Spontaneous coronary artery dissection in a middle-aged woman with acute anterior myocardial infarction: A case report.

RATIONALE: Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is a highly unusual cause of acute coronary disease. It is a result of a hematoma formation within the outer third of the tunica media,with subsequent expansion leading to compression of the true lumen and resultant myocardial ischemia. PATIENT CONCERNS: We present a case of a middle-aged woman presenting with chest pain with acute anterior myocardial infarction, who did not reveal any of the cardiovascular risk factors. Finally,when pressed further about her past history, the patient revealed she had been taking oral contraceptives for the past 2 years. DIAGNOSES: The diagnosis is usually confirmed by coronary angiography, but it has some limitations. If necessary, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) may help in further examinations to reduce the incidence of erroneous diagnosis or missed diagnosis. INTERVENTIONS: There is no guiding suggestion for the treatment of SCAD. The main treatment methods are 3 aspects: conservative internal medical treatment, stent implantation, coronary artery bypass grafting. The treatment strategy depends mainly on the patienst' clinical symptoms, the hemodynamic state, and the position and quantity of the dissection. In this case,we used stent implantation treatment originally and then we resorted to medical treatment. OUTCOMES: After careful review and analysis, coronary arteriography results was able to prove the existence of the spiral shaped dissection. We then resorted to medical treatment and her symptoms were gradually relieved. LESSONS: SCAD should be suspected in young to middle-aged women with chest pain symptoms, particularly during the perinatal period or for subjects who use oral contraceptives. Doctors should be able to obtain a detailed past history and analyze coronary angiography results carefully.

Clinical analysis of transcatheter closure of perimembranous ventricular septal defects with occluders made in China.

BACKGROUND: Results of perimembranous ventricular septal defects (pmVSD) transcatheter closure have been reported in the literature mostly using a Amplatzer VSD device. However, the data of percutaneous closure of pmVSD with VSD occluder (VSD-O) made in China are still limited. We sought to analyze safety, efficacy, and follow-up results of percutaneous closure of pmVSD with VSD-O made in China. METHODS: Between February 2005 and June 2009, 78 patients underwent percutaneous closure of pmVSD at our institution. A VSD device made in China was used for all subjects. The safety and the efficacy of the VSD-O were investigated. RESULTS: The average age at closure was 11 years (range 2.5 to 44 years). The attempt to place device was successful in 74 patients (94.9%). The average device size used was 8 mm (range 5 to 16 mm). No deaths occurred. Total occlusion rate was 62.8% at completion of the procedure, rising up to 87.2% at discharge and 99.0% during follow-up. A total of eight early complications occurred (10.3%), but in all subjects these were transient. The average follow-up period was 40.5 months. The most significant complication was complete atrioventricular block (cAVB) in the early phase (five subjects, 6.4%) and during the follow-up (1 subject, 1.3%), which saw no need for pacemaker implantation in six subjects. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis showed that the age was only the variable significantly associated with the occurrence of this complication during the procedure (P = 0.025; relative risk 0.22). The subjects who experienced this complication were less than five years old. CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous pmVSD closure used VSD-O made in China is associated with excellent success and closure rates, no mortality, and low morbidity. Longer follow-up data and improvements in device characteristics are needed to reduce the risk of cAVB.