Pulmonary hypertension

By August 17, 2021, 4.3 million people had died globally as a result of SARS-CoV-2 infection. While data collection is ongoing, it is abundantly obvious that this is one of the most significant public health crises in modern history. Consequently, global efforts are being made to attain a greater understanding of this disease and to identify risk factors associated with more severe outcomes. The goal of this study is to identify clinical characteristics and risk factors associated with COVID-19 mortality in Mexico...

BACKGROUND Duplicate inferior vena cava (IVC) accompanied by deep venous thrombosis is rare. The optimal treatment plan is determined according to the results of imaging, including venography. In this report, we present a case of successful treatment of a patient with duplicate IVC and deep venous thrombosis (DVT). CASE REPORT An 84-year-old man with history of hypertension was admitted to the hospital because of 4 days of moderate left lower-limb edema. A thorough examination led to the diagnosis of the DVT...

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OBJECTIVE: We aimed to report our experience on fetal aortic valvuloplasty (FAV) for critical aortic stenosis (AS) focusing on the postnatal evolution of the patients. METHODS: This retrospective study was approved by our local Institutional Review Board (n°2002-0128143827). All fetuses with critical AS who underwent FAV in a single center between 01/2011 and 06/2022 were included. FAV were performed under ultrasound guidance. Technical success was based upon balloon inflation across the aortic valve and improvement of the anterograde aortic flow across the aortic valve...

BACKGROUND: Cardiac herniation occurs when there is a residual pericardial defect post thoracic surgery and is recognised as a rare but fatal complication. It confers a high mortality and requires immediate surgical correction upon recognition. We present a case of cardiac herniation occurring post thymectomy and left upper lobectomy. CASE PRESENTATION: Initial presentation: A 48-year-old male, hypertensive smoker presented with progressive breathlessness and was found to have a left upper zone mass confirmed on CT biopsy as carcinoid of unclear origin...

MicroRNAs (miRs, miRNAs) are known to have a part in various human illnesses, such as those related to the heart. One particular miRNA, miR-155, has been extensively studied and has been found to be involved in hematopoietic lineage differentiation, immunity, viral infections, inflammation, as well as vascular remodeling. These processes have all been connected to cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure, diabetic heart disease, coronary artery disease, and abdominal aortic aneurysm. The impacts of miR-155 depend on the type of cell it is acting on and the specific target genes involved, resulting in different mechanisms of disease...

INTRODUCTION: Venous thromboembolism (VTE) remains a dangerous complication after total hip arthroplasty (THA), despite advances in chemoprophylactic measures. This study aimed to identify risk factors of developing pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after THA using a modern cohort of patients reflecting contemporary practices. METHODS: The Premier Healthcare Database was queried for primary, elective THAs from January 1st, 2015, to December 31st, 2021...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

RATIONALE: Hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a severe complication of liver diseases characterized by abnormal dilatation of pulmonary vessels, resulting in impaired oxygenation. Recent research highlights the pivotal role of liver-produced bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-9 in maintaining pulmonary vascular integrity. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the involvement of BMP-9 in human and experimental HPS. METHODS: Circulating BMP-9 levels were measured in 63 healthy controls and 203 cirrhotic patients, with or without HPS...

AIMS: Potential loss-of-function variants of ATP13A3, the gene encoding a P5B-type transport ATPase of undefined function, were recently identified in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients. ATP13A3 is implicated in polyamine transport but its function has not been fully elucidated. Here, we sought to determine the biological function of ATP13A3 in vascular endothelial cells and how PAH-associated variants may contribute to disease pathogenesis. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied the impact of ATP13A3 deficiency and overexpression in endothelial cell (EC) models (human pulmonary ECs, blood outgrowth ECs (BOECs) and HMEC-1 cells), including a PAH patient-derived BOEC line harbouring an ATP13A3 variant (LK726X)...

A 75-year-old male with a history of poorly controlled diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and obesity presented with severe bilateral periorbital edema with necrosis and purulent discharge. Although hemodynamically stable, laboratory markers indicated systemic toxicity. Imaging showed bilateral periorbital edema extending into the frontal scalp, temporal fossa, and right orbit. Suspected to have necrotizing fasciitis, the patient underwent urgent debridement of bilateral upper and lower eyelids and was found to have postseptal extension of necrosis into the right orbit...

UNLABELLED: Beakground: The prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in COVID-19 patients, such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which are the most common comorbid conditions in COVID-19 patients, is considered a risk factor for premature mortality in the population. The aim of the study is to compare the standard biochemical and hematological markers of COVID-19 patients on mechanical ventilation and those who have recovered, and to identify differences by gender and comorbidities, as well as the dominant marker in comorbidities that frequently shows statistical significance, in order to investigate its prognostic value in further research...

BACKGROUND: Identifying clinical characteristics and risk factors, comorbid conditions, and complications arising from SARS-CoV-2 infection is important to predict the progression to more severe forms of the disease among hospitalized individuals to enable timely intervention and to prevent fatal outcomes. The aim of the study is to assess the possible role of the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as a biomarker of the risk of death in patients with comorbidities hospitalized with COVID-19 in a tertiary hospital in southern Brazil...

Information on factors leading to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) treatment discontinuation is limited. This study analyzed 12,902 new PAH medication users to identify predictors of treatment discontinuation. Treatment by accredited pulmonary hypertension centers and combination therapy with PAH agents from different classes were less likely to result in discontinuation.

Sarcoidosis is a systemic inflammatory condition characterized by noncaseating granulomas. Lung involvement is typical, while extrapulmonary manifestations, notably lymphadenopathy, are observed in a significant proportion of cases. The etiology involves complex interactions among immune cells and mediators, resulting in granuloma formation capable of independently producing 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, leading to unregulated hypercalcemia and hypercalciuria. Diagnosis can be challenging, especially when hypercalcemia is the initial symptom...

The presence of pulmonary hypertension (PH) may affect whether cardiac tamponade physiology develops from a pericardial effusion. Specifically, the increased intracardiac pressure and right ventricular hypertrophy associated with PH would seemingly increase the intrapericardial pressure threshold at which the right-sided chambers collapse. In this systematic review, we examined the impact of PH on the incidence, in-hospital and long-term mortality, and echocardiographic findings of patients with cardiac tamponade...

Hypoxic pulmonary hypertension (HPH) is a pulmonary vascular disease primarily characterized by progressive pulmonary vascular remodeling in a hypoxic environment, posing a significant clinical challenge. Leveraging data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and human autophagy-specific databases, osteopontin (OPN) emerged as a differentially expressed gene, upregulated in cardiovascular diseases such as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Despite this association, the precise mechanism by which OPN regulates autophagy in HPH remains unclear, prompting the focus of this study...

This study investigated whether late pulmonary hypertension (LPH) independently increases the risk of long-term mortality or neurodevelopmental delay (NDD) in extremely preterm infants (EPIs) with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Using prospectively collected data from the Korean Neonatal Network, we included EPIs with severe BPD born at 22-27 weeks' gestation between 2013 and 2021. EPIs having severe BPD with LPH (LPH, n = 124) were matched 1:3 with those without pulmonary hypertension (PH) as controls (CON, n = 372), via propensity score matching...

Reactive halogen species (RHS) are highly reactive compounds that are normally required for regulation of immune response, inflammatory reactions, enzyme function, etc. At the same time, hyperproduction of highly reactive compounds leads to the development of various socially significant diseases - asthma, pulmonary hypertension, oncological and neurodegenerative diseases, retinopathy, and many others. The main sources of (pseudo)hypohalous acids are enzymes from the family of heme peroxidases - myeloperoxidase, lactoperoxidase, eosinophil peroxidase, and thyroid peroxidase...

BACKGROUND: Patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) often present with anxiety, depression and cognitive deterioration. Structural changes in the cerebral cortex in PAH patients have also been reported in observational studies. METHODS: PAH genome-wide association (GWAS) including 162,962 European individuals was used to assess genetically determined PAH. GWAS summary statistics were obtained for cognitive performance, depression, anxiety and alterations in cortical thickness (TH) or surface area (SA) of the brain cortex, respectively...