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Biomedical subjects

T Forster

Publications and source records attributed to T Forster.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

[The significance of the dipyramidole echocardiography test in ischemic heart disease].

The diagnostic value of the dipyridamole echocardiography test was investigated in 46 patients who underwent coronary angiography due to suspected ischaemic heart disease. Twenty-two of 46 patients were found to have a narrowing of at least 70% one vessel. Twenty-four hour ECG monitoring was also performed on 19 patients on the day of the dipyridamole test. The sensitivity and specificity of the two-dimensional echocardiography test (new wall motion abnormality) were 72.7% and 62.5%. The ECG (V2-5-9) had a low sensitivity during the test (43.8%). Good agreement was found between the localization of the wall motion abnormalities and the site of anatomic narrowing in the ischaemic group. No significant ventricular arrhythmias were detected, and the sensitivity and specificity of ST-T changes were found to be 62.5% and 54.6% by means of Holter monitoring. The dipyridamole echocardiography test proved to be a suitable noninvasive method for the diagnosis of ischaemic heart disease and for the selection of patients for coronary angiography.

Coronary Angiography↗
PubMed1991

[Doppler echocardiography in the examination of normally functioning artificial mitral and aortic valves].

Patients with prosthetic valves were investigated by Doppler echocardiography in 902 cases between November 1987 and February 1990. The parameters of 209 of 344 mitral and 258 of 299 aortic prosthetic valves were evaluated. No significant correlation was found between the type of aortic or mitral prosthetic valves and the measured gradient. As concerns the size of the valve and the measured gradient, a close correlation for aortic valve replacement was detected. For a normally functioning mitral prosthetic valve, a maximum early diastolic velocity of less than 2 m/s (16 mm Hg gradient) and a pressure half-time of less than 130 ms (mitral valve area 1.8 cm2) were characteristic. In cases of aortic valve replacements, the maximum velocity was less than 3 m/s (36 mm Hg gradient), except for the small-diameter valves. More than 95% of the cases met these criteria. (Even if small-diameter valves were included, a maximum velocity of more than 3 m/s occurred only in 8.9%.) Doppler echocardiography is a suitable tool for detecting normal prosthetic valve function, while colour Doppler allows the optimal alignment of jet direction and Doppler beam.

Aortic Valve Insufficiency↗
PubMed1991

[Systemic thrombolysis in acute obstruction of an artificial valve].

Prosthetic valve thrombosis is a characteristic, but fortunately not frequent complication of surgical valve replacement. Its occurrence may lead to haemodynamic catastrophe. Three cases involving prosthetic valve thrombosis are presented. Two patients suffered from thrombosis after tricuspid valve replacement (St. Jude Medical), while the third occurred after mitral valve replacement (Sorin). In the acute phase, systemic thrombolysis was initiated (2 MU Streptokinase during 22-28 hours). The obstruction of one of the tricuspid valves and the mitral valve was eliminated. Lysis of the other tricuspid valve was not complete, but it helped the patient to survive the acute phase until reoperation. Embolization occurred in the inferior extremity after thrombolysis of the mitral prosthetic valve, but it was cured. Two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography (conventional and colour-coded) played an important role in the diagnosis of the obstruction and in the follow-up of the effectivity of thrombolysis. Systemic thrombolysis may be a lifesaving procedure in acute prosthetic valve thrombosis. In spite of the potentially dangerous complications, it has to be attempted.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

[Judging the severity of regurgitation in acquired heart defects using color-coded Doppler echocardiography].

In the study, 139 valvular regurgitations of 120 patients (55 mitral and 84 aortic regurgitations) were investigated and compared by means of colour flow mapping and heart catheterization. During the echocardiographic examination, the length and width of the regurgitant jets were measured and the jet area was planimetered besides the subjective grades. The above parameters were correlated with the angiographic grades. Good agreement was found between the results of the two methods. As concerns the different parameters of the regurgitant jets in mitral regurgitation, the most severe (grade IV) category was easily distinguished from the others, while in aortic regurgitation all four categories were differentiated by colour flow mapping. These measurements indicated that colour-coded Doppler echocardiography is a suitable tool for detection of the severity of valvular regurgitations in a noninvasive way.

Aortic Valve Insufficiency↗
PubMed1990

The reproducibility of continuous wave Doppler measurements in the assessment of mitral stenosis or mitral prosthetic function: the relative contributions of heart rate, respiration, observer variability and their clinical relevance.

The reproducibility of continuous wave Doppler echocardiographic measurements of transmitral diastolic flow velocity were studied in terms of bias and random error in 40 patients with either mitral stenosis or a Björk-Shiley mitral valve prosthesis. Twenty-seven patients were in sinus rhythm; 13 patients had atrial fibrillation. Intra- and interobserver differences in bias were small for the Doppler parameters studied i.e. early peak velocity (0.6% vs 3.6%), mean diastolic velocity (1.1% vs 8.6%), mean temporal velocity (2.3% vs 14.5%) and pressure half-time (2.7% vs 4.8%). The overall random error of the measurements (in terms of twice the standard deviation) was estimated separately in patients in sinus rhythm and atrial fibrillation: early peak velocity 5.6% and 9.2%, respectively, mean diastolic velocity 9.4% and 22%, mean temporal velocity 8.6% and 19% and pressure half-time 34% and 46%. The relative contributions to the overall random error of observer variation, heart rate dependency and respiratory variation were also studied. Heart rate dependency was demonstrated for both the mean diastolic velocity and the pressure half-time. Respiratory variation was found in the early peak velocity. From the results of this study the number of measurements to reduce the random error of the final average could be determined. Our results indicate that for the measurements in which a respiratory effect is present it is advisable to average the measurements taken over complete respiratory cycles.

Blood Flow Velocity↗
PubMed1987

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy associated with congenital deaf-mutism.

A family is presented in which there is a high incidence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and congenital deaf-mutism. The two abnormalities occurred together in 2 cases, and the syndrome was strongly suspected in a third individual. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy without deaf-mutism was observed in a further 2 cases. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is inherited by an autosomal dominant mode; that occurring together with deaf-mutism is also probably inherited dominantly.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Comparative echocardiographic study of junior and senior basketball players.

The echocardiographic data on 14 junior and 15 senior players in a first-division basketball club were compared. No difference was found between the senior and junior players as regards the thickness of the interventricular septum (11.47 vs 11.21 mm) or the thickness of the posterior wall of the left ventricle (9.8 vs 9.86 mm). The adults displayed a larger left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (56.8 vs 53.6 mm, P less than 0.05), end-diastolic volume (194 vs 164 ml, P less than 0.05), stroke volume (142 vs 116 ml, P less than 0.05), right ventricular diameter (27.9 vs 23.2, P less than 0.01), aortic root diameter (35.0 vs 32.0, P less than 0.05), and left atrial diameter (42.7 vs 37.2, P less than 0.01). However, among these, only the stroke volume and right ventricular diameter remained significantly different after normalization to body surface area. A significant difference could not be demonstrated in the linear ejection fraction, the ejection fraction, or the fractionated interventricular septum and posterior wall thicknesses. The examinations indicated that left ventricular hypertrophy had fully developed by the age of 18 years in the basketball players and that there was no further enhancement in adults. However, the left ventricular, right ventricular, and left atrial volume were larger in the adults than in the junior players.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Three-year echocardiographic follow-up study on canoeist boys.

The echocardiographic parameters were followed for 3 years in 15 boys aged 13 years on average, who were beginning competitive canoe race training, and were compared with the corresponding data on 17 boys of the same age who did not take part in sports. As compared to non-sporting boys the 13-year-old canoeist boys had a larger left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (46.13 +/- 4.64 mm vs 44.35 +/- 3.06 mm), a thicker left ventricular posterior wall (7.47 +/- 0.74 mm vs 6.47 +/- 1.18 mm) and particularly a thicker interventricular septum (8.33 +/- 1.18 mm vs 7.59 +/- 1.6 mm) just after they began sport, in spite of the fact there were no significant differences between the two groups in age, height, weight and body surface area. The preexisting difference in left ventricular hypertrophy between the two groups increased significantly during the 3-year follow-up period. The thickness of the left ventricular posterior wall in diastole increased to 9.20 +/- 1.01 mm vs 8.24 +/- 0.83 mm (p = 0.006), and that of the interventricular septum to 10.73 +/- 1.58 mm vs 9.59 +/- 1.18 (p = 0.025). The hypertrophic index and the left ventricular mass corresponded to the data given above (9.97 +/- 1.25 mm vs 8.91 +/- 0.94 mm, p = 0.01; and 261 +/- 50.7 g vs 202.83 +/- 45.8, p = 0.002, respectively). The canoeist boys had a slightly larger aortic root diameter at the beginning, and this difference increased and became more significant during the 3 years (29.4 +/- 2.39 mm vs 27.18 +/- 1.88 mm, p = 0.006). There were no significant differences between the two groups in the size of the left atrium, the fractional shortening of the left ventricle and the calculated ejection fraction and stroke volume.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

A simple grating visual acuity test for impaired children.

Twenty-five developmentally delayed or neurologically impaired nonverbal children, aged 2 to 15 years, referred for visual acuity assessment, were beyond the age at which standard preferential-looking techniques are considered to be effective and none could be tested with Snellen letters, illiterate Es, or Allen pictures. Our method, in which the children learn to point to grating stimuli, enabled us to obtain monocular visual acuity estimates in 19 of the 25 patients. When indicated, patching therapy was begun and was monitored with this method. Similar testing of 31 unimpaired children showed good prediction of recognition visual acuities except in patients with visual acuities worse than 20/160. The grating method accurately identified or excluded amblyopia in 26 of 31 children (84%). We consider this a clinically useful test of visual acuity in nonverbal impaired children.

Adolescent↗