Skip to content
2000

Current Vascular Pharmacology - Volume 23, Issue 2, 2025

Volume 23, Issue 2

Volume 23, Issue 2, 2025

  • Medicine, Cardiology, Pharmacology, Peripheral Vascular Disease

      • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Cardiovascular Disease

        https://doi.org/10.2174/0115701611302479241010104240
        Introduction/Objective

        The influence of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and its modalities on various neuropsychiatric conditions is herein explored together with their impact on specific cardiovascular (CV) diseases (CVD).

        Methods

        A comprehensive review of the literature was undertaken the PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar on the above relevant topics. The focus was on large randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses.

        Results

        Among the various neuropsychiatric disorders, depression and anxiety commonly occur in CVD patients, frequently eluding clinician's attention. This reciprocal liaison may incur higher rates of morbidity/mortality, through physiological and behavioral mechanisms. Multimodal psychiatric interventions, using medications and psychotherapies, such as CBT, seem promising. Such mindfulness-based interventions have the potential to be an efficacious complementary strategy to address psychological stress in CVD patients. As the cost of CBT is relatively low, such a supportive approach for stress management provides high patient acceptability, with a positive impact on improving quality of life, by promoting CV health and mitigating CV complications.

        Conclusion

        There is ample evidence of a reciprocal liaison between heart and mind. Several CV risk factors are strongly affected by diseases of the mind, and the clinical course of various CVDs is influenced by affective or other psychiatric disorders. CBT and relevant mindfulness-based interventions have a significant supportive role in patients with various CVDs by targeting CV risk factor(s) or the underlying specific CVD and by identifying and addressing psychosocial issues. In this direction, various CBT interventions can provide the means to favorably influence both CV risk factors and CVDs.

    • Neutrophil Migration is a Crucial Factor in Wound Healing and the Pathogenesis of Diabetic Foot Ulcers: Insights into Pharmacological Interventions

      https://doi.org/10.2174/0115701611308960241014155413

      Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) pose a significant clinical challenge, characterized by impaired wound healing, chronic inflammation, and increased risk of infection. Neutrophils, as critical components of the innate immune response, play a pivotal role in the initial stages of wound healing, particularly during the inflammatory phase. This review explores the intricate relationship between neutrophil migration, inflammation, and the pathogenesis of DFU and drugs that can impact neutrophil production and migration. Neutrophils contribute to infection control through phagocytosis and release pro-inflammatory cytokines and reactive oxygen species, which, when dysregulated, can impede the wound healing process. Furthermore, the chronic hyperglycemic state characteristic of diabetes mellitus has been implicated in impairing neutrophil functions, including chemotaxis and oxidative burst. This compromised neutrophil response prolongs the inflammatory phase and disrupts the delicate balance required for efficient wound healing. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), a unique form of neutrophil defence, have also been implicated in DFU pathogenesis, potentially exacerbating inflammation and tissue damage. Understanding the intricate interplay between neutrophil migration, dysregulated inflammatory responses, and hyperglycemia-driven impairments is essential for developing targeted therapeutic strategies for DFUs. This review sheds light on the critical role of neutrophils in DFU pathogenesis, and innovative and advanced treatment strategies for DFU, highlighting the potential for novel interventions to restore the balance between pro-inflammatory and wound healing processes, ultimately improving clinical outcomes for individuals with DFU.

    • Atrial Fibrillation-Related Bradycardia and/or Bradycardia-Related Atrial Fibrillation: When and How to Intervene

      https://doi.org/10.2174/0115701611336002241030072954
      Introduction/Objective

      Atrial fibrillation (AF) could present with slow ventricular-response; bradycardia could facilitate the emergence of AF. The conviction that one “does not succumb” from bradycardia as an escape rhythm will emerge unless one sustains a fatal injury following syncope is in stark difference with ventricular tachyarrhythmia (VA), which may promptly cause cardiac arrest. However, this is not always the case, as a life-threatening situation may emerge during the bradycardic episode, ., the development of bradycardia-induced VAs, which could be fatal if there is no prompt intervention.

      Methods

      An extensive review of the literature was undertaken with key words including but not limited to AF, bradycardia, bradyarrhythmia, AF and bradycardia, slow ventricular response, sinus node dysfunction, sick sinus syndrome, tachycardia-bradycardia syndrome.

      Results

      AF is the commonest cardia arrhythmia worldwide and may be part of sick sinus syndrome, commonly presenting as bradycardia-tachycardia syndrome. Importantly, bradycardia-related cardiomyopathy and heart failure, as well as an adverse influence on brain function, may all be eluding consequences of this type of syndrome. Bradycardia could be the inciting mechanism for the occurrence of AF, and when the bradycardia is eliminated, AF may not recur. The bradycardia-related long-short-long sequence triggering VAs can be averted by pacing at rates ~80-110 bpm either temporary or permanent pacing as needed.

      Conclusion

      Balancing the benefits and risks of bradycardia together with other risks of antiarrhythmic drug and/or pacing management of AF versus those of catheter ablation is indeed a vexing problem; all these issues are herein discussed, tabulated, and pictorially illustrated.

Volumes & issues

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test