Coronary microvascular dysfunction equivalent to left main coronary artery disease

Coronary microvascular dysfunction, also known as cardiac syndrome X, is a clinical syndrome presenting with typical angina and evidence of myocardial ischemia in the absence of flow-limiting stenosis on coronary angiography. Of patients undergoing coronary angiography due to suspected myocardial ischemia, 50% are found to have normal or near-normal coronary arteries. Described in this case report is a patient who developed hypotension and ST segment depressions during treadmill exercise test. Left main coronary artery or multivessel disease was suspected. Coronary angiography was normal, but coronary flow reserve measurement revealed severe microvascular dysfunction

Successful percutaneous treatment of coronary steal syndrome with the amplatzer vascular plug 4 and coil embolization

The left internal mammary artery (LIMA) is widely used in coronary artery bypass grafting surgery due to its long term perfect patency rates. However, coronary steal syndrome can occur because of unligated LIMA side branches and it causes blood flow from coronary artery to LIMA. Even though the optimal therapy of coronary steal syndrome is still controversial, some percutaneous and surgical treatment modalities can be used in the treatment of steal phenomenon for relieving angina and resolving ischemia. It was demonstrated that percutaneous treatments such as the use of gelatin sponge particles or drug-eluting stents with covered stent, and coil and vascular plug embolization were used to treat this phenomenon successfully. Several studies revealed that these percutaneous treatments can reduce the ischemic area and results in prevention of blood flow from coronary artery to LIMA side branches. Supporting these findings, we herein present a 48-year-old male patient with objective ischemia with coronary steal syndrome treated successfully with the Amplatzer vascular plug (AVP) 4 and coil embolization in the same procedure. To the best of our knowledge. the combined therapy has not been described in the literature yet. Supporting the literature findings, successful treatment of LIMA side branches in our case with two different percutaneous modalities results in improvement of coronary flow and a reduced ischemic area and angina

A new biomarker that predicts ventricular arrhythmia in patients with ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy: Galectin-3

Introduction: Ventricular arrhythmias are caused by scar tissue in patients with ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. The gold standard imaging technique for detecting scar tissue is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, MRI is not feasible for use as a screening test, and also cannot be used in patients who have received an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). In this study, we aimed to assess the association between levels of galectin-3 (Gal-3), which is known to be secreted by scar tissue, and the history of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy who received an ICD. Methods: Nineteen healthy controls and 32 patients who had previously undergone VVI-ICD implantation due to ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy were enrolled in the study. Patients were divided into three groups: the first group including patients who had received no ICD therapies, the second including patients with arrhythmia requiring therapies with no arrhythmia storm, and the third including patients who had arrhythmia storm. We assessed the association between Gal-3 levels and the history of ventricular arrhythmias in these patients. Results: Gal-3 levels were significantly higher in the patient groups than in the control group (p<0.01). Gal-3 levels of patients with arrhythmias requiring ICD therapies were significantly higher than in patients with ICD not requiring therapies (p=0.02). They were also higher in patients with a history of arrhythmia storm than in patients without shocks (p=0.05). Receiver operating curve analysis showed with 84% sensitivity and 75% specificity that Gal-3 levels over 7 ng/ml indicated ventricular arrhythmia that required therapies

Characterization, epidemiological profile and risk factors for clinical outcome of infective endocarditis from a tertiary care centre in Turkey

Background: We aimed to investigate the clinical, laboratory, microbiological characteristics of IE in a single tertiary care centre in Turkey and to identify the factors associated with in-hospital mortality. Methods: A total of 155 consecutive adult patients (>= 18 years) admitted to our single tertiary care hospital between 2009 and 2019 with definite infective endocarditis were retrospectively included in the study. Results: The mean age of the patients was 58 years. Among 155 endocarditis episodes, 60% involved prosthetic valves, 35.5% had native valve endocarditis (NVE) and 4.5% were device related. Prosthetic valve disease was the most frequent predisposing valve lesion followed by degenerative valvular disease. Vegetations were detected in 103 (66.5%) patients by transthoracic echocardiography and in 145 (93%) patients by transoesophageal echocardiography. The most commonly affected valve was the mitral valve in 84 (54.2%) patients, followed by 67 (43.2%) aortic valve. Staphylococci were the most frequent causative microorganisms isolated in both NVE (31.8%), prosthetic valve endocarditis (38.9%) and device related IE cases. At least one complication was present in 70 patients (45.2%). One hundred and eight patients underwent surgical therapy (69.7%). Age, syncope, heart failure, perforation, septic shock, renal failure, high red cell distribution width, atrial fibrillation, hypocalcaemia, pulmonary hypertension were associated with high mortality. Conclusions: We identified a 10-year presentation of IE in a referral centre in Turkey. Likely other series, we observed more staphylococcus endocarditis with the aging of the population. Surgery was associated with higher in-hospital survival. Age, syncope, perforation, septic shock were independent predictors of mortality

Potential contribution of virtual histology plaque composition to hemodynamic-morphologic dissociation in patients with non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome

Objective: Histologic plaque characteristics may influence the hemodynamic effect generated by physiologically significant unstable coronary lesions where plaque content and surface related factors are expected to contribute to the maximum translesional pressure drop. In this study, we aimed to identify local lesion specific virtual histological characteristics that may potentially affect hemodynamic outcome measures

Acute effects of Red Bull energy drink on ventricular repolarization in healthy young volunteers: a prospective study

Objective: Energy drinks (EDs) are widely consumed products of the beverage industry and are often chosen by teenagers and young adults. Several adverse cardiovascular events and malignant cardiac arrhythmias following consumption of EDs have been reported in the literature. Several studies have suggested that the interval from the peak to the end of the electrocardiographic T wave (Tp-e) may correspond to the dispersion of repolarization and that an increased Tp-e interval and Tp-e/QT ratio are associated with malignant ventricular arrhythmias. This study investigated the acute effects of Red Bull ED on ventricular repolarization as assessed by the Tp-e interval and Tp-e/QT ratio