The association between tissue doppler-derived E/(e's') ratio and coronary atherosclerosis severity measured by the SYNTAX score in patients with non-ST elevation-acute coronary syndrome.

BACKGROUND: The prognosis of patients hospitalized with non-ST elevation-acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) is typically determined by the existence and severity of myocardial necrosis and left ventricular (LV) remodeling. AIM: The present study was to assess the association between the E/(e's') ratio and the coronary atherosclerosis severity, measured by the SYNTAX score, in patients with NSTE-ACS. METHODS: Utilizing a descriptive correlational research design, this study was prospectively conducted on 252 patients with NSTE-ACS, undergoing an echocardiography to determine the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), the left atrial (LA) volume, the pulsed-wave (PW) Doppler-derived transmitral early (E) and late (A) diastolic velocities, and the tissue Doppler (TD)-derived mitral annular early diastolic (e') and peak systolic (s') velocities. After that, a coronary angiography (CAG) was performed, and the SYNTAX score was calculated. RESULTS: The patients were divided into two groups, viz., those with the E/(e's') ratio < 1.63 and the cases with the ratio ≥ 1.63. The results revealed that the patients with a high ratio were older, had a higher prevalence of females, a SYNTAX score ≥ 22, and a lower glomerular filtration rate than those with a low ratio (p-value < 0.001). Besides, these patients had larger indexed LA volume and lower LVEF than others (p-value: 0.028 and 0.023, respectively). Furthermore, the multiple linear regression outcomes established a positive independent association between the E/(e's') ratio ≥ 1.63 (B = 5.609, 95% CI 2.324-8.894, p-value = 0.001) and the SYNTAX score. CONCLUSION: The study results demonstrated that the patients hospitalized with NSTE-ACS and the E/(e's') ratio ≥ 1.63 had worse demographic, echocardiographic, and laboratory profiles and a higher prevalence of a SYNTAX score ≥ 22 than those with a lower ratio.

Comparison of the incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy after primary PCI in patients receiving high-dose rosuvastatin and atorvastatin.

Introduction: Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is associated with increased disability and death. Randomized clinical trial studies have shown that short-term treatment with statins prior to cardiac intervention was capable of reducing the incidence of CIN. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the incidence of CIN after primary PCI in patients receiving high-dose rosuvastatin and atorvastatin. Methods: This clinical trial was performed in Mazandaran Heart Center Hospital on patients referred to the emergency department who underwent primary PCI with a diagnosis of STEMI. Patients received 1 cc/kg/h normal saline from PCI for up to 12 hours. Patients with EF less than or equal to 35% received intravenous normal saline at half the usual dose. SPSS software version 24 was used for data analysis. P value less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: 206 patients were included in the study that the most underlying diseases of patients (79, 38.3%) were hypertension, followed by anemia (76, 36.9%) and diabetes mellitus (52, 25.2%). Among these, in the first criterion, 10 (8.1%) and 4 patients (4.8%) were in the atorvastatin and rosuvastatin groups, respectively, which did not have a statistically significant difference (P = 0.264). Examination of GFR subgroups also showed that GFR above 30 had significant differences between the two groups. Conclusion: The use of different statins has had similar results in the prevention of CIN in patients undergoing primary PCI. Rosuvastatin has no special advantage over atorvastatin, showing that the use of any of these drugs can be useful in patients requiring angiography.

Efficacy of intravenous eptifibatide in primary percutaneous coronary intervention patients.

Early and complete restoration of blood flow in closed coronary arteries is the main goal in treating patients with myocardial infarction. Primary angioplasty is not always successful in establishing myocardial blood flow. Although the strategy of adding eptifibatide leads to better blood flow, its value as part of a routine strategy is questionable. Therefore, this study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of intravenous eptifibatide in primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) patients. This clinical, randomized, double-blind trial was performed on patients aged 20-80 years undergoing primary PCI. The patients were selected for study by convenience sampling and were randomly divided into two equal groups. The first group was treated with intravenous eptifibatide immediately before angioplasty with heparin. The second group received only coronary angioplasty with heparin. After data collection, statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 16. A total of 104 patients were enrolled in the study, and there were no statistically significant differences in terms of age (P=0.188), gender (P=0.345), risk factor (P>0.05), or history of PCI (P=0.199). Mean thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) score was not significant between the two groups after receiving the drug and performing angioplasty (P>0.05), and the rate of ejection fraction was 46.33±6.69 in patients receiving eptifibatide and 47.54±4.67 in the heparin group, which was not statistically significant (P=0.884). We found that eptifibatide improves clinical indexes in patients undergoing primary PCI, but these differences were not significant in the two groups.

Prevalence of Acute Myocardial Infarction and Changing Meteorological Conditions in Iran: Fuzzy Clustering Approach.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) varies from region to region caused by seasonal climate changes and temperature variation. This study aimed to assess the relationship between changing meteorological conditions and incidence of AMI in Iran. METHODS: This retrospective prevalence study was based on medical records of the heart center of Mazandaran Province on all patients diagnosed with AMI in Mazandaran, northern Iran between 2013 and 2015. Patients' sex and the day, month, year and time of hospital admission were extracted from patients' records. Moreover, the meteorological reports were gathered. RESULTS: A statistically significant difference was found between the distributions of AMI cases across 12 months of the year (P < 0.01). Fuzzy clustering analysis using 16 different climatic variables showed that March, April, and May were in the same cluster together. The other 9 months were in different clusters. CONCLUSION: Significant increase in AMI was seen in March, April and May (cold to hot weather).

Fractional Flow Reserve as a Standard of Reference for Ischemia Early After ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the present study was to assess the value of the fractional flow reserve (FFR) of the infarct-related artery (IRA) early after ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in detecting reversible ischemia. METHODS: Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) at rest and after dipyridamole stress, and within 24 hour FFR of the IRA was performed on 69 patients 3 to 7 days after STEMI. FFR was 0.80 or less in 61 (88.4%) of them. In these patients, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was performed, and a second SPECT study was repeated within 14 days. RESULTS: SPECT showed reversible ischemia in 36 (59%) of these 61 patients, and converted to negative in 29 of them. Thus, the SPECT results of these 29 patients were defined as true positive before angioplasty and true negative after angioplasty. Considering the true-positive and true-negative SPECT results as the gold standard, the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of the FFR of 0.80 or less compared to this gold standard were 96.7%, 100%, 100%, and 96.6%, respectively (ĸ = 0.97, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In the early phase after STEMI, the reliability of FFR to determine residual ischemia in the IRA is very high in those patients with true-positive SPECT before and true-negative SPECT after PCI.

Congenital aortocaval fistula between right aortic sinus of Valsalva and superior vena cava: A rare case report.

Thoracic aortocaval fistula is a very rare cause of left to right shunt. Drainage of fistula into the superior vena cava (SVC) is very uncommon. Clinical symptoms depend on the size of the shunt. We report a rare case of an asymptomatic 27-year-old woman with congenital aortocaval fistula to the SVC with a small amount of left to right shunt that was considered for serial medical follow-up.

Cerebral Hyperperfusion Syndrome, an Unusual but Disastrous Complication of Carotid Recanalization: A Case Report.

Cerebral hyperperfusion syndrome (CHS), known as the dark side of carotid recanalization, happens in about 0%-3% of patients. Unfortunately, physicians involving in carotid recanalization generally are not aware of diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of this unusual but potentially life-threatening disorder. Severe bilateral carotid stenosis is suggested to predispose patients to CHS by decrement of cerebrovascular reactivity in a setting of chronic hypoperfusion state. We here introduced such a case; a 69-year-old man, a known case of hypertension and ischemic heart disease, who developed progressive intracranial hypertension underlying CHS after carotid stenting because of symptomatic severe bilateral carotid stenosis.