Cardiology and Angiology: An International Journal

The truncus arteriosus communis is a very complex congenital cardiac malformation occurring in less than 1% of all congenital heart disease patients. Early repair remains one of the most challenging procedures in congenital cardiac surgery. Due to improvement in surgical reconstruction strategies over the past years, there is an acceptable short and long-term survival for those patients. However, each new case represents a “high mountain to climb” in ambition to achieve physiological repair with acceptable hemodynamic and a good long-term survival. We therefore present a very special case with anomalous origin and intramural course of the right coronary artery.

Background: Exercise stress test (EST) is recommended as the first-line investigation in major guidelines. It believed as a safe procedure. However, there is unignorable complications include hospitalisation, acute myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death.

Case Presentation: We describe a case of a 56-year-old male who underwent exercise stress test and complicated with hemodynamically unstable ventricular tachycardia. He was resuscitated and diagnosed with acute anterior ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Subsequent coronary angiogram showed severe two vessels disease.

Conclusion: This illustrates the importance to identify a cohort of high-risk patient pre-EST, along with proper supervision and well-staffed exercise stress test lab in order to provide appropriate lifesaving treatment.

Aims: To verify the scientific evidence in the literature about nursing care after coronary transluminal angioplasty, from 2005 to 2019.

Methodology: This is an Integrative Review, performed in the LILACS, MEDLINE and Google Scholar databases, including original and review articles, theses, dissertations and monographs published in Portuguese or English in the last 15 years (2005-2019). Data were collected using the Ursi’s instrument and data analysis was carried out by the use Bardin’s Content Analysis.

Results: 06 articles were found and two categories emerged: Nursing diagnoses after coronary transluminal angioplasty and Nursing interventions after coronary transluminal angioplasty. The nursing process should be carried out in its entirety so that the results of nursing care are effective and the improvement of the quality of the services provided is continuous.  

Conclusion: it is concluded that nursing actions are beyond bedside care, as they also include management services of inputs and human resources.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death in Brazil and worldwide, being influenced by the presence of risk factors. In the current life context, these factors are increasingly present in individuals, also related to occupation, which require extensive workload, performance, reasoning, goal plan and maximum dedication from the individual, as is the case of undergraduate teachers in Brazil.

Objective: To identify cardiovascular risk factors in teaching nurses of a private higher education institution (HEI) in Belém, PA, Brazil.

Study Design: A cross-sectional, descriptive survey study with a quantitative approach. At a private HEI in Belém-PA, in March and April 2019.

Methodology: Performed with 11 teachers nurses that the HEI had. A form was used on the teacher's profile and risk factors. Data were analyzed by simple descriptive statistics through the Bioestat 5.0 program.

Results: They are young adults, married, with an extensive workload; 45.45% of them have already had alterations in the HDL and LDL levels, with a family history of Systemic Arterial Hypertension 72.73% and Diabetes Mellitus 81.82%. 45.45% use oral contraceptives. They have a low-fiber diet, rich in lipids and sodium, and practice physical activity. 72.73% consume alcoholic beverages, and none are smokers.

Conclusion: The teaching profession, due to extensive workload and stressful activities, offers a risk for inadequate nutrition, sedentary lifestyle, and lack of time for leisure. These factors are associated with other existing factors, which may increase the chances of cardiovascular diseases in these professionals.

Aims: Hemorheologic and microvascular dysfunction are interdependent in type 2 diabetic patients. However, exact mechanisms explaining this interaction remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the impairment of erythrocyte deformability under concurrent recording of electrocardiogram (ECG), since heart-rate-corrected QT interval (QTc interval) prolongation reflects autonomic and microvascular dysfunction in diabetic patients.

Methodology: The erythrocyte deformability was investigated on the day of digital ECG recording in diabetic (n = 215) and control (n = 88) groups of outpatients using specific filtration technique. Significant contributors to the erythrocyte deformability were analyzed by multivariate analysis. Results: Difference of mean erythrocyte deformability in the diabetic vs. control group did not reach the statistical significance, but the difference was significant in comparison of diabetic smokers vs. non-smokers and of diabetic patients with vs. without diabetic complications. Impaired diabetic erythrocyte deformability was dependent mostly on the glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and negative correlation between QTc interval and the deformability was marginal.

Conclusions: Erythrocyte deformability was not necessarily impaired in diabetic patients under the intensive antidiabetic medication. However, this deformability was impaired in diabetic smokers and diabetic patients with clustering of complications. Future studies are required for hemorheologic and microvascular interaction leading to the impaired diabetic microcirculation.