Patients with heart failure frequently present with varying degrees of skeletal muscle dysfunction, from early fatigue to sarcopenia and cachexia. Sarcopenia, defined as the loss of muscle mass and/or function, contributes to the physical dimension of frailty. Both conditions are associated with adverse outcomes in heart failure.
Refractory heart failure with a poor prognosis is a key feature of dilated cardiomyopathy. Inflammatory cardiomyopathy, often diagnosed via in vivo subendomyocardial biopsy, is considered a potential precursor to dilated cardiomyopathy. The Dallas criteria, applied to morphometric and electron microscopic studies of biopsy samples, are essential for differentiating the features of various inflammatory stages. Building upon these established diagnostic principles, our study integrates immunohistological analysis with measurements of intramyocardial indices and intracardiac hemodynamics.
Diagnosing community-acquired pneumonia in patients with chronic heart failure can be challenging. Oxidative stress and inflammatory response play an important role in the development and diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia and are also involved in many cardiovascular diseases, including chronic heart failure.