Clinical Analysis of 42 Patients With Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Objectives To investigate the clinical manifestations of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), and to find out the clinical clues to avoid misdiagnosis and provide reference for future clinical diagnosis and treatment. Methods A retrospective analysis of 42 consecutive patients with HCM hospitalized in our hospital between January 1995 and December 2002 was explored. Based on the family history of HCM, clinical manifestations, electrocar-diogram, echocardiogram, coronary angiography and left ventriculography, the clinical characteristics between HCM patients with left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (HOCM) and HCM patients without obstruction (HNOCM) were compared. The causes of misdiagnosis and losing diagnosis were analysis. Results 13 patients were in HOCM group and 29 patients were in HNOCM group. More patients with syncope were in HOCM group than in HNOCM group (6/13 vs. 2/29, P < 0.05). Patients with ejective murmur were in HOCM group only (P < 0.01). Left ventricular outflow tract pressure gradient (LVOTPG) only observed in HOCM group (P < 0.01). Ventricular tachycardia was seen in both groups. 28 out of 42 patients (66.67%) had misdiagnosis, and 4 out of 42 patients (9.53%) had losing diagnosis. Thus, coronary heart disease (CHD) had the highest rate of misdiagnosis. There were 20 CHD patients (71.43%) among 28 patients with misdiagnosis. Hypertension was in 3, congenital heart in 2, cerebro-embolism in 2, and myocarditis in 1. Conclusions For a patient with family history or sudden death history of HCM, unexplained syncope episodes, chest pain (angina), especially in young, an ejection murmur along the left sternum border, the presence of narrow and deep Q waves, or inversion of giant T waves in V3-V6, atrial fibrillation and /or cerebra-embolism echocardiogram should be given. CAG and LVG are necessary only if the result of echo is negative, and the patients with suspected HCM or CHD.

Chinese Medicine Syndromes in Congestive Heart Failure:A Literature Study and Retrospective Analysis of Clinical Cases

Objective： To discuss the characteristics of Chinese medicine （CM） syndrome factors and distribution of congestive heart failure （CHF）, and provide a basis for the diagnosis criteria of essential syndromes. Methods： Based on databases of China National Knowledge infrastructure （CNKI, 1980--2012） and Chinese Journal of Chongqing VlP Database （1989-2012）, the eligible studies in CHF and extracted factors associated with compound syndromes were analyzed. All the syndromes were classified into deficiency, excess, and deficiency-excess in complexity syndrome were classified. Compound syndromes were separated into syndrome factors including single, double, three or four factors, along with the frequency of occurrence. The relation of CHF syndromes with age, gender, primary disease, brain natriuretic peptide （BNP） and cardiac functional grade was studied in 1,451 CHF cases （between December 2010 and September 2012）, and the clinical distribution of common CHF syndromes was summarized. Results： The literature study involved 6,799 CHF cases in 66 literatures after screening. Of the different factors affecting CHF, qi deficiency was the most important one. In deficiency syndrome, Xin （Heart）-qi-deficiency was the most common single factor, and deficiency of both qi and yin was the most common double factor. The retrospective analysis involved 1,451 CHF cases （431 cases with test results of BNP）. The xin blood stasis and obstruction and deficiency of both qi and yin syndrome were mostly seen in female patients, and phlegm-blocking-Xin-vessel and qi-deficiency-blood-stasis syndrome mostly in males. Xin-qi-deficiency and qi-deficiency-blood-stasis syndrome were mostly seen in patients aged 50--60 years. Patients aged over 60 years likely manifest deficiency of both qi and yin and Xin blood stasis and obstruction syndrome. The severity of syndrome is aggravated with increased BNP and cardiac functional grade. Conclusions： The essential syndromes of CHF include qi-deficiency-blood-stasis and deficiency of both qi and yin. The clinical distribution is linked to patients＇ age and gender. BNP and cardiac functional grade is closely related to CHF syndromes, which may indicate the severity of CM syndromes of CHF.