Our aim was to investigate the changes in the myocardium stiffness index for patients suffering from systemic hypertension, and to assess their left ventricular performance. We studied 263 hypertensive patients and 166 healthy subjects as a control group. By using conventional Doppler echocardiography, the following parameters were measured—Left ventricular end diastolic diameter, left ventricular end systolic diameter, transmitral early velocity, isovolumic relaxation time, and isovolumic contraction time. Tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) was used in the measurements of the early mitral annular velocity (Ea) and the diastolic stiffness was obtained by calculating the ratio E\Ea\LVIDd. Index myocardial performance (IMP) was calculated

Background: left ventricular hypertrophy is independent risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The presence of diabetic complications such as autonomic neuropathy and retinopathy may predict cardiac structural changes in diabetic patients. Objective: To explore the chance of occurrence of left ventricular hypertrophy in diabetic patients and whether it is related to the presence of other diabetic complications. Methods: ninty seven (97) normotensive diabetic patients (57) type II with mean duration of diabetes of (12±6 y) and forty (40) type I with mean duration of (8±6 y) were studied by echocardiography and compared with 41 patients as control. Results: The LVMI was significantly higher in type II diabetics compared

Profound maternal hemodynamic changes occur in order to satisfy the demands of a growing foetus. Early in pregnancy, peripheral vascular resistance (PVR) lowers, generating a considerable rise in cardiac output. Many parameters are employed for measuring the LV systolic function with different echocardiographic modalities including: M-Mode echocardiography, two-dimensional echocardiography, three-dimensional echocardiography, tissue doppler imaging.

Background and Aim. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major risk factor for the progression to heart failure (HF), which is associated with an increase in left ventricular volume (LVV). This study aims to measure ventricular function and myocardial perfusion imaging markers of the left side of the heart, which can be performed with injection of a 99mTc at stress and rest by using single-photonemission-computed-tomography (SPECT). Subject and methods. The study included 121 patients with CAD, comprising 53 females and 68 males with ages between 25 to 88 years and 265 healthy subjects comprising 84 males and 181 females. All patients and healthy subjects volunteered to participate in this study. They were classified according to

Background: Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE)-derived mitral annular displacement (MAD) utilizes the speckle tracking technique to measure strain vectors, which provides accurate estimates of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).Objectives: To validate the accuracy of mitral annular displacement (MAD), assessed by Speckle Tracking Echocardiography (STE), as a surrogate for determination of left ventricular systolic function in comparison to 2-Dimensions Simpson method in patients with different heart diseases.Methods : This cross-sectional study included patients who referred to outpatient department of Ibn Albitar Center for Cardiac Surgery, Baghdad, Iraq, between October 2012 and April 2013. STE continuously tracked annular

Background: Hypertension is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is elevated, it's classified as either primary (essential) hypertension or secondary hypertension, and it increases the risk of ischemic heart disease, peripheral vascular disease and other cardiovascular diseases. Several classes of medications collectively referred to as antihypertensive drugs like beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, renin inhibitors and statins (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitor. Statin medication may have some beneficial effects when subjects have dental plaque or signs of periodontitis as gingival bleeding. The purpose of this study were to as

Background: Spleen is a hemopoietic organ which is capable of supporting elements of different systems. It is affected by several groups of diseases; inflammatory, hematopoietic, reticuloendothelial proliferation, portal hypertension and storage diseases. Ultrasound (US) may detect mild splenomegaly before it is clinically palpable. Knowledge of the normal range of spleen size in the population being examined is a prerequisite. Racial differences in splenic length could result in incorrect interpretation of splenic measurements and such differences would make it difficult to standardize expected splenic length and to determine non- palpable splenic enlargement.Objectives: To measure the normal values of splenic lengthin Iraqi subjects an

Hypertension is one of the leading causes of the global burden of disease, which causes serious health problems. The aim of this study is to investigate the lipid profile levels in sera of Iraqi hypertensive patients by measuring Total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and low density lipoproteins (LDL) and kidney function levels by measuring uric acid, urea and creatinine. Seventy five individuals of Iraqi adults (Males) were divided into three groups: 25 hypertensive patients with duration of disease (1-10) year (group 1), 25 hypertensive patients with duration of disease (11-30) year (group 2) and 25 normal individuals as control group (group3). The findings indicate that serum (TC, TG and LDL) levels were significantly elevated (

Echocardiography is a widely used imaging technique to examine various cardiac functions, especially to detect the left ventricular wall motion abnormality. Unfortunately the quality of echocardiograph images and complexities of underlying motion captured, makes it difficult for an in-experienced physicians/ radiologist to describe the motion abnormalities in a crisp way, leading to possible errors in diagnosis. In this study, we present a method to analyze left ventricular wall motion, by using optical flow to estimate velocities of the left ventricular wall segments and find relation between these segments motion. The proposed method will be able to present real clinical help to verify the left ventricular wall motion diagnosis.

Background: Echocardiography has an important role to follow up patients with Iatrogenic atrial septaldefect (IASD) and after Catheter ablation during electro-physiological study.Objectives: evaluating the impact of non-invasive Transthoracic Echocardiography (TTE) parameters(LAVI, LVEF, ASD size and E/e`) post radiofrequency ablation of left atrial arrhythmia.Patients and methods: for the evaluation of the atrial septal defect, a transthoracic echocardiography(TTE) was used in patients who underwent left atrial arrhythmia ablation, enrolled in prospective studyin the Iraqi center for cardiac diseases, in cooperation with university of Baghdad /college of medicineResults: The outcomes of the present study were assessed according to