Maria Bonou

Dr. Maria Bonou


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

15Years (2012-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

View All Publications
31 May 2012 in European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
MBMaria Bonou
Maria Bonou
KLKonstantinos Lampropoulos
Konstantinos Lampropoulos
JBJohn Barbetseas
John Barbetseas
Prosthetic valve thrombosis is a potentially life-threatening complication associated with high morbidity and mortality. Transthorasic and transoesophageal echocardiography play an important role to the diagnosis and provides incremental information about the optimal treatment strategy, while fluoroscopy and cardiac computed tomography may be of added value. Guidelines differ on whether surgical treatment or fibrinolysis should be the treatment of choice for the management of left-sided prosthetic valve thrombosis and these uncertainties underline the need for further prospective randomized controlled trials. Thrombus size, New York Heart Association functional class of the patient, the possible contraindications, the availability of each therapeutic option and the clinician’s experience are important determinants for the management of prosthetic valve thrombosis.

Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
GMGeorge Markousis-Mavrogenis
George Markousis-Mavrogenis
Michel NoutsiasMichel Noutsias
Michel Noutsias
Angelos RigopoulosAngelos Rigopoulos
Angelos Rigopoulos
AGAikaterini Giannakopoulou
Aikaterini Giannakopoulou
SGSTYLIANOS GATZONIS
STYLIANOS GATZONIS
Sophie I. MavrogeniSophie I. Mavrogeni
Sophie I. Mavrogeni
Heart failure (HF) patients frequently develop brain deficits that lead to cognitive dysfunction (CD), which may ultimately also affect survival. There is an important interaction between brain and heart that becomes crucial for survival in patients with HF. Our aim was to review the brain/heart interactions in HF and discuss the emerging role of combined brain/heart magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation. A scoping review of published literature was conducted in the PubMed EMBASE (OVID), Web of Science, Scopus and PsycInfo databases. Keywords for searches included heart failure, brain lesion, brain, cognitive, cognitive dysfunction, magnetic resonance imaging cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging electroencephalogram, positron emission tomography and echocardiography. CD testing, the most commonly used diagnostic approach, can identify neither subclinical cases nor the pathophysiologic background of CD. A combined brain/heart MRI has the capability of diagnosing brain/heart lesions at an early stage and potentially facilitates treatment. Additionally, valuable information about edema, fibrosis and cardiac remodeling, provided with the use of cardiovascular magnetic resonance, can improve HF risk stratification and treatment modification. However, availability, familiarity with this modality and cost should be taken under consideration before final conclusions can be drawn. Abnormal CD testing in HF patients is a strong motivating factor for applying a combined brain/heart MRI to identify early brain/heart lesions and modify risk stratification accordingly.

5 January 2021 in Diagnostics
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
MBMaria Bonou
Maria Bonou
Sophie I. MavrogeniSophie I. Mavrogeni
Sophie I. Mavrogeni
Chris KapeliosChris Kapelios
Chris Kapelios
MSMarina Skouloudi
Marina Skouloudi
CAConstantina Aggeli
Constantina Aggeli
JBJohn Barbetseas
John Barbetseas
Cardiovascular (CV) complications represent the first non-graft-related cause of death and the third overall cause of death among patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT). History of coronary artery disease is related to increased CV mortality following LT. Although it is of paramount importance to stratify CV risk in pre-LT patients, there is no consensus regarding the choice of the optimal non-invasive cardiac imaging test. Algorithms proposed by scientific associations include non-traditional risk factors, which are associated with increased cardiac risk profiles. Thus, an individualized pre-LT evaluation protocol should be followed. As the average age of patients undergoing LT and the number of candidates continue to rise, the “3 W” questions still remain unanswered, Who, Which and When? Who should be screened for coronary artery disease (CAD), which screening modality should be used and when should the asymptomatic waitlisted patients repeat cardiac evaluation? Prospective studies with large sample sizes are warranted to define an algorithm that can provide better risk stratification and more reliable survival prediction.

1 March 2019 in BMC Cancer
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
MBMaria Bonou
Maria Bonou
Chris KapeliosChris Kapelios
Chris Kapelios
AMAthanasios Marinakos
Athanasios Marinakos
SAStamatis Adamopoulos
Stamatis Adamopoulos
PDPanagiotis Theodorou Diamantopoulos
Panagiotis Theodorou Diamantopoulos
NVNora-Athina Viniou
Nora-Athina Viniou
Primary cardiac lymphomas (PCL) represent extremely rare cardiac tumors which are accompanied by poor prognosis, unless they are timely diagnosed and treated. Herein we present a 28-year-old, immunocompetent man who presented to our hospital due to progressively worsening symptoms and signs of superior vena cava syndrome. Multi-modality imaging demonstrated a large intracardiac tumor, which was proven, by biopsy, to be a PCL. The patient received targeted chemotherapy which led to total remission of his disease, with no relapse over a 15-month follow-up period. Although PCLs are rare, they should always be kept in mind in the differential diagnosis of cardiac tumors. Timely diagnosis of PCLs and appropriate chemotherapy, alone or in combination with radiotherapy, seems to provide the best results.

20 February 2021 in Diagnostics
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
MBMaria Bonou
Maria Bonou
Sophie I. MavrogeniSophie I. Mavrogeni
Sophie I. Mavrogeni
Chris KapeliosChris Kapelios
Chris Kapelios
GMGeorge Markousis-Mavrogenis
George Markousis-Mavrogenis
CAConstantina Aggeli
Constantina Aggeli
JBJohn Barbetseas
John Barbetseas
Increased cardiac fat depots are metabolically active tissues that have a pronounced pro-inflammatory nature. Increasing evidence supports a potential role of cardiac adiposity as a determinant of the substrate of atrial fibrillation and ventricular arrhythmias. The underlying mechanism appears to be multifactorial with local inflammation, fibrosis, adipocyte infiltration, electrical remodeling, autonomic nervous system modulation, oxidative stress and gene expression playing interrelating roles. Current imaging modalities, such as echocardiography, computed tomography and cardiac magnetic resonance, have provided valuable insight into the relationship between cardiac adiposity and arrhythmogenesis, in order to better understand the pathophysiology and improve risk prediction of the patients, over the presence of obesity and traditional risk factors. However, at present, given the insufficient data for the additive value of imaging biomarkers on commonly used risk algorithms, the use of different screening modalities currently is indicated for personalized risk stratification and prognostication in this setting.

3 May 2023 in Hellenic Journal of Cardiology
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
Ioannis LeontsinisIoannis Leontsinis
Ioannis Leontsinis
DFDimitrios Farmakis
Dimitrios Farmakis
DADimitrios Avramidis
Dimitrios Avramidis
EAEirini Andrikou
Eirini Andrikou
AVAngeliki Valatsou
Angeliki Valatsou
KTKonstantinos Tsioufis
Konstantinos Tsioufis
Cardiovascular disease is commonly accompanied by renal dysfunction. Multimorbidity in hospitalized patients impacts unfavorably on prognosis and hospital stay. We aimed to illustrate the contemporary burden of cardiorenal morbidity across inpatient cardiology care in Greece. The Hellenic Cardiorenal Morbidity Snapshot (HECMOS) used an electronic platform to collect demographic and clinically relevant information about all patients hospitalized on the 3rd of March 2022 in Greece. The participating institutions covered all levels of inpatient cardiology care and most of the country's territories in order to collect a real-world, nation representative sample. 923 patients (males 68.4%, median age 73ys ± 14.8) were admitted in 55 different cardiology departments. 57.7% of the sample were older than 70 years of age. Hypertension was highly prevalent, present in 66% of cases. History of chronic HF, DM, AF and CKD was present in 38%, 31.8%, 30% and 26% respectively. 64.1% of the sample exhibited at least one of these four entities. Accordingly, a combination of at least 2 of them was recorded in 38.7%, of at least three in 18.2% whereas 4.3% of the sample combined all four morbid conditions in their past medical history. The most common combination was the coexistence of HF-AF accounting for 20.6% of the sample. 9 out of 10 non-electively admitted patients were hospitalized due to acute HF (39.9%), ACS (33.5%) or tachyarrhythmias (13.2%). HECMOS participants carried a remarkable burden of cardio-reno-metabolic disease. HF in conjunction with AF were found to be the most prevalent combination among the studied cardiorenal nexus of morbidities in the whole study population.