Aim of Study: Our aim is to compare dynamic thiol/disulphide homeostasis between patients with acute pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) and healthy controls. Methods: Our study included 45 patients who were diagnosed with acute PTE and 50 healthy controls. Serum thiol/disulphide was measured. Results: We found that the native thiol, total thiol, native thiol/total thiol levels were significantly lower in the patient group than the control group, while the disulphide, disulphide/natural thiol, disulphide/total thiol levels were significantly higher. Conclusion: We have seen that in patients diagnosed with acute PTE, the oxidant-antioxidant balance shifts towards the oxidative direction. The disulfide/natural thiol ratio can be considered as an oxidative stress parameter in acute PTE. We think that the deterioration in thiol disulfide balance, together with clinical, laboratory and radiological findings, may have diagnostic value in acute PTE patients.

Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) which is characterized by persistent airflow restriction and respiratory symptoms. Studies demonstrated that cardiac arrhythmias, cardiovascular mortality and cardiac death increased in these patients due to altered myocardial repolarization. Frontal QRS-T angle is a novel marker of myocardial depolarization and repolarization heterogeneity. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between frontal QRS-T angle and COPD severity in patients with newly diagnosed COPD. Methods: A total of 104 newly diagnosed COPD patients without any significant comorbidities were included in this study. Patients were divided into two groups according to GOLD stage as follows: patients with mild and moderate COPD (group I) and severe and very severe COPD (group II). Frontal QRS-T angle was calculated from the automatic report of the electrocardiography device . Results: Frontal QRS-T angle was significantly higher in group II patients compared to in group I patients (43.0 [25.5-60.0] vs. 20.0 [12.0-32.0], P < 0.001). The best cut-off value of frontal QRS-T angle for predicting severe-very severe COPD was ≥ 34.5°. Correlation analysis showed that frontal QRS-T angle was negatively correlated with FEV1/FVC (r = –0.524, P < 0.001) and MEF25-75 (r = –0.453, P < 0.001). In linear regression analysis, It was found that MEF25-75 (β: –0.593, P = 0.006) was the only independent predictor of the frontal QRS-T angle. Conclusions: Frontal QRS-T angle, an easily obtainable marker form surface electrocardiography. In this study, we have shown for the first time that frontal QRS-T angle was significantly increased in patients with severe and very severe COPD.