Maurício Bastos de Freitas Rachid

Endocardite infecciosa em adolescentes. Análise dos fatores de risco de mortalidade intra-hospitalar

PURPOSE To study the epidemiological, clinical, therapeutic and evolutive aspects of endocarditis in a group of patients aging 12 to 20 years-old (mean 15.5). METHODS Thirty-three consecutive patients (14 males, 19 females) admitted with infective endocarditis were retrospectively studied. RESULTS Infective endocarditis mortality was 42%. Rheumatic heart disease was the predominant underlying condition in 63% of patients. Congenital heart disease (24%) and cardiac prosthesis (12%) were the other affections involved. The majority of patients (78%) were in functional class III and IV, with more deaths than the 22% who were in functional class I and II (p = 0.01). Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequently isolated agent (42% of the positive blood cultures, followed by Staphylococcus viridans, 21%). Multivariate analysis identified total leukocyte count above 10,000/mm3 and functional class, both at admission (p = 0.01 and p = 0.004, respectively), and the occurrence of embolic complications (p = 0.03) as independent predictors of in-hospital mortality. CONCLUSION Rheumatic heart disease remains, as in adults, the main predisposing factor for infective endocarditis in adolescents, and S. aureus is, like in children, the leading agent. Mortality is high and functional class at hospital admission, embolic complications and leukocytosis are independent predictors of in-hospital mortality.

Avaliação morfo-funcional cardíaca em jovens normotensos, filhos de hipertensos. Estudo Doppler-ecocardiográfico prospectivo

PURPOSE Evaluate functional and/or structural cardiac changes in young normotensive subjects with a family history of hypertension. METHODS Prospective study was performed with 62 normotensive persons, ages 15 to 30 years, divided in 32 children of hypertensive patients (group 1) and 30 children of normotensive persons (group 2) comparable in blood pressure, body surface area, heart rate, age and sex. After clinical examination, all underwent Doppler-echocardiogram to evaluate cardiac structure and left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function. RESULTS Systolic LV fractional shortening was increased in group 1 when compared with group 2 (38.03 +/- 4.95% and 34.7 +/- 4.48%, respectively--p < 0.01). Mitral deceleration time (DT) ranged from 85 to 160 ms--mean values 116.47 +/- 16.99 ms--in group 1 and from 100 to 220 ms--mean values 126.73 +/- 26.66 ms--in group 2 (p < 0.05). A correlation between LV mass and left atrium (LA) diameter was noted in group 1 (r-0.514, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION Children of hypertensive patients show increased LV function, similar to what occurs in early hypertension and in borderline hypertension, even when there is no evidence of LV hypertrophy or high blood pressure. Mitral DT (shorten in group 1) was the only diastolic parameter that differed in the groups. The correlation between LV mass and LA dimension suggests that LA size could be related to functional and hemodynamic LV changes.