Coronary Artery Embolism: Two Case Reports and a Review of the Literature

Coronary embolism (CE) is an uncommon and unique cause of acute myocardial infarction. In this report, we review 216 cases of CE including 2 new cases from our institution. The mean patient age was 52.5 years and 62% of the patients were males. Chest pain was the most common presenting symptom followed by dyspnea, and the most commonly affected vessel was the left anterior descending artery. Leading etiologies of the embolus were atrial fibrillation, septic emboli, and iatrogenic causes. Treatment approaches varied with thrombus aspiration being used in 30% of cases. In-hospital mortality rate was 36% and 13% of the cases were complicated by cerebrovascular accident. CE is a unique pathology that leads to acute myocardial infarction. It portends a high mortality rate and requires a high level of suspicion as symptoms may be misleading. Further research is needed in order to improve recognition and management and to lower associated mortality.     

Coronary Artery Lumen Segmentation Using Location–Adaptive Threshold in Coronary Computed Tomographic Angiography: A Proof-of-Concept

ObjectiveTo compare the lumen parameters measured by the location-adaptive threshold method (LATM), in which the inter- and intra-scan attenuation variabilities of coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA) were corrected, and the scan-adaptive threshold method (SATM), in which only the inter-scan variability was corrected, with the reference standard measurement by intravascular ultrasonography (IVUS).Materials and MethodsThe Hounsfield unit (HU) values of whole voxels and the centerline in each of the cross-sections of the 22 target coronary artery segments were obtained from 15 patients between March 2009 and June 2010, in addition to the corresponding voxel size. Lumen volume was calculated mathematically as the voxel volume multiplied by the number of voxels with HU within a given range, defined as the lumen for each method, and compared with the IVUS-derived reference standard. Subgroup analysis of the lumen area was performed to investigate the effect of lumen size on the studied methods. Bland-Altman plots were used to evaluate the agreement between the measurements.ResultsLumen volumes measured by SATM was significantly smaller than that measured by IVUS (mean difference, 14.6 mm³; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.9–24.3 mm³); the lumen volumes measured by LATM and IVUS were not significantly different (mean difference, −0.7 mm³; 95% CI, −9.1–7.7 mm³). The lumen area measured by SATM was significantly smaller than that measured by LATM in the smaller lumen area group (mean of difference, 1.07 mm²; 95% CI, 0.89–1.25 mm²) but not in the larger lumen area group (mean of difference, −0.07 mm²; 95% CI, −0.22–0.08 mm²). In the smaller lumen group, the mean difference was lower in the Bland-Altman plot of IVUS and LATM (0.46 mm²; 95% CI, 0.27–0.65 mm²) than in that of IVUS and SATM (1.53 mm²; 95% CI, 1.27–1.79 mm²).ConclusionSATM underestimated the lumen parameters for computed lumen segmentation in CCTA, and this may be overcome by using LATM.     

益气通脉饮联合西药治疗气虚血瘀型冠心病心绞痛90例临床疗效观察

目的:探讨益气通脉饮治疗气虚血瘀型冠心病心绞痛的临床疗效。方法:选取2017年10月—2019年2月烟台业达医院收治的气虚血瘀型冠心病心绞痛的患者90例作为研究对象,根据随机数字表法将所选患者均分为两组,每组各45例,两组的一般资料经统计学方法,差异无统计学意义(P>0.05),因此具有可比性。对照组给予常规西药进行治疗,观察组在对照组治疗基础上给予益气通脉饮治疗,1个月后比较两组临床的疗效,评估治疗前后中医证候、心绞痛症状分级和血脂水平。临床检测的数据通过统计产品与服务解决方案(Statistical Product and Service Solutions,SPSS) 19.0软件进行分析和处理,计量的数据使用平均数±标准差(x±s)表示,采用双侧t检验,计数的数据采用χ~2检验,以%表示,以P<0.05为差异有统计学意义。结果:治疗后,对照组和观察组都有一定疗效,但观察组的改善中医证候总有效率95.56%(43/45),高于对照组的82.22%(37/45),两组比较具有统计学意义(P<0.05);心绞痛的症状总有效率观察组为93.33%(42/45),对照组为77.78%(35/45),两组比较差异有统计学意义(P<0.05);与治疗前相比较,两组治疗后的三酰甘油(Triglyceride,TG)、血清总胆固醇(Serum Total Cholesterol,TC)、高密度脂蛋白胆固醇(High Density Liptein Cholesterol,HDL-C)水平均降低(P<0.05),且观察组治疗后低于对照组(P<0.05),两组治疗后的HDL-C升高(P<0.05),组间比较,差异无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论:益气通脉饮治疗气虚血瘀型冠心病心绞痛的疗效显著,值得临床进一步研究与推广应用。     

Anomalous Origin of the Left Coronary Artery from the Pulmonary Artery: Diagnoses and Surgical Results in 12 Pediatric Patients

Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is a rare congenital condition. It responds well to early diagnosis and treatment, but otherwise the prognosis is poor. We present our case series of 12 patients (mean age, 2 ± 2.58 yr; age range, 2 mo–8 yr), emphasizing the diagnostic process and discussing our surgical results. The diagnosis of ALCAPA should be suspected in infants who have dilated cardiomyopathy with electrocardiographic changes that suggest ischemia, and in older children who have isolated mitral regurgitation. When clinical suspicion is high, the results of 2-dimensional echocardiography combined with color-flow Doppler studies in expert hands can establish the diagnosis, thus avoiding angiography in critically ill infants. The treatment of choice in our patients was transfer and reimplantation of the left coronary artery onto the ascending aorta. There were 2 deaths: both were infants in extremis who underwent emergency surgery. An older child with severe ventricular dysfunction was given mechanical ventricular assistance and then heart transplantation. As of this report, all 10 survivors remained well and asymptomatic.     

Angiographic profile and outcomes in persistent non-valvular atrial fibrillation: A study from tertiary care center in North India

BackgroundThe relationship of atrial fibrillation (AF) with coronary artery disease (CAD) is well established, yet it is often missed. There is evidence of myocardial ischemia on stress imaging in AF patients in the absence of obstructive CAD. In this prospective cohort, we studied the angiographic profiles of non-valvular AF patients.MethodsThe study was a nonrandomized, prospective, single-center observational study of consecutive patients of persistent non-valvular AF. Patients symptomatic for AF despite optimal medical therapy for 3 months were recruited and all underwent coronary angiograms (CAG). Patients with prior history of CAD were excluded.ResultsA total of 70 patients were followed for a mean duration of 12 ± 1.4 months. The mean age of the study group was 66.07 (±11.49) years. Hypertension was the commonest comorbidity seen in 74% patients. Obstructive CAD was present in 32 (46%) patients, non-obstructive (<50% stenosis) CAD in 17 (24%) patients and normal coronaries in 21 (30%) patients. Overall 49 (70%) patients had evidence of CAD. Amongst patients without obstructive CAD, slow flow was seen in 16 (42%) patients. Lower baseline ejection fraction, lower haemoglobin & albumin levels and higher creatinine levels was associated with increased mortality. In patients without obstructive CAD, hospitalizations for fast ventricular rate were significantly increased in those having slow flow on CAG (p = 0.005).ConclusionsMajority (70%) of our patients had evidence of atherosclerotic CAD on CAG. A large proportion of patients without obstructive CAD had slow flow on CAG.     

How accurate is atherosclerosis imaging by coronary computed tomography angiography?

Invasive coronary plaque imaging such as intravascular ultrasound and optical coherence tomography has been widely used to observe culprit or non-culprit coronary atherosclerosis, as well as optimize stent sizing, apposition and deployment. Coronary computed tomographic angiography (CTA) is non-invasively available to assess coronary artery disease (CAD) and has become an appropriate strategy to evaluate patients with suspected CAD. Given recent technologies, semi-automated plaque software is available to identify coronary plaque stenosis, volume and characteristics and potentially allows to be used for the assessment of more details of plaque information, progression and future risk as a surrogate tool of the invasive imaging modalities. This review article aims to focus on various evidence in coronary plaque imaging by coronary CTA and describes how accurate coronary CTA can classify coronary atherosclerosis.     

Association of four CpG-SNPs in the vascular-related genes with coronary heart disease

Vascular-related gene polymorphism can affect the susceptibility of coronary heart disease. In current study, we aimed to evaluate the contribution of four vascular-related gene CpG-SNPs to coronary heart disease (CHD). A total of 784 angiography-proven CHD patients and 746 non-CHD controls were included in the current association study. The four CpG-SNPs (including VEGFA rs1005230, ACE rs4316, CST3 rs3827143 and AGTR1 rs275653) were genotyped using the Sequenom MassARRAY platform. All genotype distribution of four SNPs met HWE. Among the four CpG-SNPs, none was found to be associated with CHD on both genotype and allele levels. Further subgroup tests by age or gender were unable to observe any significant associations of them with CHD. Our case-control study showed that none of four CpG-SNPs in the vascular-related genes was associated with the risk of CHD in Han Chinese, although we could not exclude other genetic variants of these vascular-related genes with contribution to CHD.