The Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) is an important measurement instrument for assessing the quality of life of heart failure patients. Despite being largely used within our context, the questionnaire had not yet been translated and validated into the Portuguese language. Of this study was to translate and validate the Portuguese version of the MLHFQ for use in heart failure patients. Forty patients with heart failure (30 men, LVEF 30+/-6%, 55% ischemic etiology, classified as NYHA I to III), clinically stable and on optimized drug therapy underwent maximal cardiopulmonary stress testing to assess their physical capacity. Right after the test, the MLHFQ duly translated into Portuguese was administered by the same investigator. The NYHA functional classification was provided by the medical team. The Portuguese version of the MLHFQ had the same structure and metrics of the original version. There was no difficulty in the administration of the questionnaire or in the patient's understanding of the questions. The Portuguese version of the MLHFQ was consistent with peak VO2, duration of the cardiopulmonary test, and NYHA functional classification. There was no difference in the score mean for the questionnaire between the group of patients with ischemic etiology and the group with non-ischemic etiology. The Portuguese version of the MLHFQ proposed in this study proved to be valid for heart failure patients, and constitutes a new and important instrument for assessing quality of life.

Background— Erectile dysfunction (ED) is common in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). ED reduces quality of life, and it may affect compliance, thereby impairing the success of CHF treatment. Methods and Results— In the first phase (fixed-dose double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, two-way crossover study), we studied in 23 men with CHF the effects of 50 mg sildenafil on exercise and neurohormonal activation. Patients underwent a treadmill 6-minute cardiopulmonary walking (6′WT) test followed by a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test (ET). In the second phase, patients received sildenafil, taken as required for ED. Sildenafil reduced the heart rate (HR) (bpm) before the 6′WT (from 75±15 to 71±14, P =0.02) and ET (from 75±15 to 71±15, P =0.02); the systolic blood pressure (mm Hg) before the 6′WT (from 116±18 to 108±18, P =0.004) and ET (from 116±15 to 108±17, P =0.001); the diastolic blood pressure before the 6′WT (from 69±9 to 63±11, P =0.01) and ET (from 70±8 to 65±10, P =0.004); and the Ve/V co ₂ slope during the 6′WT (from 32±7 to 31±6, P =0.04) and ET (from 33±8 to 31±5, P =0.03). Sildenafil attenuated the HR increment during the 6′WT ( P =0.003) and ET ( P =0.000). Sildenafil increased the peak ^· o ₂ from 16.6±3.4 to 17.7±3.4 mL/kg per min ( P =0.025) and the exercise time from 12.3±3.4 to 13.7±3.2 minutes ( P =0.003). Sildenafil improved most scores of International Index of Erectile Function. Conclusions— Sildenafil was tolerated and effective for ED treatment in CHF, and improved the exercise capacity. The reduction of HR during exercise with sildenafil could theoretically decrease the myocardial oxygen consumption during sexual activity.

Circulating miR-1 as a potential biomarker of doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity in breast cancer patients