Variations and Anomalies of Coronary Artery System in Cadaveric Human Hearts.

Background: Knowledge of the normal and variant anatomy and anomalies of coronary circulation is an increasingly vital component in the management of congenital and acquired heart disease. Anatomical variations in relation to coronary artery and its branches will help cardiac surgeons for refining imaging techniques and coronary artery bypass grafting. The current study is aimed at understanding the normal patterns of coronary arteries with reference to its predominance, branching pattern, variations and anomalies. Methods: Heart specimen for this study were obtained from Department of Anatomy, SIMS Hapur and GFIMSR Ballabhgarh. The cadaveric human hearts were dissected to observe the coronary arteries and its branches. Results: The diameter of right and left coronary orifices were measured. The distance of the orifices from the supravalvular ridge was also measured. The length and the diameter of the coronary arteries and its branches were measured and statistical significance was determined. Conclusion: The present study revealed that, ostium diameter of left coronary artery is larger than the right coronary artery. The outer diameter of the left coronary artery is larger than the right coronary artery. The mean lumen circumference of left coronary artery, anterior interventricular artery, right coronary artery and circumflex artery is more in males as compared to female. This knowledge is important for interpretation of the coronary angiography and surgical myocardial revascularization and paramount to cardiac surgeons for proper diagnosis and treatment of cardiac ailments and radiologists to refine image interpretation.

Etretinate in the management of harlequin siblings.

Harlequin fetus is the severe form of congenital ichthyosis. There are very few reports of babies with this condition surviving the first few weeks of life. We treated two siblings who lived for 22 months and six weeks respectively. We started treatment with oral etretinate every early in their lives and achieved good improvement in the skin condition of these babies.

Evaluation of oral dipyridamole electrocardiography test in ischaemic heart disease.

Forty-three cases of ischaemic heart disease of the age group 35-72 yrs with positive treadmill test (TMT) results were administered dipyridamole in the morning on empty stomach. Heart rate, BP and ECG were recorded before and every 15 mins after oral dipyridamole upto 2 hrs. ECG was repeated every 5 mins when patients developed angina or ischaemic ECG changes. Oral dipyridamole electrocardiography test (ODET) was found to be positive in 21 (48.83%) cases and majority of them developed ST depression in 25-40 mins and persisted for less than 30 mins. While compared with TMT results patients having chest pain, lower target heart rate (< 75%), shorter time to onset (< 2 mins) of ST depression and longer duration (> 8 mins) of ST depression had significantly higher rates of positivity on ODET than those without these manifestations. There were minor changes in hemodynamic parameter (heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure) and other minor side effects encountered include mild headache and benign unifocal VPCs. Oral dipyridamole is viewed as a safe drug and may be used as a substitute for TMT specially in economically poor and physically disabled patients with significant coronary artery disease.

In vitro susceptibility of goat mononuclear cells to bluetongue virus.

Goat peripheral blood mononuclear cells were cultured and their susceptibility to bluetongue virus (BTV) serotype 1 was tested. A small number of adherent and non-adherent cells were found positive for BTV antigens by immunoperoxidase and immunofluorescence tests. Both adherent and non-adherent cells supported limited level of viral replication as evidenced by low titre in the biological assay, thus indicating their susceptibility.