in the acute treatment of frequent life-threatening VT refractory to other drugs. With appropriate monitoring, it can be used safely in patients with congestive heart failure, bundle branch block, or acute myocardial infarction.

Adult↗

Hemodynamic effects of intravenous amiodarone in patients with depressed left ventricular function and recurrent ventricular tachycardia.

The systemic hemodynamic effects of intravenously administered amiodarone were evaluated in patients with depressed left ventricular function and recurrent sustained ventricular tachycardia. Heart rate decreased linearly up to 1 hour after amiodarone infusion (5 mg/kg). Cardiac index varied in a cubic fashion, diminishing at 10 minutes and returning to baseline by 60 minutes (p less than 0.05). Stroke work index also showed a similar decrease at 10 minutes, which was transient (p less than 0.005). These changes occurred without any significant change in systemic vascular resistance and with slight or no increase in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, indicating a negative inotropic effect of amiodarone. The depression of left ventricular function in these patients, however, was mild and transient, and intravenously administered amiodarone was tolerated by the vast majority of patients. In two patients with overt heart failure and severely depressed left ventricular ejection fraction and marked hemodynamic abnormalities, profound hypotension occurred during amiodarone therapy; in such patients, therefore, hemodynamic monitoring is preferable. Limited data are available on the hemodynamic effects of orally administered amiodarone, but the determination of left ventricular ejection fraction by radionuclide ventriculography before and during long-term amiodarone administration has shown no reduction of function even in patients with severely reduced myocardial performance.

Administration, Oral↗

Electrophysiologic testing in the management of patients with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and atrial fibrillation.

Twenty patients with the Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome and 1 or more episodes of symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF) due to rapid anterograde bypass tract conduction underwent electrophysiologic testing. The mean ventricular rate during spontaneous AF was 242 +/- 56 beats/min (+/- standard deviation) and the shortest preexcited R-R interval was 194 +/- 40 ms. Six patients underwent surgical bypass tract ablation and 14 were treated medically, based on the results of electropharmacologic testing. Over a mean follow-up period of 35 +/- 19 months (+/- standard deviation), only 1 patient treated medically had a recurrence of minimally symptomatic AF. The successful chemoprophylaxis of symptomatic AF was associated with the inability to induce AF and atrioventricular reciprocating tachycardia during drug testing (7 patients) or with the induction of AF with a ventricular rate less than 200 beats/min and a shortest preexcited R-R interval of greater than 250 ms (7 patients). Electrophysiologic testing can identify a subgroup of patients with WPW and AF in whom medical therapy is a suitable alternative to bypass tract ablation.

Adolescent↗

Long-term follow-up of patients with recurrent unexplained syncope evaluated by electrophysiologic testing.

Electrophysiologic testing was performed in 53 patients with recurrent syncope that remained unexplained despite a thorough neurologic and noninvasive cardiac evaluation. Fifteen patients had no structural heart disease, 9 had mitral valve prolapse and 29 had structural heart disease other than mitral valve prolapse. Nonsustained ventricular tachycardia was induced in 15 patients (28%), sustained ventricular tachycardia was induced in 9 (17%), ventricular fibrillation was induced in 4 (8%) and sinus node function was abnormal in 2 (4%). Female sex and lack of structural heart disease were independently associated with a negative electrophysiologic study (p less than 0.001). Patients with inducible ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation were treated with drugs selected on the basis of the results of electropharmacologic testing. The recurrence rate of syncope was 43% over a 31 +/- 10 month period (mean +/- standard deviation) of follow-up in patients with a negative electrophysiologic study, 40% over a 22 +/- 6 month period in patients with inducible nonsustained ventricular tachycardia, 0% over a 30 +/- 12 month period in patients with inducible sustained ventricular tachycardia and 25% over a 21 +/- 10 month period in patients with inducible ventricular fibrillation. In patients with recurrent unexplained syncope undergoing electrophysiologic testing, a potential cause of syncope is least likely to be found in women without structural heart disease. The results of programmed ventricular stimulation must be interpreted with regard to the method of induction of ventricular tachycardia and the type of ventricular tachycardia induced. The excellent response rate in patients with inducible sustained ventricular tachycardia whose therapy is guided by the results of electropharmacologic testing suggests that sustained ventricular tachycardia is a clinically significant response.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Amiodarone↗

Extent of atrial participation in atrioventricular-reciprocating tachycardia.

Twenty-one patients with atrioventricular (AV) bypass tracts underwent electrophysiologic studies. The bypass tract was left-sided in 15 patients, septal in five and right-sided in one patient. Orthodromic AV-reciprocating tachycardia was induced in all 21 patients, with a mean tachycardia cycle length of 342 +/- 59 msec. The introduction of single stimuli in the high right atrium during tachycardia resulted in simultaneous dissociation of the high right atrial and low septal atrial electrograms in nine patients. In six patients, high right atrial overdrive pacing during tachycardia resulted in simultaneous dissociation of the high right atrial and low septal atrial electrograms for two to five consecutive beats. All patients in whom the low septal atrial electrogram was dissociated from the tachycardia had a left-sided bypass tract. In no patient was the coronary sinus atrial electrogram dissociated from the tachycardia by high right atrial pacing. Dissociation of the low septal atrial electrogram (as recorded in the His bundle electrogram) from AV-reciprocating tachycardia suggests that the portion of the right atrium adjacent to the AV node may not be a necessary link in the tachycardia circuit. This observation suggests that the site of entry of left-sided impulses into the AV node may be different from that of right-sided impulses.

Cardiac Pacing, Artificial↗

Vasodilator treatment with isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine in chronic heart failure.

Several reports have suggested that because isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine have different and additive haemodynamic effects at rest in patients with chronic heart failure, these agents should be administered in combination. Some studies, however, indicate thay they are effective individually as well. Since most patients with heart failure are symptomatic only with activity, we examined the haemodynamic effects of these drugs given individually and in combination, at rest and during upright bicycle exercise. As has been noted previously, at rest isosorbide significantly lowered both ventricular filling pressures and did not change cardiac output; hydralazine increased cardiac output and had only a slight effect on pulmonary capillary wedge pressure; combined treatment produced both beneficial effects. In contrast, during exercise isosorbide dinitrate also raised cardiac output while hydralazine more dramatically lowered the wedge pressure. Combined treatment produced significantly greater improvement in each haemodynamic index than either drug alone, with a resulting 54 per cent increase in exercise cardiac output, and a 33 per cent reduction in exercise wedge pressure. Maximal oxygen consumption increased acutely during combined treatment. These findings suggest that isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine may each be effective in some patients, but that they are even more beneficial in combination.

Adult↗

Trabeculectomy in a Black American glaucoma population.

Trabeculectomy was performed on 51 Black patients with uncontrolled glaucoma. The operation was successful in 80 per cent of cases followed-up for an average of 18 months. Success seemed to be independent of whether the superficial scleral flap was or was not sutured, although subconjunctival drainage, as indicated by the appearance of a bleb, seemed to be the predominant mechanism whereby the procedure functioned. The success rate in this series is the highest reported for glaucoma filtering procedures in Black glaucoma populations. Trabeculectomy may now be the operation of choice in uncontrolled glaucoma occurring in Black patients.

Adult↗

c-fos expression as a marker of central cardiovascular neurons.

Immunohistochemical detection of Fos, the protein product of the immediate-early gene c-fos, was evaluated as a functional marker of central neurons sensitive to a change of blood pressure/blood volume. Controlled hemorrhage and infusion of the hypotensive agent nitroprusside or hydralazine induced the appearance of Fos-immunoreactivity (Fos-IR) in several prominent groups of central neurons: the piriform cortex, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, islands of Calleja, subfornical organ, central nucleus of the amygdala, parabrachial nucleus, supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei, pontine A5, locus ceruleus, ventrolateral medulla, the nucleus of the solitary tract, area postrema, and intermediolateral cell column in the spinal cord. Elevation of blood pressure by infusion of phenylephrine caused the appearance of Fos-IR in fewer groups of neurons: the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, central nucleus of the amygdala, parabrachial nucleus, the nucleus of the solitary tract and area postrema. The differential distribution of Fos neurons in hypotensive versus hypertensive animals underscores the potential application of Fos as a metabolic marker in identifying a network of neurons responding to a specific cardiovascular challenge. Further, simultaneous characterization of the transmitter phenotype of Fos-containing neurons offers an additional advantage of this method over other conventional tract-tracing techniques.

Animals↗

Involvement of descending inhibition in the effect of acupuncture on the splanchnically evoked potential in the orbital cortex of cat.

The possible involvement of descending inhibition in the effect of acupuncture on the transmission of visceral afferent impulses has been investigated. Averaged splanchnically evoked potentials were recorded in the orbital cortex of the unanesthetized immobilized cat. The evoked orbital potentials could be inhibited by electroacupuncture. Section of the descending inhibitory pathway which is known to be located in the dorsolateral funiculi of the spinal cord produced marked diminution of the acupuncture inhibitory effect on the evoked cortical potentials with needles either inserted in the hindlimb or in the forelimb. Since the afferent impulses from the forelimb entered the cord above the level of section (T3-4), the ascending pathway for acupuncture signals to the supraspinal structure was thus left intact. Destruction of the pontobulbar reticular formation including mainly the nucleus raphe magnus produced the same diminution of the acupuncture effect. The results indicate that the ascending visceral afferent impulses are blocked at the level of the spinal cord by the acupuncture-induced descending impulses from the supraspinal center, probably the nucleus raphe magnus.

Acupuncture Therapy↗