[First annual report of practitioners of interventional cardiology in private practice in Germany. Results of procedures of left heart catheterization and coronary interventions in the year 1996]. / Erster Jahresbericht niedergelassener Invasivkardiologen in Deutschland. Ergebnisse für diagnostische Linksherzkatheteruntersuchungen und Koronarinterventionen 1996.

The German Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions in Private Practice has started a registry of cardiac procedures since 1996 in order to establish a standard for performance. Although quality management for the cath lab makes sense and is also legally required, there is no generally recommended infrastructure for quality assurance existing in Germany at this time. Therefore, the German Society of Cardiologists in Private Practice (BNK) initiated a project in 1994 to develop a computer program for paperless documentation of diagnostic cardiac catheterizations and coronary interventions (PTCA) using a minimal data set. In 1996, 8 private associated groups participated in this project. The (anonymous) analysis of 10,316 diagnostic cardiac catheterizations and 2597 PTCA yielded the following results: In 95% of the patients, diagnostic cardiac catheterization was performed using the femoral and in 5% the brachial/radial approach. The mean volume of administered contrast medium was 164 +/- 138 ml/patient. The mean LV-EF was greater than 50% in 58.4% of the patients and between 30% and 50% in 10.1%. Coronary artery disease was diagnosed in 69.6% of the patients and valvular/congenital heart disease in 8.5%. In 18.4% of the patients undergoing diagnostic cardiac catheterizations no significant heart disease was identified. Mortality in the cath lab as well as the rate of cerebral insults was 0.05%. In 22.9% and 19% of the patients PTCA and cardiac surgery respectively was recommended. In patients undergoing PTCA, stable angina was present in 74.4% and unstable angina in 13.1%. Of the total number of PTCA procedures, 5.8% were performed in the setting of acute myocardial infarction. The PTCA lesion success rate was 96%, the mean diameter stenosis was 81% pre and 6% post-intervention. The mortality rate at 1 month post-PTCA was 0.4%, and myocardial infarction 1.0%. An acute occlusion occurred in 1.3% of the PTCA patients; 0.6% had to be transferred for emergency bypass surgery. None of the cath labs had on-site surgery. In comparison to other registries, our data show some similarities but also some different trends. Thus, our newly developed software proved to be reliable, fast and easy to use. Participating centers receive immediate feedback regarding their position within the whole group.

Chlamydia trachomatis Infection, Immunity, and Pregnancy Outcome.

Chlamydia trachomatis can ascend from the cervix to the fallopian tubes and survive for long periods of time without causing symptoms. The immune response to infection clears the extracellular organisms but leads to development of a persistent intracellular infection. Repeated cycles of productive infection and persistence eventually induce tubal occlusion and infertility. Persistently infected cells continue to synthesize the chlamydial 60 kD heat shock protein (hsp60). Immunity to conserved regions of hsp60 may result in autoimmunity to human hsp60. Expression of hsp60 by the embryo and decidua during early pregnancy may reactivate hsp60-sensitized lymphocytes, disturb pregnancy-induced immune regulatory mechanisms, and lead to immune rejection of the embryo. Due to this mechanism women with tubal infertility who are sensitized to the human hsp60 may have a decreased probability of successful outcome after undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.

Immune Sensitization to the 60 kD Heat Shock Protein and Pregnancy Outcome.

Heat shock proteins are highly conserved proteins present in organisms ranging from bacteria to man. They are both dominant microbial immunogens and among the first proteins produced during mammalian embryo development. Since bacterial and human heat shock proteins share a high degree of amino acid sequence homology, it has been suggested that sensitization to bacterial heat shock proteins during an infection may result in autoimmunity to human heat shock proteins. Infertile couples seeking in vitro fertilization (IVF) may have been previously sensitized to bacterial heat shock proteins as a consequence of an asymptomatic upper genital tract infection. Due to daily clinical monitoring and precisely timed fertilization these patients are an ideal study group to investigate the effect of prior sensitization to heat shock proteins on preimplantation embryo development and implantation failure. Immune sensitization at the level of the cervix to the 60 kD heat shock protein (hsp60) has been associated with implantation failure in some IVF patients. Similarly, the highest prevalence of circulating hsp60 antibodies among IVF patients was found in the sera of women whose embryos failed to develop in vitro. To more directly assess whether humoral immunity to hsp60 influenced in vitro embryo development, a mouse embryo culture model was established. Monoclonal antibody to mammalian hsp60 markedly impaired mouse embryo development in vitro. These data suggest that immune sensitization to human hsp60, possibly developed as a consequence of infection, may adversely affect pregnancy outcome in some patients.

Low-dose almitrine bismesylate in the treatment of hypoxemia due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Assessment of acute and chronic effects of low-dose almitrine bismesylate (AB) in stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). STUDY DESIGN: Oral administration of AB, 25 mg three times a day, for 6 months in all patients. Pulmonary function, blood gases, and peripheral nerve conduction velocity were measured at baseline and after long-term administration of AB. In addition, oral pharmacokinetics and effects on pulmonary circulation at rest were studied in half of the patients. Intravenous pharmacokinetics were measured after a single intravenous dose of 60 mg of AB 3 months before the start of oral AB treatment in the other seven patients. SETTING: Outpatient clinic of a community hospital in a coal mining district in southwest Germany. PATIENTS: Fourteen patients with clinically stable COPD and hypoxemia. RESULTS: Acute effects of AB were as follows: a significant increase in arterial oxygen tension (PaO2) from 61 +/- 7 mm Hg to 74 +/- 8 mm Hg (p < 0.001), a decrease in arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2) from 41 +/- 8 mm Hg to 38 +/- 7 mm Hg (p < 0.01), a rise of pH from 7.45 +/- 0.04 to 7.48 +/- 0.04 (p < 0.01), and a transient increase in mean pulmonary artery pressure from 26 +/- 7 to 29 +/- 6 mm Hg (not significant). After long-term treatment, once tissues were saturated with almitrine, improvement in gas exchange persisted with a PaO2 of 70 +/- 10 mm Hg (p < 0.001) and a PaCO2 of 39 +/- 6 mm Hg (not significant) without elevation of pH (7.45 +/- 0.04) or of pulmonary artery pressure (26 +/- 8 mm Hg). The terminal half-life of AB was 56 +/- 45 days after a single intravenous administration, and 55 +/- 16 days after long-term oral dosing. None of the patients developed clinically manifest peripheral neuropathy. Impaired asymptomatic peripheral motor nerve function was prevalent in 4 (29 percent) of the patients and remained unchanged during long-term AB administration. However, asymptomatic impairment of motor nerve conduction velocity developed in two patients with inadequate high AB plasma levels despite low-dose therapy. Both patients were known to have additional conditions predisposing for neuropathy. CONCLUSIONS: Low-dose AB therapy, 75 mg daily, resulted in sustained elevation of arterial oxygen tension in hypoxemic patients with COPD. Although pulmonary artery pressure increased transiently after the first dose, it remained unchanged with long-term treatment despite persistent improvement of pulmonary gas exchange.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Color Doppler echocardiography and radionuclide ventriculography in aortic and mitral valve insufficiency]. / Farbdopplerechokardiographie und Radionuklidventrikulographie bei Aorten- und Mitralinsuffizienz.

In 99 stable patients with auscultatory findings of aortic (n = 52) or mitral regurgitation (n = 47), the regurgitant fraction was determined by radionuclide ventriculography (RNV). In addition, color-coded Doppler echocardiography (CDE) was performed to assess semi-quantitatively the severity of valve incompetence. In aortic regurgitation, the results of both methods concurred in 73% of cases. With CDE, the regurgitation was underestimated in 10% by one class and overestimated in 17% by one class. In mitral regurgitation the results concurred only in 60% of the patients. CDE seemed to overestimate the incompetence, by one class, in 19% and to underestimate the lesion in 21% of the patients. In 2/47 patients the difference was more than one class. In conclusion, both noninvasive methods are applicable to assess the severity of mitral and aortic regurgitation. The RNV appears superior in follow-up assessment because of a slightly better reproducibility and investigator-independence.

[Ventricular thrombi in the chronic infarct stage]. / Ventrikelthromben im chronischen Infarktstadium.

Left ventricular thrombi were detected in 98 (11%) of 864 consecutive patients examined by 2-D-echocardiography in the chronic phase of myocardial infarction. Using unequivocal criteria in identifying intracavitary masses as thrombus, the sensitivity and specificity of the echocardiographic diagnosis reached 90% compared to intraoperative findings (n = 23). To avoid false positive diagnoses, normal apical structures like muscular trabeculae must be ruled out, preferably by applying high-frequency transducers. All thrombi were located on akinetic or dyskinetic segments near the ventricular apex. Accordingly they were best visualised in the apical 4-chamber (92%) and 2-chamber (96%) views as well as in apical short-axis cross-sections (49%). Thrombus size ranged from 0.5 to 32 cm2. Two-thirds of the thrombi appeared as flat, one-third as protruding masses. Thrombi were found mainly with anterior wall infarctions (14.5%) and with aneurysms (28.5%), but rarely with posterior wall infarctions (.6%). 95% of the thrombus patients had suffered large infarctions. The rate of embolic events prior to the thrombus diagnosis was 7% in patients with thrombi but only 0.6% in patients without thrombi.

[Ventricular thrombi in the chronic infarct stage: echocardiographic findings, clinical aspects, relations to anticoagulation]. / Ventrikelthromben im chronischen Infarktstadium: echokardiographische Befunde, Klinik, Beziehung zur Antikoagulation.

In 10% (n = 139) of 1,383 patients in the chronic phase of myocardial infarction left ventricular mural thrombi on a-/dyskinetic segments were present in the 2D-echocardiogram. Thrombi were more often seen in patients with anterior wall infarct (14% of 734) or combined anterior-posterior infarcts (11% of 337) than in those with posterior wall infarct (0.6% of 312). Thrombi were most frequent in patients with left ventricular aneurysm (26% of 362). Generally, our patients with left ventricular thrombi had suffered large infarctions, involving on average 42% of the wall segments. Accordingly, signs of severe left ventricular damage were found in most of these patients: in 69% global ventricular dilation was present in the echocardiogram, in 64% the global heart size, determined by chest-ray was enlarged, in 42% the exercise tolerance on the bicycle ergometer was limited to 25 watts or less, 29% had congestive heart failure, and 17% severe ventricular arrhythmias. Systemic embolization had occurred in 7.9% of the 132 thrombus patients, but in only 0.7% of the 1,244 patients without thrombi. At the time of the thrombus diagnosis by means of 2D-echocardiography, 90% of the thrombus patients had not received effective anticoagulant therapy. Follow-up was possible in 65 of these patients and showed thrombus regression in 45 patients, 93% of whom were effectively anticoagulated. Of the 20 patients with persisting thrombi only 20% were under an effective anticoagulant drug management. If anticoagulant therapy has to be stopped, a former thrombus patient runs a high risk of developing thrombi also in the chronic phase of myocardial infarction.