Chapters authored
Loss of Complexity of the Cardiac Bioelectrical Signal as an Expression of Patient Outcomes
The loss of complexity of the cardiac bioelectrical signal, measured with tools of nonlinear dynamics (NLD), is studied in patients with very different pathologies. Two types of scenarios are studied: (a) patients who enter the critical care unit and recover from their condition; (b) severe patients whose condition worsen and finally die. It is shown that as the severity of the patients increases, the complexity of their cardiac bioelectric signal decreases. On the other hand, if patients, despite being severe, manage to recover, the cardiac bioelectric signal recovers its complexity.
Part of the book: Interpreting Cardiac Electrograms
Infective Endocarditis: Inflammatory Response, Genetic Susceptibility, Oxidative Stress, and Multiple Organ Failure
Infective endocarditis is defined by a focus of infection within the heart. Despite the optimal care, the mortality approaches 30% at 1 year, so the care for this type of patients represents a challenge to improve the result in your care. The challenges in this clinical entity have several aspects such as the diversity of germs that cause endocarditis, and the most important epidemiologically has generated resistance to antimicrobial treatment along with the possibility of apoptosis in their host-germ interaction. The immunogenetic susceptibility to host infection is discussed, which represents a deep area of research. Inflammation, local and systemic, is complex, with the genesis of reactive oxygen species, which are harmful when the antioxidant defenses are exceeded, causing the break in the mitochondrial electron transport chain with the fall in energy genesis, multiple organ failure, and death. Both at the cellular level and in the mitochondria, possible therapeutic targets are also commented.
Part of the book: Infective Endocarditis