Non-surgical management of iatrogenic arterial pseudoaneurysms-ultrasound-guided manual compression, an Indian experience.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of ultrasound-guided manual compression of arterial pseudoaneurysms formed as a result of various procedures. METHODS: Ultrasound-guided manual compression was performed in 444 patients with ultrasound-diagnosed pseudoaneurysm. These patients were evaluated for number of locules in pseudoaneurysm, size of pseudoaneurysm, total time of compression, number of sittings, success/failure of the procedure, and possible complications. RESULTS: Out of 444 patients, 231 (52%) were on post-coronary angiography (3 via brachial route and rest via femoral route), 212 (47.7%) had post-coronary angioplasty and 1 (0.22%) was post-nailing of fracture of right tibia (pseudoaneurysm of right anterior tibial artery). Out of 444 patients, 132 (29.7%) had hypertension, 45 (10.1%) had diabetes mellitus, 117 (26.3%) had both hypertension and diabetes, and 90 (20.2%) were obese. 384 (86.5%) had unilocular, 51 (11.5%) had bilocular, 6 (1.3%) had trilocular and 3 (0.67%) had tetralocular pseudoaneurysm. Size of pseudoaneurysm varied between 0.8 cm and 8.1 cm (mean 3.3 cm). 342 (77%), 48 (10.8%), 54 (12.1%) required 1, 2 and 3 sittings, respectively for complete closure. The compression time was between 15 and 120 minutes (mean 40 minutes). Successful compression was achieved in 423 (95.3%). There were 21 (4.7%) failures, 12 out of which required surgical repair, 6 had spontaneous closure between 12 and 24 weeks and 3 were lost to follow up at 1 year. Out of 212 post-coronary intervention patients, 9 were on low molecular weight heparin (LMWH). In 7 of these 9 patients, LMWH was stopped 48 hours before compression and in remaining 2, compression was done during the course of LMWH therapy. The compression was successful in all 9 patients. Only 2 patients had a transient vasovagal attack. CONCLUSIONS: USG manual compression is safe, inexpensive, reliable and effective outpatient procedure for non-surgical management of arterial pseudoaneurysm.

Low-dose dobutamine echocardiography predicts recovery of left ventricular systolic function following revascularization even in presence of low contractile reserve.

BACKGROUND: Coronary revascularization is known to improve left ventricular ejection function (LVEF) in patients with severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction if there is myocardial viability and contractile reserve is >40% as determined by low-dose dobutamine echocardiography (LDDE). We tried to assess effect of coronary revascularization on left ventricular systolic function in patients with low contractile reserve (40%). METHODS AND RESULTS: In a retrospective analysis we studied 114 consecutive patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVEF <40%) with low contractile reserve (<40%) as detected by LDDE (16-segment model). Contractile reserve was defined as number of dysfunctional segments that improved on LDDE divided by total number of left ventricular segments studied. Dysfunctional segments at baseline that improved on low-dose dobutamine were considered viable. On the basis of presence or absence of viability and treatment modality, patients were grouped as: revascularization with viability-group A; revascularization without viability-group B; medical therapy with viability-group C, and; medical therapy without viability-group D. At subsequent follow-up (3 months, 1 year and 2 years) left ventricular systolic function was assessed by LVEF and wall motion score index (WMSI). Improvement in left ventricular systolic function was considered to have occurred only if both LVEF and WMSI showed statistically significant ( p<0.05) improvement from baseline. The mean LVEF in viable and non-viable groups were 33.3 -/+ 6.8% and 30.3 -/+ 7.1%, respectively. In patients with viability, the mean number of dysfunctional segments that improved at LDDE was 3.4 -/+ 1.7 and mean contractile reserve was 21.1 -/+ 17.8%. At LDDE, significant improvement in LVEF was seen in all four groups; however, significant improvement in WMSI was seen only in those with viability. At subsequent follow-up (3 months, 1 year and 2 years), significant improvement in LVEF and WMSI as compared to baseline was evident in group A alone. At two years, although the improvement in WMSI was of borderline significance (p = 0.05), the improvement in LVEF was significant ( p < 0.05). No significant improvement was seen in LVEF and/or WMSI in groups B, C and D. CONCLUSION: Presence of myocardial viability on LDDE predicts recovery of left ventricular systolic function even in patients with low contractile reserve which is maintained at long-term follow-up, following revascularization.