Anomalous Right Coronary Artery from Left Main Coronary Artery and Subsequent Coursing between Aorta and Pulmonary Trunk

Anomalous origin of left main coronary artery or right coronary artery from the aorta with subsequent coursing between the aorta and pulmonary trunk is rare and can be sometimes life threatening. After hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, coronary artery anomalies are the second most common cause of sudden cardiac deaths among young athletes. This is a case presentation of an anomalous origin of right coronary artery from left main coronary artery coursing between the pulmonary trunk and aorta. Patient presented with STEMI and had coronary bypass surgery

Fragmented QRS complex as a predictor of exercise-related sudden cardiac death

Introduction: Little is known about the association between electrocardiographic abnormalities and exercise-related sudden cardiac death.Therefore, our aim was to identify possible electrocardiographic findings related to exercise-induced sudden cardiac death. Methods and results: The FinGesture study includes 3,989 consecutive sudden cardiac deaths in northern Finland between 1998 and 2012, out of whom a total of 647 subjects had a previously recorded electrocardiography acquired from the archives of Oulu University Hospital. In 276 of these cases the death was witnessed, and the activity at the time of death was either rest or physical exercise (PEj; in 40 {14%} cases sudden cardiac death was exercise-related and in 236 (86%) cases death took place at rest. Fragmented QRS complex in at least two consecutive leads within anterior leads (V1-V3) was more common in the exercise-group compared to rest-group (17 of 40, 43% vs. 51 of 236,22%, P = 0.005). Pathologic Q wave in anterior leads was more common in the PE group (9 of 40,23% vs. 26 of 236,11%; P = 0.044). Median QRS duration was prolonged in the exercise-group compared to the rest-group (100 milliseconds vs. 94 milliseconds, P = 0.047), QTc interval, the prevalence of inverted T-waves, or other electrocardiographic abnormalities did not differ significantly between the two groups. Conclusions: As a conclusion, fragmented QRS complex in the anterior leads is associated with an increased risk of sudden cardiac death during PE.Peer reviewe

Salbutamol-induced electrophysiological changes show no correlation with electrophysiological changes during hyperinsulinaemic-hypoglycaemic clamp in young people with Type 1 diabetes.

AIMS: Hypoglycaemia causes QT-interval prolongation and appears pro-arrhythmogenic. Salbutamol, a β2 -adrenoreceptor agonist also causes QT-interval prolongation. We hypothesized that the magnitude of electrophysiological changes induced by salbutamol and hypoglycaemia might relate to each other and that salbutamol could be used as a non-invasive screening tool for predicting an individual's electrophysiological response to hypoglycaemia. METHODS: Eighteen individuals with Type 1 diabetes were administered 2.5 mg of nebulized salbutamol. Participants then underwent a hyperinsulinaemic-hypoglycaemic clamp (2.5 mmol/l for 1 h). During both experiments, heart rate and serum potassium (and catecholamines during the clamp) were measured and a high-resolution electrocardiogram (ECG) was recorded at pre-set time points. Cardiac repolarization was measured by QT-interval duration adjusted for heart rate (QTc ), T-wave amplitude (Tamp ), T-peak to T-end interval duration (Tp Tend ) and T-wave area symmetry (Tsym ). The maximum changes vs. baseline in both experiments were assessed for their linear dependence. RESULTS: Salbutamol administration caused QTc and Tp Tend prolongation and a decrease in Tamp and Tsym . Hypoglycaemia caused increased plasma catecholamines, hypokalaemia, QTc and Tp Tend prolongation, and a decrease in Tamp and Tsym . No significant correlations were found between maximum changes in QTc [r = 0.15, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) -0.341 to 0.576; P = 0.553), Tp Tend (r = 0.075, 95% CI -0.406 to 0.524; P = 0.767), Tsym (r = 0.355, 95% CI -0.132 to 0.706; P = 0.149) or Tamp (r = 0.148, 95% CI -0.347 to 0.572; P = 0.558) in either experiment. CONCLUSIONS: Both hypoglycaemia and salbutamol caused pro-arrhythmogenic electrophysiological changes in people with Type 1 diabetes but were not related in any given individual. Salbutamol does not appear useful in assessing an individual's electrophysiological response to hypoglycaemia. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Electrical surrogate for detection of severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction

Background Early diagnosis and therapy improves outcomes in heart failure with severely reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF 35% to have >= 1 conventional ECG abnormality. In the subset without conventional ECG abnormalities, >= 4 abnormal ECG markers from the expanded panel were found in 12% vs. 1% of patients with LVEF 35%, respectively. In the validation population (n = 9,742), 44% with LVEF 35% had >= 1 conventional ECG abnormality. In patients without conventional ECG abnormalities (n = 7,601), 40% with LVEF 35% had >= 4 abnormal ECG markers from the expanded panel. Each additional abnormal ECG marker from the expanded panel (range 0 to >= 4) more than doubled the odds of LVEFPeer reviewe