Research - Heart Disease

Bioimpedance is a quick, non-invasive method to assess body composition, to track changes in fat proportion during a weight-loss programme and to follow-up changes in body water proportion and shift between extra- and intracellular spaces. These parameters are of interest in a cardiac rehabilitation unit.

Many studies have suggested that obese patients with chronic heart failure have a better prognosis than leaner patients. The main purpose of this study was to assess the prognostic value of body mass index in patients with chronic heart failure, independently of other poor prognosis parameters.

The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence and prognostic value of elevated cardiac troponin (cTnT) and its association with clinical characteristics according to renal function status in patients with stable heart failure.

Acute heart failure (AHF) still represents one of the major reasons for hospitalization. AHF patients present with an increase in total body water (TBW) content, which is related to the disease severity. For emergency department physicians, a rapid assessment of the TBW can help in the diagnosis and management of these patients.

This study explored whether the cachectic state assessed by bioimpedance vector analysis provides additional prognostic information about mortality from all causes.

Heart failure (HF) patients with hemodilutional anemia had a worse prognosis than those with true anemia. Volume overload (VO) in anemic patients must be identified in order to select the best treatment.

Heart failure is characterized by fluid disturbances. Changes in volume in the clinical practice are evaluated with fluid balance and weight measurements, but these do not reflect compartmental changes.

Patients hospitalized for decompensated heart failure (DHF) frequently experience worsening of renal function (WRF), leading to volume overload and resistance to diuretics.