The impact of Rho-kinase inhibitor, "Fasudil", intracoronary bolus administration to improve refractory coronary vasospasm.

A 57 year-old man presenting with acute inferior myocardial infarction underwent percutaneous coronary intervention. Following the placement of TAXUS Liberte 2.5 × 24 mm (Boston Sientific, USA), for 99% stenosis with delay, severe vasospasm occurred at distal portion of the stent. However, persistent vasospasm was observed despite ISDN (isosorbide dinitrate), nitroprusside, and nicorandil, were used to control the repetitive vasospasm during the course of 90 min. Then the decision was made to use intra-coronary bolus of Rho-kinase inhibitor, fasudil 100 µg/kg. Then the vasospasm resolved and no recurrence was observed during the procedure and hospital stay for 25 days. We experienced a valuable case, whose repetitive vasospasm was resolved with intracoronary administration of Rho kinase inhibitor.

Low risk for arrhythmic events in asymptomatic patients with drug-induced type 1 ECG. Do patients with drug-induced Brugada type ECG have poor prognosis? (Con).

The type 1 ST-segment elevation is diagnostic for Brugada syndrome (BS) and its presence may sometimes be associated with a high risk of arrhythmic events. The type 1 ECG is also known to be unmasked by administration of sodium-channel blockers in equivocal or suspected cases of BS, and the drug-challenge test is frequently used in the diagnostic approach. In large cohort studies the spontaneous appearance of the type 1 ECG with symptoms of aborted sudden death or unexplained syncope are indicative of a poor prognosis for patients with BS compared with not having clinical symptoms. Therefore, the spontaneous type 1 ECG appears to represent an important predictive sign for cardiac events. It is unknown, however, whether or not the drug-induced type 1 ECG is as useful as the spontaneous type 1 for predicting cardiac events in asymptomatic subjects showing non-type 1 ECG. Review of the literature for large cohort studies indicates that there is a low incidence of arrhythmic events in asymptomatic patients with either the spontaneous or drug-induced type 1 ECG compared with symptomatic subjects, and the drug-induced type 1 ECG in asymptomatic patients does not add to an increase in arrhythmic risk. Therefore, drug testing to unmask the type 1 ECG in asymptomatic patients with a non-type 1 BS ECG does not have an additional value for risk stratification of cardiac events, although it might be useful in symptomatic patients showing only the non-type 1 ECG.

Inappropriate ICD discharges due to noise oversensing as the first sign of repetitive perforations of the right ventricular lead.

Acute lead perforation is one of the major complications associated with implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implantation. We describe a case with repetitive inappropriate ICD discharges due to noise oversensing as the first sign of lead perforation.

Characteristics of bundle branch reentrant ventricular tachycardia with a right bundle branch block configuration: feasibility of atrial pacing.

AIMS: We assessed the inducibility of bundle branch reentrant ventricular tachycardia (BBR-VT) with a right bundle branch block (RBBB) configuration in patients with BBR-VT. METHODS AND RESULTS: Eight consecutive patients (5 men, 45+/-18 years old) with inducible BBR-VT were included. We evaluated the clinical and electrophysiological characteristics in these patients to explore the inducible factors of BBR-VT with an RBBB configuration. Six of eight patients had inducible BBR-VT with an RBBB configuration, including four patients with a clinical VT with the same QRS morphology. All patients exhibited an LBBB or RBBB type intraventricular conduction disturbance during sinus rhythm. The mean HV interval at baseline was 79+/-18 ms. The reproducibility of the BBR-VT with an RBBB pattern was achieved by incremental atrial pacing during an isoproterenol infusion in 4/6 patients (67%) and by programmed ventricular stimulation in the other two. After a right bundle ablation, the BBR-VT was no longer inducible in any of the cases. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that it is not rare to induce BBR-VT with an RBBB configuration. For the induction of an RBBB type BBR-VT, incremental atrial pacing may play a significant role in addition to ventricular pacing.

Bidirectional ventricular tachycardia caused by a reentrant mechanism with left bundle branch block configuration on electrocardiography.

Reentrant bidirectional ventricular tachycardia (VT) with left bundle branch block (LBBB) configuration was diagnosed in a 54-year-old woman who showed 2 types of VT: QRS morphologies of LBBB with inferior axis and LBBB with superior axis. The development of VT with a superior axis was preceded by VT with inferior axis and/or both configurations of VT in alternate beats exhibiting bidirectional VT. The electrophysiological study demonstrated reproducible induction of both types of VT by programmed ventricular stimulation and both types of VT were entrained. Using conventional pace mapping and electro-anatomical mapping methods, radiofrequency energy applications at the 2 exit sites of the reentry path successfully terminated both types of VT and the patient was free from VT attacks for more than 15 months.