Assessment of mitral regurgitant jets by three-dimensional color Doppler

BACKGROUND: Color Doppler echocardiography is a standard technique for assessing mitral regurgitation before and after mitral valvuloplasty. Mitral valve prolapse produces complex eccentric jet flows that cannot be visualized and measured by two-dimensional color Doppler echocardiography. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical impact of three-dimensional color Doppler echocardiography, a new technique developed at our institution, for assessing mitral regurgitation. METHODS: Forty-five patients with mitral regurgitation underwent intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography and three-dimensional Doppler data acquisition. The grade of mitral regurgitation was assessed by angiography. The jet areas were calculated by planimetry from conventional color Doppler; the jet volumes were obtained by three-dimensional Doppler data. RESULTS: New patterns of mitral regurgitant flows were recognized according to the origin, direction, and spatial spreading into the left atrium. Conventional jet areas failed to separate the groups of patients with different degrees of regurgitation, whereas the jet volumes were able to divide patients with different regurgitation grades. No significant correlation was found between jet area and angiographic grading (r = 0.63, p = NS). Jet volumes were significantly correlated to angiography (r = 0.89, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Three-dimensional color Doppler echocardiography revealed new patterns of regurgitant flow and allowed a more accurate semiquantitative assessment of complex asymmetrical regurgitant jets.     

Expression of bone sialoprotein and bone morphogenetic protein-2 in calcific aortic stenosis

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY: Calcific aortic stenosis, the major heart valve disease encountered in the elderly, leads to massive calcium deposition in the valve leaflets that morphologically resembles bone formation. Recent studies have demonstrated the expression of various bone-associated proteins in stenotic valves, suggesting that valvular calcification may be an actively regulated process. Bone sialoprotein (BSP), a non-collagenous bone matrix protein, and bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), a member of the transforming growth factor cytokine superfamily, are known to participate in the regulation of bone development and maturation. Their pathogenetic role in calcific aortic stenosis is unknown. METHODS: Using an immunoperoxidase technique and antibodies against BSP and BMP-2, the expression of BSP and BMP-2 was examined in 16 human aortic valves with calcific aortic stenosis obtained at valve replacement, and in seven normal autopsy controls without signs of aortic stenosis. RESULTS: By semiquantitative scoring, stenotic valves showed a significantly increased staining of BSP in cells and extracellular matrix as compared to control valves (2.7 +/- 0.1 versus 0.6 +/- 0.2 score units, p <0.001). Marked BMP-2 expression was detected in stenotic valves, mostly in cell-rich areas associated with focal calcium deposits, but no specific staining for BMP-2 was detected in control valves (1.5 +/- 0.2 versus 0.0 +/- 0.0 score units, p <0.001). CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate for the first time that BSP and BMP-2 are differentially expressed in normal aortic valves and in aortic stenosis, thereby supporting the concept that valvular calcification might be based on an actively regulated process involving BSP and BMP-2.     

Impact of previous cardiovascular surgery on postoperative morbidity and mortality after major pulmonary resection for non-small cell lung cancer

Purpose

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of previous cardiovascular surgery on the postoperative morbidity and mortality following major pulmonary resection for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods

Medical records of 227 patients, who underwent major pulmonary resection for NSCLC from 2003 to 2012 at our department, were reviewed retrospectively. Thirty-one patients with a mean age of 65.8 years had previous cardiovascular surgery (group A) including coronary artery revascularization in 11 patients, peripheral arterial revascularization in 6 patients, carotis endarterectomy in 9 patients, and combined coronary artery revascularization and carotis endarterectomy in 5 patients, whereas 167 patients (mean age?=?62.0 years) had no cardiovascular comorbidity (group B). Twenty-nine patients with nonsurgically treated cardiovascular comorbidity were excluded from this study.

Results

There were no significant differences in overall postoperative morbidity (22.6 % in group A vs. 19.2 % in group B) and mortality (no mortality in group A vs. 2.4 % in group B) between both groups.

Conclusions

Major pulmonary resections for NSCLC can be performed safely in patients with previous cardiovascular surgical history who are fulfilling the common cardiopulmonary criteria of operability. Operative risk in this subpopulation is comparable to that in patients without cardiovascular comorbidity.     

Genetic association signal near NTN4 in Tourette syndrome

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a complex genetic etiology. Through an international collaboration, we genotyped 42 single nucleotide polymorphisms (p < 10⁻³) from the recent TS genomewide association study (GWAS) in 609 independent cases and 610 ancestry‐matched controls. Only rs2060546 on chromosome 12q22 (p = 3.3 × 10⁻⁴) remained significant after Bonferroni correction. Meta‐analysis with the original GWAS yielded the strongest association to date (p = 5.8 × 10⁻⁷). Although its functional significance is unclear, rs2060546 lies closest to NTN4, an axon guidance molecule expressed in developing striatum. Risk score analysis significantly predicted case–control status (p = 0.042), suggesting that many of these variants are true TS risk alleles. Ann Neurol 2014;76:310–315     

Entodermal inclusion cyst of the tricuspid valve.

This is a report on an epithelial inclusion cyst covering the septal leaflet of the tricuspid valve. The tumor was an accidental finding in a 5 1/2 years-old boy with congenital heart disease including double-chambered right ventricle, ventricular and atrial septal defects and subvalvular aortic stenosis. Histological examination showed a two-layered ciliated epithelium, typically present in the respiratory system. Embryologic tissue heterotopia arising from sequestered entodermal elements from the primitive foregut during cardiac organogenesis is a possible explanation for the locality and histology of the tumor. To our knowledge, a similar case has never been presented before.     

Acute exercise-induced nitric oxide production contributes to upregulation of circulating endothelial progenitor cells in healthy subjects

Exercise has been proved to promote the number and activity of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in humans, which contributes to improvement in endothelial function and maintenance of cardiovascular homoeostasis. However, the mechanism underlying the effect of exercise on circulating EPCs in healthy subjects is not completely understood. Here, we investigated whether the regulation of acute exercise on circulating EPCs is associated with nitric oxide (NO), vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF) and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) known to modulate circulating EPCs in healthy subjects. A total of 16 healthy male volunteers underwent a modified Bruce treadmill acute exercise protocol. The number and activity of circulating EPCs, as well as the levels of NO-VEGF and GM-CSF in plasma and culture medium before and after exercise in healthy subjects were measured. The number and activity of circulating EPCs after acute exercise were significantly higher than those before exercise in healthy subjects. In parallel, acute exercise significantly enhanced plasma NO level in healthy subjects. There is a significant linear regression relationship between the enhanced plasma NO level and increased number or activity of circulating EPCs. However, no change of plasma VEGF and GM-CSF level was observed after acute exercise. The secretion of NO-VEGF and GM-CSF by cultured EPCs remained unchanged in response to acute exercise. The present study demonstrates for the first time that acute exercise-induced NO production contributes to upregulation of circulating EPCs in healthy subjects, which suggests that NO plays an important role in the regulation of exercise on circulating EPCs.