Recent surveys and reports suggest that many athletes and bodybuilders abuse anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS). However, scientific data on the cardiac and metabolic complications of AAS abuse are divergent and often…
Despite numerous investigations, the determinants of healthy longevity require further clarification. Findings that aging is associated with decreasing heart rate variability (HRV), a marker of decreasing autonomic function, suggest that…
This study was designed to determine the ability and reliability of 3-dimensional (3D) transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) to assess the geometry and size of the left atrial appendage (LAA). Three-dimensional TEE…
Current clinical guidelines recommend the use of a global risk assessment tool, such as those pioneered by the Framingham Heart Study, to determine eligibility for statin therapy in patients with…
In their recent report “Relation of High Heart Rate Variability to Healthy Longevity,” Zulfiqar et al calculated 4 standard 24-hour time-domain measures of heart rate variability by decade in 344…
To fully grasp how so many smart, right-minded people could get it so wrong, it might help to start with a quick review of medical history. Take the radical mastectomy,…
June 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the first successful human cardiac pacemaker implantation in the United States. On June 6, 1960, in Buffalo, New York, Dr. William Chardack implanted…
After emergency orthopedic–geriatric surgery, cardiac complications are an important cause of morbidity and mortality. The utility of N-terminal pro–brain natriuretic peptide (NT–pro-BNP) for the prediction of cardiac complications and mortality…
Mitral valve (MV) repair has become the preferred treatment for mitral regurgitation associated with degenerative MV disease. Although the functional benefits of early MV repair are known, the associated alterations…
