1/34. Relief of coronary artery spasm by nitroglycerin: time-dependent variability in drug action.The arteriographic distinction between a fixed atheromatous obstruction and localized vasospasm in the coronary artery is often decided by the response of the lesion to nitroglycerin. We studied the time course of nitroglycerin in four patients with coronary artery spasm as revealed by selective angiography. Following complete dissolution of a 0.6 mg tablet of nitroglycerin sublingually a slight increase in heart rate occurred as early as two minutes, variable changes in overall vessel diameter were observed within four minutes, but the localized spasm remained fixed. It was not until six minutes had elasped that reinjection showed disappearance of spasm and uniform patency of the vessel in all cases. These observations stress the importance of waiting an appropriate period of time (at least six minutes) following complete absorption of sublingual nitroglycerin before any conclusion can be rationally drawn regarding the nature of a stenotic lesion as seen angiographically.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/34. Redo Bentall operation for the aortitis syndrome.The aortitis syndrome is a chronic inflammatory arterial disease with an unknown etiology that may present as a variety of vascular lesions. The surgical treatment of aortitis syndrome is associated with many potential difficulties due to the inflammatory nature of the disease. A patient with the aortitis syndrome underwent the Bentall operation for annulo-aortic ectasia and aortic regurgitation 11 years prior to presentation. The operation was not performed during the active inflammatory phase. An anastomotic dehiscence required reoperation, which was performed with Piehler's method. In the aortitis syndrome, the exclusion technique, Carrel patch repair of the coronary arteries and pledgeted anastomoses should be performed for aortic root reconstruction.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/34. The spectrum of intramyocardial small vessel disease associated with sudden death.Intramyocardial small vessel abnormalities are not commonly recognized. The best known abnormality is fibromuscular dysplasia involving the sinoatrial or atrioventricular nodal arteries. Small vessel disease has been reported as an isolated cardiac anomaly in individuals with sudden death, and may also be associated with other cardiac conditions including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and mitral valve prolapse. The nature of the association is unknown, and the mechanism causing sudden death is sometimes obscure. We describe pathological changes of the intramyocardial small vessels of three individuals with sudden death. Abnormalities involved small vessels at different levels. In all the cases, the abnormalities were thought to have caused or contributed to the individual's death. The possible mechanisms of this are discussed.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/34. Stent placement for coronary stenosis in Kawasaki disease: case report and literature review.A 48-year-old male patient diagnosed with Kawasaki disease in childhood presented with recurrent angina after undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery in 1996. Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and intracoronary stent placement to a lesion in the proximal ramus intermedius were performed successfully. This case illustrates the complementary nature of percutaneous and surgical myocardial revascularization strategies in appropriately selected patients with Kawasaki disease.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/34. An autopsy case of Kawasaki disease with reference to occurrence of acute coronary thrombosis in the convalescent stage.A one-year, four month-old boy who had suffered from Kawasaki disease died suddenly during convalescence despite intensive gamma-globulin treatment. autopsy revealed a) sausage-like aneurysms of the left and right coronary arteries and fresh thrombosis in the right coronary aneurysm, b) fresh transmural myocardial necrosis in the whole wall of the left ventricle and the anterior part of the wall of the right ventricle, and c) swelling of the cervical lymph nodes and thymus (60 g). Histologically, fibrocellular thickening of the intima and destruction of the media and internal elastic lamina were conspicuous in the area of the aneurysm, but those of the intima and media in the areas adjacent to the aneurysm were mild. Abrupt narrowing of the lumen at the border between the aneurysm and periphery of the right coronary artery was detected, and this may have been responsible for formation of the thrombus in the right coronary aneurysm. In the systemic arteries, perivascular fibrosis was very noticeable despite less severe injury to the intima and media. These findings suggest that severe inflammation of the periarterial regions was present in the acute phase. The lymph system still showed inflammation, supporting the infectious or toxic nature of Kawasaki disease.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/34. Autologous bone marrow-derived stem cell therapy in combination with TMLR. A novel therapeutic option for endstage coronary heart disease: report on 2 cases.We report 2 cases in which patients with coronary heart disease not amenable for conventional revascularization underwent transmyocardial laser revascularization (TMLR) and implantation of AC133 bone-marrow stem cells. The reason for using TMLR in combination with stem cell application is to take advantage of the synergistic angiogenic effect. The local inflammatory reaction induced by TMLR should serve as an informational platform for stem cells and may trigger their angiogenic differentiation. Functional analysis of myocardial performance after treatment in these 2 cases revealed dramatic improvement of the wall motion at the site of the TMLR and stem cell application. Because TMLR does not enhance myocardial contractility and there was no angiographic evidence of major collaterals to the ischemic region in either patient, we assume that the synergistic effect of stem cells and TMLR-induced angiogenesis occurred; however, our assumption is of a speculative nature. We think that TMLR in combination with stem cell transplantation might become a novel revascularization therapy for ischemic myocardium.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/34. Management for electroconvulsive therapy of a patient with inoperable coronary artery disease and ankylosing spondylitis.A 69-year-old male with severe coronary artery disease, ankylosing spondylitis, and severe major depression was scheduled for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The patient had previously failed or proved intolerant of antidepressant drug therapy. The nature and severity of the patient's diseases and complexity of potential interactions with ECT and anesthesia required sequential assessment of hemodynamic and airway tolerances with successive treatments. Despite substantial risks for particular patients, ECT may provide the only treatment option for life-threatening psychiatric illness and warrants innovative approaches to anesthetic management.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/34. Seeing the invisible: painless aortic dissection in the emergency setting.Acute dissection of the aorta can be one of the most dramatic cardiovascular emergencies. Classically, aortic dissection presents as sudden, severe chest, back, or abdominal pain that is characterised as ripping or tearing in nature. However, a timely diagnosis can be elusive in the event of an atypical presentation. In this report, the authors present two patients with painless aortic dissection who were misdiagnosed during their initial evaluation in the emergency department.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/34. In-stent restenosis and remote coronary lesion progression are coupled in cardiac transplant vasculopathy but not in native coronary artery disease.OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical, angiographic, and histological features of concomitant in-stent restenosis (ISR) and cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) progression. BACKGROUND: Cardiac allograft vasculopathy is a major challenge to long-term success of heart transplantation. Coronary stenting for CAV is hampered by ISR. methods: Quantitative coronary angiography compared late lumen loss (LL) at stented and reference, non-stented segments during 1-year follow-up in post-heart transplant and control atherosclerosis patients. Stented and non-stented arteries with CAV were also obtained post-mortem for immunohistochemical analysis. RESULTS: In 37 stented lesions (25 patients), 1-year binary restenosis occurred in 37.8%. patients with ISR had higher long-term cardiac death/myocardial infarction rates than patients without ISR (53.8% vs. 9.1%, p = 0.03). In the same 25 patients, 34 CAV lesions with non-significant obstructions were identified as reference controls. After 1 year, patients who developed ISR also had more control lesion LL (0.78 /- 0.38 mm vs. 0.39 /- 0.27 mm, p < 0.006) compared to patients without ISR. In the post-transplant patients, in-stent LL was closely coupled to control segment LL (R(2) = 0.63, p < 0.05). Conversely, in native atherosclerosis patients, ISR and remote disease progression were not correlated. Histological staining of stented and control arteries from CAV patients revealed similar pathologies common to ISR and non-intervened CAV segments. CONCLUSIONS: Progression of CAV at non-intervened segments and ISR correlate strongly and share common histopathology. Optimized treatment for patients with aggressive CAV needs to address the widespread nature of this disease, even when it presents as an initially focal lesion.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/34. Sudden death due to unsuspected coronary vasculitis.Coronary artery vasculitis is a well-recognized complication of polyarteritis nodosa and is occasionally seen in other forms of systemic vasculitis. However, involvement of the major epicardial coronary arteries leading to myocardial infarction and death is uncommon. Isolated coronary arteritis is even more rare. We report three cases of sudden death due to myocardial ischemia associated with arteritis of the major coronary arteries. All three decedents were previously healthy young to middle-aged men who had died suddenly after complaints of chest pain and shortness of breath. The autopsy findings and differential diagnoses are presented. Such cases are of particular interest to the medical examiner because of the sudden, unexpected nature of the deaths. An approach to the correct diagnosis is discussed.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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