OBJECTIVE: Spinal cord infarction (SCI) is a rare complication of vertebral artery dissection (VAD). Its clinical features and outcomes have not yet been well documented. METHODS: In addition to reporting a case with bilateral SCI caused by left VAD, we performed a systematic review of the literature conducted through a ...

OBJECTIVE: Spinal cord infarction is a rare cause of neurologic deterioration after cervical spine decompressive surgery. Proposed causes of ischemic events include intraoperative or postoperative hypotension, or decreased venous return in conjunction with elevated vertebral venous pressures, which reduces arterial perfusion when patients undergo surgery in the prone position. Neuro-imaging ...

Cervical angina is defined as chest pain resembling true cardiac angina but originating from disorders of the cervical spine. Cervical angina is caused by cervical spondylosis in most cases. A 66-year-old man presented with bilateral arm palsy after chest pain resembling angina pectoris. Neurological examination revealed motor and sensory disturbances ...

Intraoperative myocardial ischemia is attributed to decreased myocardial oxygen supply. We present an unusual case of recurrent, symptomless inferior wall ischemia in an apparently healthy male with no history of coronary artery disease after a spinal block. The recurring episodes were linked to tachycardia and presented with significant ST depression ...

The extension and the transmurality of the myocardial infarction are of high predictive value for clinical outcome. The aim of the study was to characterize the ability of longitudinal, circumferential and radial strain measured by 2-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D-STE) to predict the extent of necrosis in myocardial segments following ...

Alterations in left ventricular mass and geometry vary along with the degree of obesity, but mechanisms underlying such covariation are not clear. In a case-control study, we examined how body composition and fat distribution relate to left ventricular structure and examine how sustained weight loss affects left ventricular mass and ...

Ischemic mitral regurgitation results from annular dilatation, leaflet tethering and leaflet flattening. Undersized annuloplasty corrects annular dilatation but worsens leaflet tethering and flattening. This exacerbation of abnormal leaflet geometry may contribute to poor repair results for ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR). Using a sheep model of IMR, we hypothesized that posterior ...

BACKGROUND: Left atrial (LA) enlargement has been acknowledged as a significant predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. METHODS: To evaluate the accuracy of two-dimensional and three-dimensional echocardiography for determining LA volume, LA volume measurements by echocardiography were compared with those measured by 64-slice multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) as a reference ...

ABSTRACT: We report a case of a 52-year-old patient with dilated cardiomyopathy who presented with worsening heart failure. Two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography and real-time three dimensional transthoracic echocardiography showed severe dilated cardiac chambers, impaired ejection fraction and a mobile right atrial thrombus 2.6x 1.0 cm in size, traversing the right atrial ...

An 11-year-old girl presented with focal atrial tachycardia (AT) originating from inside the inferior vena cava (IVC). Sustained AT appeared 10 years after surgical repair of the congenital heart defects. Focal AT was successfully eliminated with radiofrequency application at the earliest activation site, about 8 mm below the IVC right atrium junction. ...

Background: Prehospital 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) reduces the time to reperfusion in acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). However, the reliability of using cellular video-phone (VP) assisted interpretation of ECG is unknown. Methods: We studied the interphysician reliability in interpreting the ECG assisted with VP compared to print ECG interpretation. Twenty-seven ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Infarct volume is used as a surrogate outcome measure in clinical trials of therapies for acute ischemic stroke. ABC/2 is a fast volumetric method, but its accuracy remains to be determined. We aimed to study the accuracy and reproducibility of ABC/2 in determining acute infarct volume with ...

Aims:  To investigate the safety and efficacy of everolimus-eluting stents (EES) in a real world population, including those with high-risk characteristics and complex lesions. Methods:  In this report, we analyze 2-year outcomes in 500 consecutive unselected patients treated with EES between April 2007 and March 2008. All patients were followed ...

Electric alternans is a pattern of variation in the shape of ECG waveform that occurs every other beat. In humans, alternation in ventricular repolarization, known as repolarization alternans (RA), has been associated with increased vulnerability to ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation and sudden cardiac death. This study investigates the spatio-temporal variability of intracardiac ...

Background: Real time myocardial contrast echocardiography (RTMCE) is an emerging imaging modality for assessing myocardial perfusion that allows for noninvasive quantification of regional myocardial blood flow (MBF). Aim: We sought to assess the value of qualitative analysis of myocardial perfusion and quantitative assessment of myocardial blood flow (MBF) by RTMCE ...

Mechanisms associated with right ventricular (RV) hypertension and arrhythmias are less understood than those in the left ventricle (LV). The aim of our study was to investigate whether and by what mechanisms a proarrhythmic substrate exists in a rat model of RV hypertension and hypertrophy. Rats were injected with monocrotaline ...

OBJECTIVE: Green tea proposes anti-inflammatory properties which may attenuate chronic inflammation-induced fibrosis of vessels. This study evaluated whether green tea polyphenols (GTP) can avert fibrosis or vascular disruption along with mechanisms in rats with chronic inflammation. TREATMENTS: Forty 3-month-old female rats were assigned to a 2 (placebo vs. lipopolysaccharide, administration) × 2 ...

Aims: Previous risk models predicting in-hospital major adverse cardiac or cerebrovascular events (MACCE) after percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) may underestimate actual short-term post-procedure complications due to the trend toward early discharge of patients. Methods and results: Using a subset (N=10,679) from the STENT Group registry, a logistic regression model was ...

BACKGROUND: Transplant of skeletal myoblasts is an attractive alternative to repair irreversibly damaged myocardium in ischemic heart failure. We investigated whether transplant of myoblasts overexpressing placental growth factor would stimulate angiogenesis and enhance myoblast survival in a rat heart failure model. METHODS: Three weeks after myocardial infarction, Sprague-Dawley rats in ...

This study evaluates a therapy for infarct modulation and acute myocardial rescue and utilizes a novel technique to measure local myocardial oxygenation in vivo. Bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were targeted to the heart with peri-infarct intramyocardial injection of the potent EPC chemokine stromal cell-derived factor 1α (SDF). Myocardial ...

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was the assessment of left ventricular (LV) remodeling during the surgical management of degenerative mitral valve regurgitation (DMR) with the application of 2 emerging imaging modalities: real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) and speckle tracking. METHODS: A total of 40 patients with DMR were prospectively ...

Analyses of form-function relationships during heart looping are directly related to technological advances. Recent advances in four-dimensional optical coherence tomography (OCT) permit observations of cardiac dynamics at high-speed acquisition rates and high resolution. Real-time observation of the avian stage 13 looping heart reveals that interactions between the endocardial and myocardial ...

OBJECTIVE: Coronary vasodilation and coronary steal are the basis for routine use of dipyridamole in stress echocardiography for non-invasive assessment of coronary artery disease (CAD). This study investigates dipyridamole effects on cardiac (regional function, synchronicity and contractility) and systemic (ventricular arterial coupling) haemodynamics during real-time three-dimensional (RT3D) stress echocardiography in ...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of aging and timing of left ventricular ischemic injury on the availability and functionality of stem cells. We studied young and aged male inbred Lewis rats that were used as donors of bone marrow mononuclear cells (BM-MNCs), divided in four ...

The aim of this study was to verify the benefits and limitations of repeated bedside echocardiographic examinations in children during mechanical ventilation. For the purposes of this study, we selected the data of over a time period from 2006 to 2010. A total of 235 children, average age 3.21 (SD ...

We report a case of a 63-year-old woman who presented with infective endocarditis and developed a pseudoaneurysm (PA) of the left ventricle presumably as a result of an embolic infarct. The diagnosis was made by typical features of PA on tranesophageal echocardiography and color Doppler studies. In addition, three-dimensional transesophageal ...

Cardiac cell therapy for older patients who experience a myocardial infarction may require highly regenerative cells from young, healthy (allogeneic) donors. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are currently under clinical investigation because they can induce cardiac repair and may also be immunoprivileged (suitable for allogeneic applications). However, it is ...

Sudden cardiac death is a leading cause of death in Europe. In the vast majority, myocardial infarction or pulmonary embolism is the underlying cause. Lethality is still high, especially if the arrest occurs out of hospital. For these two severe conditions, thrombolysis has proven to be an established therapy. Coronary ...

Rescue angioplasty (RA) has demonstrated its efficacy for the treatment of failed thrombolysis after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We analyzed clinical, angiographic, and procedural characteristics, and prognosis at 30 days of prospective cohort of unselected patients admitted for RA. From August 2004 to August 2009, 361 patients were included in ...

This report describes the case of a 29-day-old infant with Kawasaki's disease who presented in extremis with multiple coronary aneurysms and coronary thromboses, myocardial ischemia, and congestive heart failure. The infant successfully underwent emergent coronary thrombolysis with tissue plasminogen activator.

We present the case of a 41-year-old man with sudden development of left hemiparesis due to infarction of the right middle cerebral artery that was successfully treated with intravenous (IV) thrombolysis with alteplase. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a small mass in the left ventricle. The patient underwent surgical resection, and histological ...

Background Mortality from acute myocardial infarction is influenced by the speed at which reperfusion therapy is delivered. In the UK, prehospital thrombolysis (PHT), administered by paramedics, has been developed to improve call to needle (CTN) times. Recently, it has been shown in randomised trials that mortality can be further reduced ...

We report clinical results of combined pharmacological and mechanical thrombolysis for mechanical prosthetic valve thrombosis (PVT) in the right heart. Between January 1992 and December 2008, combined thrombolysis, which consisted of an intravenous infusion of urokinase together with mechanical disruption of thrombus in a prosthetic valve by temporarily increasing the ...

Objective To describe the effects of implementing of a percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) service and compare the distribution of reperfusion therapies 12 months pre and post introduction of PPCI. Design Observational study with data collected 12 months pre and post-availability of Primary PCI as routine treatment. Setting Lothian region in South-East Scotland. ...

BACKGROUND: Thrombolysis remains the treatment of choice in acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) when primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) cannot be performed within 90 to 120 minutes. The optimal treatment after thrombolysis is still debated, but several studies have shown improved clinical outcomes with early transfer for PCI. The ...

BACKGROUND: It remains unclear whether the superiority of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) over thrombolysis for the treatment of ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) extends to the very elderly. Furthermore, the deliverability and efficacy of PPCI in over the 80s has not been investigated in a real-world setting. The aim ...

We investigated whether transcutaneous ultrasound (TUS) augments coronary thrombolysis and achieves higher rates of Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) flow grade 3 and ST-segment resolution in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). In animal coronary and peripheral artery thrombosis models, low-frequency TUS enhances and accelerates thrombolysis. In a double-blind, ...

The Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) score, derived from unstable angina/non-ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction patient population, predicts 14-day cardiovascular events. It has been validated in emergency department (ED) patients with potential acute coronary syndrome with respect to 30-day outcomes. Our objective was to determine whether the initial TIMI score ...

Mean platelets volume (MPV) has been shown to correlate with impaired reperfusion and increased mortality in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with primary precutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We aimed to study whether the same association exists in STEMI patients treated with thrombolysis. Included in the study were STEMI ...

A 73-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of bilateral foot pain. He was treated with thrombolysis for cerebral infarction about 5 months ago. Anticoagulants had not been used because of hemorrhagic infarction. The pulses of bilateral pedal arteries were palpable, but cyanosis was present in the bilateral toes. ...

OBJECTIVE: To explore the cardiac protective effect of integrative therapy in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) with elevated ST segment after reperfusion. METHODS: Sixty-four AMI patients who having received decimalization by thrombolysis were assigned to two groups by retrospective analysis, 36 patients in the treated group and 28 in the control ...

Thrombolytic therapy is widely used to treat the patients with ST elevation acute myocardial infarction (STE-MI). Due to logistic and economic reasons, only 10% of patients with acute myocardial infarction can be treated with the percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Optimal flow (TIMI (Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction) 3 flow) is achieved ...

Intra-arterial thrombolysis (IAT) is a treatment modality in patients with acute large vessel occlusive ischemic stroke. To our knowledge, this is probably the first reported study of intra-arterial thrombolysis in acute ischemic stroke from India. Of the 17 patients treated who recieved IAT, successful recanalization was achieved in nine patients, ...

A case is presented in which a 66-year-old man received thrombolysis for an acute ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) within 6 minutes of developing chest pain. An ECG performed 10 minutes after thrombolysis showed complete resolution of the ST segment elevation and showed no other abnormality. An echocardiogram showed normal ...

INTRODUCTION: Prehospital thrombolysis has been shown to improve patient outcomes in clinical trials and this has been confirmed in the ongoing large national myocardial infarction registry (Myocardial Infarction National Audit Project; MINAP) reports. This paper describes a system to improve the delivery of prehospital thrombolysis and the associated governance requirements ...

Background: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is considered the best treatment for acute myocardial infarction with ST segment elevation (STEMI), but it is difficult to deliver. Objectives: To report on long-term mortality predictors in a registry based on a 'hub and spoke' model, according to the initial strategy: thrombolysis followed or ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate current evidence in support of therapies for preventing and treating cardiogenic shock (CS) after acute myocardial infarction that can be initiated in hospitals without invasive cardiac facilities. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE and PubMed were searched from January 1985 to May 2008 using the MeSH ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cerebellar infarctions constitute a significant proportion of ischemic strokes and carry a substantial morbidity and mortality mainly because of swelling in the posterior fossa. No specific acute therapy is established, and patients are usually excluded from intravenous thrombolysis (IVT). METHODS: Two patients presented in an extended time ...

In the last decennium, thrombolytic therapy has changed the management of acute ischemic stroke. Randomized clinical studies have demonstrated that intravenous thrombolysis with tissue plasminogen activator improves functional outcomes. Recently the time window for intravenous thrombolysis has been extended from 3 to 4.5 hours after stroke onset, which will allow ...

BACKGROUND: Occlusion of the coronary artery is the main cause of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). In some patients, it is followed by early spontaneous thrombolysis. In this study, we tried to determine whether spontaneous thrombolysis in the infarct-related artery (IRA) correlates with the state of the endothelium, which we assessed ...