Prognostic role of right ventricular dilatation and troponin I elevation in acute pulmonary embolism.

Acute pulmonary embolism continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality despite advances in diagnosis and treatment. This retrospective analysis aimed to determine whether the combination of elevated troponin I and right ventricular dilatation (RVD) could provide a more powerful predictor for risk evaluation. The study data comprised records of 110 patients with either high-probability ventilation/perfusion lung scan or positive spiral computed tomography. All cause 100-day mortality was 18.2%. The hypotension and RVD variables significantly influenced 100-day mortality. For the combination of RVD and raised troponin I, the 100-day mortality rate was 31%. Notably, the group with elevated troponin I and no RVD had a 100-day mortality rate of only 3.7%. The combination of RVD and elevated troponin had a positive predictive value of 31% and a negative predictive value of 88% for 100-day mortality. Compared with existing reports, conflicting conclusions for the individual prognostic role of elevated troponin I, cancer, and heart failure were obtained. These conflicting conclusions most likely resulted from inappropriate cut-off troponin I values and the modest sample size. In conclusion, the combination of elevated troponin and RVD was able to identify a subset of patients most likely to benefit from aggressive therapy.

Prognostic role of alveolar-arterial oxygen pressure difference in acute pulmonary embolism.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the utility of the alveolar - arterial oxygen pressure difference (AaDO (2)) in predicting the short-term prognosis of acute pulmonary embolism (PE). METHODS AND RESULTS: This study retrospectively enrolled 114 consecutive patients with acute PE, diagnosed by either spiral computed tomography or high probability ventilation - perfusion lung scans. During the first 24 h of admission, all patients had initial artery blood gas collected under room air. Patient exclusion criteria were chronic lung disease, septic emboli, and moderate and low probability lung scans. Patients were assigned to 2 groups based on either 30-day death or a 30-day composite event. Receiver operating characteristic analyses was used to determine the AaDO(2) cut-off value for predicting primary and composite endpoints. Statistical analysis demonstrated significant differences in AaDO(2) between the 30-day composite endpoint group and the 30-day composite event-free survival group (p=0.012). The AaDO(2) had a strong trend between the 30-day death group and the survival group (p=0.062). The best cut-off value for AaDO(2) was 53 mmHg and using this, the positive predictive value for 30-day death was 25% and the negative predictive value was 92%. For the 30-day composite endpoint, the positive predictive value for AaDO(2) was 35%, and the negative predictive value was 84%. In this study, thrombocytopenia was also an indicator of poor prognosis for patients with acute PE. CONCLUSION: The AaDO(2) measurement is a highly useful and simple measurement for predicting short-term prognosis in patients with acute PE. It has high negative predictive value and moderate positive predictive value for 30-day death and 30-day composite event. Aggressive thrombolytic treatment strategies should be considered for patients with an initial poor prognostic parameter (ie, AaDO(2) >or=53 mmHg).

Restoration of normal coronary flow with tirofiban by intracoronary administration for no-reflow phenomenon after stent deployment.

No-reflow phenomenon is frequently observed during percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with acute coronary syndrome. It may jeopardize hemodynamic status or result in ischemic chest pain in these patients. Currently, there is no adequate solution for this problem. We report our experience with an acute coronary syndrome patient who developed no-reflow phenomenon associated with ST segment elevation and shock after percuteneous coronary balloon dilatation and stent deployment. Intracoronary administration of tirofiban immediately restored the coronary flow of the target vessel, and the disastrous condition reversed. Our experience suggests that intracoronary administration of tirofiban can be considered as an option in case of no-reflow phenomenon during percutaneous coronary intervention.

Atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia with multiple AH jumps: electrophysiological characteristics and radiofrequency ablation.

This article describes the additional use of incremental atrial burst pacing (A1A1) and double atrial extrastimulation with a predefined fast pathway conducted A2 (A1A2A3), rather than single atrial extrastimulation (A1A2) only, to characterize typical atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT). The authors noted an additional 32% of patients had multiple anterograde AV nodal physiology demonstrated when A1A1 or A1A2A3 protocols were deployed compared to more conventional A1A2 protocols. The A2H2max (449 +/- 147 vs 339 +/- 94 ms) and A3H3max (481 +/- 120 vs 389 +/- 85 ms) were higher in 31 patients where multiple jumps in the AV nodal conduction curve were obtained (group 1) compared to 192 patients where only single jump was obtained (group 2) (both P < 0.01). Postablation, the degree of reduction of A2H2max (49%) and A3H3max (50%) in group 1 was greater than in group 2 (38% and 42%, respectively, P < 0.05). In seven of group 1 patients in whom A1A2A3 stimulation was required to reveal multiple jumps, the A2H2max remained unchanged after ablation (237 +/- 89 vs 214 +/- 59, P > 0.05). A3H3max was the only parameter that shortened significantly after ablation. Generally, successful ablation resulted in loss of multiple discontinuities in A1A1/A1H1 or A2A3/A3H3 curves. In conclusion, a combination of A1A2, A1A1, and A1A2A3 are required to fully elucidate AVNRT. Significant shortening of AHmax or loss of multiple jumps after ablation indicates successful elimination of AVNRT in these patients.

Retrograde dilatation of a totally occluded ostial left anterior descending artery from saphenous venous graft in the descending aorta following stenting of the aorto-ostial graft restenosis in a patient with left main coronary artery stenosis.

Treatment of native coronary and saphenous vein graft aorto-ostial stenoses with balloon angioplasty is associated with lower procedural success rates and more complications compared with percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty of nonostial stenoses. A patient with totally occluded ostial left anterior descending artery at ostium following aortocoronary bypass developed ostial stenosis at the saphenous vein graft in the descending aorta. The aorto-ostial lesion of saphenous vein graft was successfully stented and was followed by retrograde dilatation of the left anterior descending artery, and the totally occluded ostial lesion was reopened. The ischemia was eliminated following the procedure.

Giant coronary artery aneurysm mimicking a paracardiac mass.

Although either coronary artery aneurysm or coronary arterio-venous fistula may be found infrequently during coronary angiography, it is very rare to see combination of both structures. Here we present a case of coronary artery fistula combined with a large aneurysm. The aneurysm resembled a mass just beside the left heart border in the chest X-ray (CXR) film. The patient came to our hospital for chest pain. A grade 2/6 continuous murmur was noted over left upper sternal border. The mass was proved to be a coronary artery aneurysm at last by coronary angiogram after many examinations. Two coronary aterio-venous fistulae were also noted. This reminded us that coronary artery aneurysm could be one of the differential diagnoses of paracardiac mass during the interpretation of a CXR film. A high level of suspicion and a detailed physical examination combined with an adequate image studies, (such as echocardiography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance image, or coronary angiography) may provide accurate diagnosis and avoid painful, invasive examinations.

Percutaneous transseptal mitral valvuloplasty in the presence of undegenerated septum primum.

A 37-year-old woman had progressive shortness of breath and mitral stenosis was diagnosed. Despite the unusual finding of undegenerated septum primum on echocardiography and angiography, percutaneous transseptal mitral commissurotomy was successfully performed in this patient with rheumatic mitral stenosis under the guidance of online transesophageal echocardiography.