Association between Latest Activated Sites in the Left Ventricle and Akinetic Segments in Patients with Ischemic Cardiomyopathy.

Background: It is not clear whether the latest activation sites in the left ventricle (LV) are matched with infracted regions in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM). We aimed to investigate whether the latest activation sites in the LV are in agreement with the region of akinesia in patients with ICM. Methods: Data were analyzed in 106 patients (age = 60.5 ± 12.1 y, male = 88.7%) with ICM (ejection fraction ≤ 35%) who were refractory to pharmacological therapy and were referred to the echocardiography department for an evaluation of the feasibility of cardiac resynchronization therapy. Wall motion abnormalities, time to peak systolic myocardial velocity (Ts) of 6 basal and 6 mid-portion segments of the LV, and 4 frequently used dyssynchrony indices were measured using 2-dimensional echocardiography and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI). To evaluate the influence of the electrocardiographic pattern, we categorized the patients into 2 groups: patients with QRS ≤ 120 ms and those with QRS >120 ms. Results: A total of 1 272 segments were studied. The latest activation sites (with longest Ts) were most frequently located in the mid-anterior (n = 32, 30.2%) and basal-anterior segments (n = 29, 27.4%), while the most common sites of akinesia were the mid-anteroseptal (n = 65, 61.3%) and mid-septal (n = 51, 48.1%) segments. Generally, no significant concordance was found between the latest activated segments and akinesia either in all the patients or in the QRS groups. Detailed analysis within the segments indicated a good agreement between akinesia and delayed activation in the basal-lateral segment solely in the patients with QRS duration ≤ 120 ms (Φ = 0.707; p value ≤ 0.001). Conclusion: The akinetic segment on 2-dimensional echocardiogram was not matched with the latest activation sites in the LV determined by TDI in patients with ICM.

Contrast induced nephropathy among patients with normal renal function undergoing coronary angiography.

INTRODUCTION: Although contrast induced nephropathy (CIN) is a well-known complication of radiocontrast media administration among patients with underlying renal insufficiency, however the data about CIN among patients with normal renal function are few and it seems that CIN often remained under-diagnosed among these patients. OBJECTIVES: The aim of present study was evaluation of CIN in diabetic and nondiabetic patients with normal renal function undergoing coronary angiography. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional and prospective study has conducted on patients with normal renal function candidate for diagnostic coronary angiography at Imam hospital, Ahvaz, Iran from October 2010 to February 2011. CIN defined as an increase in serum creatinine (sCr) >0.5 mg/dL after two days of contrast administration. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect demographics, clinical and laboratory data. RESULTS: A total of 254 patients (140 males and 114 Females with mean age of 56.6 ± 11.9 years) were included in the study. Of them, 60 patients (23.6%) had congestive heart failure (CHF) and 57 patients (22.4%) had diabetes mellitus (DM). The mean sCr levels before contrast administration in men and women were 1.05 ± 0.22 and 0.93 ± 0.17 mg/dL respectively. In overall CIN occurred in 27 patients (10.6%) with no difference between males and females (P = 0.386) and in patients with or without CHF (P = 0.766). There was a significant association between CIN and DM (P = 0.001) and mean volume of contrast administration (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Although CIN is a common problem in patients with diabetic nephropathy undergoing coronary angiography, diabetic patients without diabetic nephropathy and also patients without DM who had normal renal function are also at risk of contrast nephropathy.

Association of CRP gene polymorphism with CRP levels and Coronary Artery Disease in Type 2 Diabetes in Ahvaz, southwest of Iran.

INTRODUCTION: We evaluated the association between four polymorphisms in the CRP gene with serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, prevalence and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. METHODS: We performed coronary angiography for 308 T2DM patients and classified them into two groups: T2DM with CAD and T2DM without CAD. All patients were from Ahvaz, Iran. serum levels of CRP, glucose and lipid profile were measured. Genotyping was performed by PCR/RFLP, and the severity of coronary artery disease was determined by Gensini score. RESULTS: The GG genotype of SNP rs279421 was associated with the increased risk of CAD (OR= 2.38; 95% CI: 1.12- 5.8; p= 0.02) and CA, TT, TA genotypes and A allele of SNP rs3091244 and GA genotypes and A allele of SNP rs3093062 were significantly associated with increased CRP levels. None of genotypes or alleles was associated with Gensini score. We found that the haplotype 7 (AGCG) was associated with decreased risk of CAD (OR= 0.11; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.66; p= 0.017) and the Gensini score was correlated with increased levels of CRP, only in CAD group. CONCLUSION: Although genetic polymorphisms were influenced on serum RP levels, none of the alleles and genotypes raising or falling C-reactive protein levels was consistently associated with an increased prevalence of CAD or protected from that.

Diffuse inverted T waves in a young man with structurally normal heart: a case report.

We discuss a young man with episodes of chest pain and dyspnea accompanied with transient T-wave inversion in precordial and inferior leads that repeated several times. Cardiovascular evaluation did not disclose any structural abnormality. Memory T wave following episodes of idiopathic left septal ventricular tachycardia was the reason of these changes and did not repeat after arrhythmia ablation.

The prevalence and prognostic role of vitamin D deficiency in patients with acute coronary syndrome: a single centre study in South-West of Iran.

BACKGROUND: The objectives of this study were estimating the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in patients with acute coronary syndrome comparing with normal people and evaluating the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and short-term mortality in these patients. METHODS: We considered 106 patients with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction and high-risk unstable angina and 110 patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction as group A. The control group (group B) consisted of 120 individuals without any known cardiovascular diseases or systemic disease. We measured serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D in all cases and classified them according to their serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels. Sufficient vitamin D level was considered ≥30 ng/ml. We followed the patients for 30 days after index admission. RESULTS: The prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in group A was much higher than group B. In group A, 72% of patients had serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level of 20 ng/ml or less. This percentage was only 27.4% in control group. We did not find any significant relationship between vitamin D deficiency and short-term mortality in patients with acute coronary syndrome. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that vitamin D deficiency was present in most of patients admitted with acute coronary syndrome in Ahvaz.

Quadricuspid aortic valve diagnosed by transesophageal echocardiography: a case report.

Quadricuspid aortic valve (QAV) is an uncommon congenital anomaly which was an incidental finding during surgery or autopsy in the past. We present the case of a 44-year-old woman with moderately severe aortic regurgitation due to unequal cusp size QAV diagnosed via transesophageal echocardiography. Due to echocardiographic imaging improvement, the diagnosis of QAV is now easier and earlier than the past.

Evaluation of longitudinal tissue velocity and deformation imaging in akinetic nonviable inferobasal segments of left ventricular myocardium by dobutamine stress echocardiography.

AIM: To study tissue velocity imaging (TVI) and strain rate imaging (SRI) indices in akinetic nonviable and normal left ventricular (LV) inferobasal segment and effect of dobutamine infusion on these indices in nonviable segments. METHODS: The study population consisted of two groups: 25 patients (mean age 60.75 +/- 8.69 years) with left ventricular akinetic inferobasal nonviable segment determined by dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) and 14 normal coronaries (mean age 56.67 +/- 11.90 years) with normal echocardiography as control group. The following TVI and SRI parameters were measured in patient and control group: ejection phase velocity (Sm [cm/sec]), peak systolic strain (ST [%]), and strain rate (SR [per second])). RESULTS: Ejection fraction was significantly lower in patient group (29.40%+/- 5.46% vs. 55.00%+/- 3.39%; P < 0.001). Several differences were observed in patients with nonviable inferobasal segments compared to control group: Sm was reduced (3.58 +/- 1.08 cm/sec vs. 5.56 +/- 1.28 cm/sec; P < 0.001); SR and ST were significantly decreased (-0.39 +/- 0.20/second vs. -1.44 +/- 0.64/second, and -3.86%+/- 4.12% vs. -17.64%+/- 7.44%, respectively; P < 0.001 in both). The range of SR for nonviable segments (-0.04 to -0.77/second) did not overlap with that of the normal segments (-0.80 to -3.0/second). This range for Sm and ST overlapped with those of the normal segments. CONCLUSION: All TVI and SRI parameters are reduced in akinetic nonviable inferobasal compared with normal segments. According to findings of this study, resting strain rate has a potential to discriminate nonviable inferobasal from normal segments.