Tehran University Medical Journal

Sudden cardiac death in sport, although rare, but is a tragic event, attracting the media and public attention. Sport and exercise may act as a trigger for sudden cardiac death. Risk of sudden death in young athletes with cardiovascular disease is 2.5 times more frequent than non-athlete individuals. More than 90% of cases of sudden death occur during or immediately after training or competition. Incidence of sudden cardiac death in any population, including athletes, is related to multiple factors such as gender, age, race, nationality, diagnostic screening methods and preventive measures for sudden cardiac death. Otherwise, incidence rate of sudden cardiac death is linked to the used definition and method of diagnosis. Different cardiovascular disorders may result in death of young athletes and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, congenital coronary anomalies, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia and aortic rupture are among the most common causes. Marfan syndrome, dilated cardiomyopathy, viral myocarditis, Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, congenital long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome and commotio cordis are reported as other etiologies. In older athletes (more than 35 years), ischemic coronary heart disease is responsible for majority of the cases similar to the general population. Because the outcome of sudden cardiac arrest in sports is very poor except in few cases, proper national strategies are needed to diminish the burden of sudden death in young athletes. It seems that there are two main strategies to achieve this goal: A) Primary prevention with use of purposeful pre-participation evaluation programs. This evaluation should focuss on the proper history and physical examination. Nevertheless, there is significant debate between American and European countries regarding the use of paraclinical investigations (especially ECG). American heart association does not recommend ECG as an essential part of evaluation. In contrast, European society of cardiology and international olympic committee advocate ECG for all athletes younger than 35 years. However, all evaluations should be based on national, generally accepted standards and done by well-educated experts. B) Setting evidence-based and updated protocols for early and effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), attendance of well equipped medical staff and early access to automated external defibrillator (AED) in all sport events and implementing CPR education in all coaching training courses.

Background: Various prediction models have been developed aiming to estimate risk-adjusted mortality, morbidity and length of intensive care unit stay following cardiac surgeries. The European system for cardiac operative risk evaluation II (EuroSCORE II) is a prediction model which maps 18 predictors to a 30-day post-operative risk of death. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the EuroSCORE II risk-analysis predictions among patients who underwent heart surgeries.
Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted to collect required variables for all consecutive patients underwent heart surgeries in Emam Reza hospital, Mashhad, Iran, from March 2014 to March 2015. Once the patient was hospitalized a cardiologist or a general physician evaluated pre- peri- and post-operative state to fill out the pre-designed structural paper form. Comparing the observed and expected mortality, the sensitivity, specificity, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and finally the discrimination power of the model for our patients were calculated and reported. The model value was calculated using the online tool.
Results: A total of 1337 patients (60% males) were included, the observed mortality rate was 3.2%. Although the overall performance was acceptable, the model showed poor discriminatory power (AUC=0.667, CI 95%: 0.648-0.685) and accuracy with sensitivity=61.88% and specificity=66.23%.
Conclusion: Our single-center study, based on consecutive patients who underwent cardiac surgery showed that EuroSCORE II demonstrated a moderate statistical overall performance with poor discrimination and calibration measures remain as concerning issues regarding 30-day post-operative mortality prediction after adult cardiac surgery. Poor performance measures for this system show the need for reformulating this risk stratification tool aiming to improve post cardiac surgery outcome predictions in Iran.

Background: smoking enhances the risk of cardiac events in patients with coronary artery disease. So, it is necessary to evaluate the effects of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation on endothelial function and functional capacity among smoker patients.
Methods: This randomized clinical trial study was conducted on 56 non-diabetic smokers with a history of percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass graft surgery in Imam Khomeini Hospital from May to August 2015. Based on cardiac rehabilitation, patients were divided into intervention and control groups. Before rehabilitation, fasting blood sugar (FBS), lipid profile (LDL, HDL, triglyceride, and total cholesterol), and Ankle-Brachial Index (ABI) were measured for endothelial function. Besides, METs were measured based on the Duke activity status index. After 24 rehabilitation sessions (3 sessions of 1 hour each week for 2 months), all values were checked again and compared with the initial values.

Results: The mean age of the subjects in the cardiac rehabilitation and control groups were 61.18 and 52.32, respectively. Before the intervention, there were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of the ABI variables, BMI, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, LDL, triglyceride, total cholesterol and FBS; only HDL and  METs showed significant differences. After exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation, the mean rate of ABI changes was +0.078 on the right side of the body and +0.084 on the left side of the body. In the control group, these values were 0.002 and 0.003, respectively (P=0.001). The amount of changes in increasing METs as well as decreasing body mass index (BMI), and systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the rehabilitation group were statistically significant compared to the control group. In addition, there were no significant differences in terms of FBS and lipid profiles either (P>0.05). Conclusion: Two months of cardiac rehabilitation with regular exercise was associated with improved ABI as an indicator of endothelial function and prognosis of cardiovascular disease, as well as improved cardiac functional capacity among smoker patients.

Background: The neonate's Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is the most important and common emergency condition in the delivery room. Approximately 10% of newborns are unable to initiate effective breathing and require assistance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of CPR levels of the neonates delivered during a year in Moheb Yas Hospital who were resuscitated.
Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study. The sampling method in this study was census. In this study, all the live neonates born during the year (April, 2010 to April, 2011) in Moheb Yas Hospital who were resuscitated, were enrolled in the study. The information of these infants was recorded in separate checklists. This checklist included the following information: mother's age, gestational age, gender of the baby, method of the delivery, multiple births, complications of the placenta and umbilical cord, amount of amniotic fluid, fetal presentation, meconium excretion, fetal heart rate pattern, Apgar of the baby, resuscitation levels, underlying diseases of the mother, maternal diseases during pregnancy, drug use by the mother and premature rupture of the amniotic sac. Finally, the data were analyzed by SPSS software. P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results: There were 2,176 live births during the study. Of these infants , a total of 322 neonates (15.27%) underwent CPR. 51.8% were male. The mean gestational age was 36.08 weeks. The first minute Apgar was less than 5, between 5-7, and above 8 respectively in 10.5%, 33.4%, and 56% of neonates. About 42% of neonates needed initial resuscitation (warming, drying, and respiratory stimulation). 48% required respiratory ventilation with bag and mask, 5% endotracheal tube, 2.7% cardiac massage, and 1.3% needed medication. In 96.7% of cases, the CPR team was ready for resuscitation before delivery. Conclusion: If resuscitation is performed in a timely and appropriate manner, very few of these infants will need advanced resuscitation. On the other hand, the high need for resuscitation by bags and masks can be secondary to the educational nature of this hospital.

Background: Considering the high death rate of patients on the transplant waiting list, one of the most important ethical challenges of organ transplantation is the lack of transplant organs and different approaches to cover it.
Methods: The ethical issues of organ transplantation have been frequently reviewed recently.
Results: Currently, there are 4 sources for organ transplants, which are: a) organ transplant from animal to human b) transplant from a living donor c) transplant from a brain-dead donor d) transplant from a cardiac-dead donor or donors without a heartbeat, and tissue engineering research continues to prepare a transplantable organ. Each of them has its own limitation and specific consideration. In Iran, organ procurement from brain-dead donors and living donors are the most important sources. Many approaches have been considered to increase the number of procured organs from brain-death cases in the world, but have not yet been able to reduce the gap between supply and demand. Therefore, since the 1980s, the program of organ transplantation from cardiac death (donors with irreversible cardiac arrest) in the world has been reviewed again. Based on the classification of cardiac arrest patients, they are placed in two general categories: uncontrolled and controlled. In a controlled condition, death is predictable, and organ removal is possible by eliminating planned medical interventions and patient support. But in the uncontrolled state, death occurs accidentally, which is more likely to prolong the duration of hot ischemia. Italy's organ donation group has recently introduced type 6 deaths in patients on ECMO, which is mentioned as a semi-controlled group. This group is called donors with abnormal blood flow versus brain-dead donors with normal blood flow. In this study, ethical considerations for organ donation from NHBD were discussed. Regarding the procurement of organs from non-heart beating donors, there are many ethical considerations that include both the donors and the recipients. Considering that the clinical conditions of the brain-dead donors are sometimes very unstable, cardiac arrest may occur before organ harvesting. In these cases, donation after cardiac death is an option.
Conclusion: It is necessary to regulate the ethical considerations for organ procurement from NHBD

Background: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a quick and immediate intervention to prevent death in a person who has suddenly suffered cardiorespiratory arrest. This study aims to investigate the results of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the factors affecting it with emphasis on the cause of cardiac arrest and 1-year prognosis of the saved patients.
Methods: Materials and methods: This research is a retrospective descriptive-analytical study that was conducted for 24 months, from April 1, 2017 to the end of March 2018, in Shahid Mostafa Khomeini Hospital in Ilam, from July 2022 to September 2022. The necessary information was collected based on the data available in the patients' files. Data analysis was done using SPSS24 software.

Results: Out of 152 patients, 64(42.1%) were men and 88(57.9%) were women. The average in the group that had a successful CPR was 60.75 years and in the group that had an unsuccessful CPR was 68.27 years. 13.7% of all CPRs occurred during shift change. The number of CPR was 11 cases (7.2%) in changing night shift to morning, six cases (3.9%) in changing evening shift to night, and four cases (2.6%) in changing evening to night shift. Most of the patients who underwent CPR were patients with internal diseases. Conclusion: In this study, the final success rate of CPR was close to other studies. These results indicate that performing CPR is considered at any time. However, the reasons for the failure of the rehabilitation operation should be looked for in other factors. These factors can include updating nursing and medical team’s knowledge in the field of resuscitation, experience and skills of the resuscitation team, and periodic training of the resuscitation team, which should be considered regularly in order to reduce unsuccessful cases.