Multiple Cerebral Infarctions Accompanied by Subcortical and Subarachnoid Hemorrhaging in Bilateral Border Zone Areas in a Patient with Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis

Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) is often associated with peripheral neuropathy, but reports of central nervous system involvement are quite rare. We herein report a patient with EGPA first identified as having hypereosinophilia who later developed asthma, eosinophilic otitis media, sinusitis, and hemorrhagic colitis. She subsequently developed hemiparesis. Head magnetic resonance imaging revealed multiple cerebral infarctions with subcortical and subarachnoid hemorrhaging colocalized at the bilateral border zone areas. She was diagnosed with EGPA-induced stroke and successfully treated with oral prednisolone. Inflammation in the small cerebral arteries in EGPA may induce bilateral border zone infarction with colocalizing subcortical and subarachnoid hemorrhaging.     

IgG4-related Disease with a Cardiac Mass Causing Cerebral Infarction

Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a systemic inflammatory disease characterized by infiltration of extensive IgG4-positive plasma cells and lymphocytes. Although IgG4-RD has been observed in almost all organs, it rarely affects the myocardium. Cardiovascular lesions of IgG4-RD appear as aortic (aortic aneurysm and aortitis) and pericardial (constrictive pericarditis) lesions as well as pseudotumors around the coronary arteries. We herein report a case of IgG4-RD with a cardiac mass in the right atrium involving a sinus node. This condition caused arrhythmia and repeated strokes. We successfully treated the patient through resection of the cardiac mass, catheter ablation and immunosuppressive therapy.     

Future Impact of mRNA Therapy on Cardiovascular Diseases

The silver lining of the recent pandemic was that it accelerated the emergence of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) therapeutics. The great promise of mRNA therapeutics was highlighted by the speed at which the vaccines were created, tested, and proven to be relatively safe and highly effective. There are a wide variety of mRNA therapeutics now under development, and dozens of these are in clinical trials. These therapeutics are generating a major paradigm shift in medical therapy, including the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Most of the cardiovascular mRNA therapies are still in preclinical development, although a phase 2a trial of mRNA therapy for myocardial ischemia has been completed with promising results.¹ The application of mRNA therapies to cardiovascular diseases is virtually limitless, and ongoing work includes mRNA therapies for myocardial ischemia, heart failure, arrhythmias, hypercholesterolemia, and arterial occlusive diseases. In addition, mRNA may be used to enhance cell therapies. In the future, mRNA therapies for cardiovascular disease are destined to supplant some of our current biologics and pharmacotherapies and will be used to treat previously untreatable cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, mRNA therapies can be personalized, and they can be rapidly generated in current Good Manufacturing Practice facilities with a modest footprint, facilitating the rise of hospital-based regional centers of RNA therapeutics.     

急诊经皮冠状动脉介入、溶栓和常规药物治疗对急性心肌梗死的疗效分析

目的评价急诊经皮冠状动脉介入治疗(PCI)、静脉溶栓和常规药物治疗对急性心肌梗死(AMI)疗效的对照分析。方法114例AMI患者,其中PCI组42例,溶栓组38例,药物组34例,分别收集患者治疗前和治疗2h、4h、8h、24h、72h静脉血,检测心肌酶谱和肌钙蛋白变化以及心电图ST段回降情况。结果①PCI组在手术后8h心肌酶和肌钙蛋白提前达到高峰,与其他组比较有显著差异(P<0.01)。72h后PCI组绝大多数心肌酶和肌钙蛋白已恢复正常,而其他组心肌酶和肌钙蛋白仍维持较高水平;②PCI组在治疗后8hST段已有较大回落,其余组ST段回落不明显,3组比较有显著差异。72hPCI组ST段已恢复正常,而其余组仍然较高,3组比较有显著意义(P<0.01)。结论急诊PCI能使AMI患者心肌酶峰迅速提前,且短时间恢复正常,此外,使肌钙蛋白、心肌酶、心电图ST段较短时间内恢复正常。     

Acute Posterior-inferior Myocardial Infarction Caused by Total Occlusion Distal to the Apex of the Hyperdominant Left Anterior Descending Artery

A 77-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with severe ongoing chest pain. Electrocardiography showed ST-segment elevation in the inferior leads and tall R waves in leads V1-2. Posterior-inferior myocardial infarction was diagnosed. Emergent coronary angiography (CAG) revealed the wrap-around left anterior descending artery (LAD) with total occlusion distal to the cardiac apex. She underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Despite difficulty navigating the long and tortuous LAD, we successfully performed reperfusion of the wrap-around LAD. CAG post-PCI showed the posterior descending artery arising from the LAD, described as hyperdominant LAD.     

Implication des thrombophilies dans les thrombus coronaires

This review of thrombophilia and coronary thrombosis takes into account the “classical” thrombophilia commonly found in venous pathology and the conditions under which their research may be useful in certain forms of arterial thrombosis especially coronary thrombosis. In addition to the classical thrombophilia, exceptional thrombophilia are evoked, which are both factors of venous thrombosis but also arterial thrombosis. There are also thrombophilia that are more specific to the arterial system such as – homocystein which is potentially both a thrombosis factor but also an agent of arterial parietal lesion or – serotonin which is a factor of arterial spasm and especially coronary spasm. Finally, under the term thrombophilia, it is possible to include thrombophilic conditions, in particular cancers and inflammatory conditions.     

VAMP-8 gene variant is associated with increased risk of early myocardial infarction

Introduction

Single nucleotide polymorphism in the 3’ untranslated region of the vesicle-associated membrane protein gene (VAMP-8) has been associated with increased risk of early-onset myocardial infarction (MI). In this study the risk of early onset MI conferred by VAMP-8 gene polymorphism was investigated in a group of 171 male subjects.

Material and methods

Male patients with a history of MI who underwent coronary angiography were enrolled and divided into early (incident < 55 years of age) and late (incident ≥ 55 years of age) MI onset groups. Apart from the RFLP-PCR based analysis of the VAMP-8 variant, history of hypertension, lipid abnormalities, smoking and body mass index were recorded. In statistical analyses odds ratios and relative risk were used as a measure of genotype-MI association while logistic regression was implemented for evaluation of MI risk factor strength.

Results

VAMP-8 A allele frequency proved to be significantly higher in the early-onset MI group and conferred higher relative risk of early MI in the investigated cohort, when calculated for the individual A allele (p = 0.029). In logistic regression analyses no association between risk genotypes and traditional risk factors was observed.

Conclusions

In this study VAMP-8 A variant was identified as a risk allele for early MI in male subjects.     

Circulatory disturbances in the postresuscitation period of myocardial infarction and the role of body fluid volume changes in their development

Department of Pathophysiology, Kemerovo Medical Institute. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR V. A. Negovskii.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 109, No. 1, pp. 16–18, January, 1990.