Predictors and significance of atrial rhythm before and six months after percutaneous balloon mitral commissurotomy.

Clinical, echocardiographic, and cardiac catheterization data were evaluated in 263 patients with mitral stenosis who were undergoing balloon commissurotomy to determine the predictors of atrial rhythm and its effect on functional status. Conversion from atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm at 6 months after the procedure occurred in 16 of 86 patients (19%) and was predicted by the duration of atrial fibrillation, baseline functional class, and antiarrhythmic therapy; patients who remained in atrial fibrillation had a poorer functional status compared with those in sinus rhythm despite similar procedural results.

Simultaneous biplane coronary and pulmonary arteriography: a novel technique for defining the course of an anomalous left main coronary artery originating from the right sinus of Valsalva.

We present a novel technique employing biplane cineangiography with simultaneous left coronary and pulmonary angiography to define the anomalous course of the left main coronary artery when it originates from the right sinus of Valsalva. These biplane cinearterlograms clearly define the relationship of the left main coronary artery to the great vessels, allowing confident delineation of the interarterial variant from the other, benign variants. We illustrate the advantages of this technique with two cases in which the course of the anomalous left main coronary artery was incorrectly diagnosed using standard coronary arteriography and magnetic resonance imaging.

Intraocular lens explantation and exchange. A review of lens styles, clinical indications, clinical results, and visual outcome.

We conducted a retrospective review of 102 patients who had intraocular lens (IOL) explantation or exchange over a 7.5 year period. Seventy-one patients had IOL exchange while 31 had lens removal without exchange. Anterior chamber IOLs comprised 66.7% of the lenses removed. The most frequent indication for anterior chamber IOL explantation was pseudophakic bullous keratopathy (PBK), followed by the uveitis-glaucoma-hyphema syndrome and cystoid macular edema. Of the IOLs removed, 17.6% were iris-supported, with PBK being the most common indication for removal. Posterior chamber IOLs comprised 15.7% of the explanted lenses in this series. Lens dislocation/decentration was the leading indication for IOL removal in the posterior chamber IOL group. Among the 71 patients who had IOL exchange, 71.8% received an anterior chamber lens and 28.2% received a posterior chamber lens. Visual outcome following IOL exchange or removal showed that 40 patients (39%) improved, 47 patients (46%) had the same vision, and 15 patients (15%) had worse vision postoperatively. The most common reason for a worsening of vision postoperatively was corneal decompensation, followed by glaucoma and cystoid macular edema. Analysis of the clinical results revealed that 86.3% of the patients who had an exchange with an anterior chamber IOL had a successful outcome with either improvement or stabilization of the ocular condition. Ninety percent of the patients who received a posterior chamber IOL had a successful clinical outcome.