• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• v.22 no.9
• /
• pp.1525-1536
• /
• 2021

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of cine three-dimensional (3D) balanced steady-state free precession (b-SSFP) imaging combined with a non-local means (NLM) algorithm for image denoising in evaluating cardiac function in children with repaired tetralogy of Fallot (rTOF). Materials and Methods: Thirty-five patients with rTOF (mean age, 12 years; range, 7-18 years) were enrolled to undergo cardiac cine image acquisition, including two-dimensional (2D) b-SSFP, 3D b-SSFP, and 3D b-SSFP combined with NLM. End-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), stroke volume (SV), and ejection fraction (EF) of the two ventricles were measured and indexed by body surface index. Acquisition time and image quality were recorded and compared among the three imaging sequences. Results: 3D b-SSFP with denoising vs. 2D b-SSFP had high correlation coefficients for EDV, ESV, SV, and EF of the left (0.959-0.991; p < 0.001) as well as right (0.755-0.965; p < 0.001) ventricular metrics. The image acquisition time ± standard deviation (SD) was 25.1 ± 2.4 seconds for 3D b-SSFP compared with 277.6 ± 0.7 seconds for 2D b-SSFP, indicating a significantly shorter time with the 3D than the 2D sequence (p < 0.001). Image quality score was better with 3D b-SSFP combined with denoising than with 3D b-SSFP (mean ± SD, 3.8 ± 0.6 vs. 3.5 ± 0.6; p = 0.005). Signal-to-noise ratios for blood and myocardium as well as contrast between blood and myocardium were higher for 3D b-SSFP combined with denoising than for 3D b-SSFP (p < 0.05 for all but septal myocardium). Conclusion: The 3D b-SSFP sequence can significantly reduce acquisition time compared to the 2D b-SSFP sequence for cine imaging in the evaluation of ventricular function in children with rTOF, and its quality can be further improved by combining it with an NLM denoising method.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.393-398
• /
• 2019

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The association between tea consumption and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) remains controversial. This study aimed to determine whether tea consumption has an effect on CHD risk in Chinese adults. SUBJECTS/METHODS: In this hospital-based case-control study, 267 cases of CHD and 235 non-CHD controls were enrolled. Blood samples from all cases were examined. Cardiac function indices (left ventricular ejection fraction, left ventricular end-diastolic dimension, lactate dehydrogenase, and creatine kinase of the muscle or brain type), blood lipid index (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), and blood coagulation function indices (fibrinogen and activated partial thromboplastin time) were recorded. Tea consumption of study participants was assessed by a specifically designed questionnaire. The baseline characteristics of the study populations were recorded, and CHD-related biomarkers were detected. Differences in baseline characteristics of the study participants were examined using t-tests for continuous variables and chi-squared tests for categorical variables. Unconditional logistic regression was used to measure the association between tea and CHD. RESULTS: There were significant differences in cardiac function indices, blood lipid index, and blood coagulation indices between CHD cases and controls (P < 0.05). We found tea consumption reduced CHD risk in female participants (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.484, 95% CI: 0.242-0.968, P = 0.0403). Regarding the type of tea consumed, the risk of CHD was reduced in women who drank partially fermented tea (adjusted OR = 0.210, 95% CI: 0.084-0.522, P = 0.0008). Analytic results for the amount of tea consumed per unit time showed CHD risk was reduced in women who consumed 1-2 cups of tea per day (adjusted OR = 0.291, 95% CI: 0.131-0.643, P = 0.0023). A tea-drinking frequency of > 6 days/week was beneficial for CHD prevention (adjusted OR = 0.183, 95% CI: 0.049-0.679, P = 0.0112). When analyzed according to the duration of tea consumption, the risk of CHD was reduced in participants who had been drinking tea for 10-20 years (adjusted OR = 0.360, 95% CI: 0.137-0.946, P = 0.0382). CONCLUSIONS: Tea consumption is associated with a reduced risk of CHD in female but not male populations in Guangzhou.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.38 no.8 s.253
• /
• pp.523-528
• /
• 2005

Background: Investigation of the change of ventricular function and mitral regurgitation after surgical repair of patient with anomalous origin of left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is key issue for the better surgical outcome. Material and Method: From April 1986 to July 2002, 12 patients presented with ALCAPA. The median age at repair was 4 months. Surgical methods included left coronary artery transfer to the aorta (10), Takeuchi procedure (1), saphenous vein free graft bypass (1). Mitral valve was repaired in 1. Result: There were 2 hospital death $(16.7\%)$. The mean follow-up period was $7.1\pm4.1$ years (range, 7 months to 13 years). Four patients required postoperative circulatory assist for $2.2\pm1.1$ days and one needed left ventricular assist device (LVAD) for 1day. Postoperative echocardiography demonstrated significant improvements in mean fractional shortening $(33.4\pm9.1\%\;vs\;17.7\pm9.6\%,\;n=10,\;p<0.05);$ left ventricular end diastolic dimension $(33.4\pm7.3\;mm\;vs\;44.8\pm7.0\;mm,\;n=10,\;p<0.05)$ and systolic dimension $(22.2\pm7.5\;mm\;vs\;33.4\pm7.9\;mm,\;n=10,\;p<0.05)$. Severities of mitral regurgitation decreased in all survivors at 1st and 4th year follow-up echocardiography. There were 2 reoperation due to residual MR and right ventricular outflow obstruction (Takeuchi case). Conclusion: Anatomic repair of anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery offered an excellent surgical results, especially in terms of the recovery of left ventricle function and mitral regurgitation. However, preoperative indications for mitral procedure is to be evaluated.

• Korean Circulation Journal
• /
• v.54 no.6
• /
• pp.311-322
• /
• 2024

Background and Objectives: Early diastolic mitral annular tissue (e') velocity is a commonly used marker of left ventricular (LV) diastolic function. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic implications of e' velocity in patients with mitral regurgitation (MR). Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 1,536 consecutive patients aged <65 years with moderate or severe chronic primary MR diagnosed between 2009 and 2018. The primary and secondary outcomes were all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, respectively. According to the current guidelines, the cut-off value of e' velocity was defined as 7 cm/s. Results: A total of 404 individuals were enrolled (median age, 51.0 years; 64.1% male; 47.8% severe MR). During a median 6.0-year follow-up, there were 40 all-cause mortality and 16 cardiovascular deaths. Multivariate analysis revealed a significant association between e' velocity and all-cause death (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.770; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.634-0.935; p=0.008) and cardiovascular death (aHR, 0.690; 95% CI, 0.477-0.998; p=0.049). Abnormal e' velocity (≤7 cm/s) independently predicted all-cause death (aHR, 2.467; 95% CI, 1.170-5.200; p=0.018) and cardiovascular death (aHR, 5.021; 95% CI, 1.189-21.211; p=0.028), regardless of symptoms, LV dimension and ejection fraction. Subgroup analysis according to sex, MR severity, mitral valve replacement/repair, and symptoms, showed no significant interactions. Including e' velocity in the 10-year risk score improved reclassification for mortality (net reclassification improvement [NRI], 0.154; 95% CI, 0.308-0.910; p<0.001) and cardiovascular death (NRI, 1.018; 95% CI, 0.680-1.356; p<0.001). Conclusions: In patients aged <65 years with primary MR, e' velocity served as an independent predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular deaths.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.358-363
• /
• 1998

Intravenous lipid emulsion is used extensively as a major component of parenteral nutrition for patients in the surgical intensive care unit. Abnormal cardiovascular function related to lipid infusion has been reported although conflicting results exist. In the present study, we investigated the effects of intravenous emulsions of long-chain triglyceride (LCT) and medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) on myocardial ischemia/ reperfusion injury and on platelet aggregation in rat. There was no difference between LCT and MCT considering the effects on left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP) and coronary flow rate (CFR) before and after ischemia/reperfusion in isolated rat heart. On the other hand, a difference was found between LCT and MCT with regard to their effects on heart rate (HR) and end diastolic pressure (EDP) after ischemia/reperfusion. After ischemia/reperfusion, HR was significantly (P<0.05) reduced and EDP significantly (P<0.05) inc.eased by LCT (18$\pm$2.0% and 42.8$\pm$8.9%, respectively), but not by MCT Ex vivo platelet aggregation induced by collagen was reduced by LCT infusion, but not by MCT These findings suggest that MCT may have slightly more favorable effect than LCT on the myocardial function after ischemia/reperfusion in rat.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.37-43
• /
• 1994

The coronary collateral vessels have revealed their significance in terms of reduction of infarct size, preservation left ventricular function, and prevention of left ventricular aneurysm in patients with myocardial infarction. The purpose of this study were to evaluated the relation between collateral circulation and $^{99m}Tc$-MIBI Heart SPECT in patient with acute myocardial infarction and their clinical significance. The fifty six MI patients with antegrade TIMI perfusion grade 0 and 1 were studied. The patients were classified into two groups; Group I inclueded 30 patients with grade 2, 3 Collateral flow. Group II inclueded 26 patients with grade 0, 1 Collateral flow. Collateral filling were graded from 0 to 3: 0- none, 1- Filling of side branch only, 2- Partial filling of the epicardial segment, 3- Complete filling of epicardial segment. Clinical variables, left ventricular function, $^{99m}Tc$-MIBI Heart SPECT were analyzed with angiographic finding. Results were following: 1) Collateral visualization was found to be greater in patient with involvement of right coronary artery (RCA). The collateral development site of infarct related artery was RCA 15 cases, left anterior descending artery (LAD) 10 cases, left circumflex artery (LCX) 5 cases, and the collateral circulation from LAD to RCA was 13 cases (40.6%). 2) There was a tendency to be decreased in peak CK activity with group I. 3) The presence of good collateral channels was more frequently $^{99m}Tc$-MIBI reversible perfusion defect (83.4% vs 15.3%, p<0.05). 4) No differences of left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVEDV), left ventricular end systolic volume (LVESV), ejection fraction (EF) were noted between group I and group II. The presence of good collateral channels did affect the frequency of occurrence of $^{99m}Tc$-MIBI reversible perfusion defect.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.159-168
• /
• 1999

Cardiac disease is one of the leading causes of death in Korea. In quantitative analysis of cardiac function and morphological information by three-dimensional reconstruction of magnetic resonance images, left ventricle provides an important role functionally and physiologically. However, existing procedures mostly rely on the extensive human interaction and are seldom evaluated on clinical applications. In this study, we developed a system which could perform automatic extraction of enpicardial and endocardial contour and analysis of cardiac function to evaluate reliability and stability of each system comparing with the result of ARGUS system offered 1.5T Siemens MRI system and manual method performed by clinicians. For various aspects, we investigated reliability of each system by compared with left ventricular contour, end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV), stock volume (SV), ejection fraction (EF), cardiac output (CO) and wall thickness (WT). When comparing with manual method, extracted results of developed process using minimum error threshold (MET) method that automatically extracts contour from cardiac MR images and ARGUS system were demonstrated as successful rate 90% of the contour extraction. When calculating cardiac function parameters using MET and comparing with using correlation coefficients analysis method, the process extracts endocardial and epicardial contour using MET, values from automatic and ARGUS method agreed with manual values within :t 3% average error. It was successfully demonstrated that automatic method using threshold technique could provide high potential for assessing of each parameters with relatively high reliability compared with manual method. In this study, the method developed in this study could reduce processing time compared with ARGUS and manual method due to a simple threshold technique. This method is useful for diagnosis of cardiac disease, simulating physiological function and amount of blood flow of left ventricle. In addition, this method could be valuable in developing automatic systems in order to apply to other deformable image models.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.29 no.12
• /
• pp.1329-1336
• /
• 1996

From January, 1994 to January. 1996, mitral valve replacement was performed in 27 patients. Among these, 17 patients underwent mitral valve replacement(MVR) with preservation of the annulo-papillary continuity(PAPCMVR) (-Group I), and 10 patients underwent conventional methods of excision of all the chordae(Group II). The operative technique for PAPCM VR consists of the division of the anterior leaflet into anterior and posterior segments, shifting and reattachment of the divided segments to the mitral ring of the respective commissural areas. This retrospective study has been designed to evalute the postoperative left ventricular function in the two groups. In the group 1, LVEF(Left Vnetricular Ejection Fraction : %) was 52 $\pm$ 3 preoperatively And 50$\pm$3 postoperatively, LVESI Vent icular End Systolic Volume Index/mL/m2) wIns 59 :6 and 51 $\pm$ 7, LVEDI Ventricular End Diastolic Volume Index/mL/m2) was 124$\pm$ 11 and 91 :8. In the group II, LVEF was 56$\pm$1 and 47:), LVESVI 62$\pm$12 and 61$\pm$15, LVEDVI 133$\pm$27 and 104$\pm$17. : the variation of the LVEF in these two group was statistically different(p(0.05). A comparison of left ventricular function data between Group I(n: 17) and Group II(n: 10) revealed better results in echocardiographic LVEF(p<0.05), LVEDVI(p<0.01) in the former group. The mean functional class(UYHA) was 2.6 preoperative and improved to 1.0 postoperatively In group 1, and 2.8 and to 1.0 in group II. We conclude that maintenance of continuity between the mitral annulus and papillary muscles is expected to have a beneficial effect on postoperative left ventricular performance.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.32 no.9
• /
• pp.773-780
• /
• 1999

Background: It has been demonstrated that brief periods of calcium depletion and repletion (calcium-free preconditioning, CP) have cardioprotective effects as seen in ischemic preconditioning(IP) which enhances the recovery of post-ischemic contractile dysfunction and reduces the incidence of reperfusion-induced arrhythmia or infarct size after a prolonged ischemia. In the present study, we tested this paradoxical phenomenon in isolated rabbit hearts. Material and Method: Hearts isolated from New Zealand white rabbits(1.5∼2.0 Kg body weight) were perfused with Tyrode solution using the Langendorff technique. After stabilizing the baseline hemodynamics, the hearts were subjected to 45 minutes of global ischemia followed by 120 minutes of reperfusion with IP(IP group, n=7) or without IP (ischemic control group, n=7). IP was induced by a single episode of 5 minutes global ischemia and 10 minutes reperfusion. In the CP group(n=7), the hearts were subjected to perfusion with Tyrode solution with calcium depletion for 5 minutes and repletion for 10 minutes, and 45 minutes of ischemia and 120 minutes of reperfusion. Left ventricular function including developed pressure, dP/dt, heart rate, left ventricular end-diastolic pressure and coronary flow was measured. Infarct size was determined by staining with 1% triphenyltetrazolium chloride and planimetry. Data were analyzed by a one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's post-hoc test. Result: In comparison with the ischemic control group, IP significantly enhanced the recovery of the left ventricular function including the left ventricular developed pressure, contractility, and coronary flow; in contrast, these functional parameters of the CP group tended to be lower than those of the ischemic control group. However, the infarct size was significantly reduced by IP or CP(p<0.05). Conclusion: These results suggest that in isolated Langendorff-perfused rabbit heart model, CP(induced by single episode of 5 minutes calcium depletion and 10 minutes repletion) could not improve the post-ischemic contractile dysfunction(after a 45-minute global ischemia) but it has an infarct size-limiting effect.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.705-720
• /
• 2024

This study randomly assigned 24 middle-aged women to determine the effect of a 12-week combined exercise program on cardiovascular function and electrocardiogram-based ST segment and QRS in obese middle-aged women. Analysis of the results was conducted to verify differences within groups and between periods and groups. In terms of cardiovascular function, myocardial oxygen consumption showed a significant decrease in the experimental group during the resting phase and the highest intensity phase during exercise, and an interaction between group and period at rest was also observed. The heart rate recovery rate showed a significant decrease in the experimental group at 2 minutes of recovery, while in the control group, on the contrary, a significant increase was observed. The experimental group showed a significant decrease in systolic blood pressure, and an interaction between group and period was also observed. There was no change in diastolic blood pressure in both the experimental and control groups, and there was a statistically significant decrease in pulse pressure only in the experimental group at the 3-minute recovery stage. In the case of the electrocardiogram, the QRS height in the experimental group showed a significant increase in most cases at rest and at 3, 6, and 9 minutes during the recovery period, while there was no significant difference in the QRS period in both the experimental and control groups, and the ST segment height was significantly increased at rest in the experimental group. appeared to have increased. Therefore, summarizing the results of this study, it is believed that the 12-week combined exercise program has a positive effect in improving cardiovascular function, ventricular contractility in electrocardiograms, and myocardial ischemia in obese middle-aged women.