Investigation of the theory and mechanism of the origin of the second heart sound. (1/230)

To investigate further the origin of the second heart sound we studied human subjects, dogs, and a model in vitro of the cardiovascular system. Intra-arterial sound, pressure, and, where possible, flow and high speed cine (2,000 frames/sec) were utilized. The closure sound of the semilunar valves was of higher amplitude in be ventricles than in their respective arterial cavities. The direction of inscription of the main components of intra-arterial sound were opposite in direction to the components of intraventricular sound. Notches, representative of pressure increments, were noted on the ventricular pressure tracings and were coincident with the components of sound. The amplitude of the closure sound varied with diastolic pressure, but remained unchanged with augmentation of forward and retrograde aortic flow. Cines showed second sound to begin after complete valvular closure, and average leaflet closure rate was constant regardless of pressure. Hence, the semilunar valves, when closed, act as an elastic membrane and, when set into motion, generate compression and expansion of the blood, producing transient pressure changes indicative of sound. The magnitude of the initial stretch is related to the differential pressure between the arterial and ventricular chambers. Sound transients which follow the major components of the second sound appear to be caused by the continuing stretch and recoil of the leaflets. Clinically unexplained findings such as the reduced or absent second sound in calcific aortic stenosis and its paradoxical presence in congenital aortic stenosis may be explained by those observations.  (+info)

Chronic radiodermatitis following cardiac catheterisation: a report of two cases and a brief review of the literature. (2/230)

Cardiac angiography produces one of the highest radiation exposures of any commonly used diagnostic x ray procedure. Recently, serious radiation induced skin injuries have been reported after repeated therapeutic interventional procedures using prolonged fluoroscopic imaging. Two male patients, aged 62 and 71 years, in whom chronic radiodermatitis developed one to two years after two consecutive cardiac catheterisation procedures are reported. Both patients had undergone lengthy procedures using prolonged fluoroscopic guidance in a limited number of projections. The resulting skin lesions were preceded, in one case, by an acute erythema and took the form of a delayed pigmented telangiectatic, indurated, or ulcerated plaque in the upper back or below the axilla whose site corresponded to the location of the x ray tube during cardiac catheterisation. Cutaneous side effects of radiation exposure result from direct damage to the irradiated tissue and have known thresholds. The diagnosis of radiation induced skin injury relies essentially on clinical and histopathological findings, location of skin lesions, and careful medical history. Interventional cardiologists should be aware of this complication, because chronic radiodermatitis may result in painful and resistant ulceration and eventually in squamous cell carcinoma.  (+info)

Spontaneous late improvement of myocardial viability in the chronic infarct zone is possible, depending on persistent TIMI 3 flow and a low grade stenosis of the infarct artery. (3/230)

OBJECTIVE: In the chronic phase of myocardial infarction, the relation between myocardial recovery and infarct related artery status remains unclear. The spontaneous changes in rest-redistribution thallium defect size were prospectively studied over six months in 52 patients with chronic Q wave myocardial infarction. DESIGN: Changes in rest thallium defect size, thallium uptake in the infarct area, and radionuclide left ventricular ejection fraction were compared to the quantitative coronary angiogram data. Two groups of patients were considered: patients with a percentage of stenosis below 100% (group 1, n = 31); and patients with an occluded artery (group 2, n = 21). RESULTS: In the overall population, the mean (SD) defect size decreased from 28.2 (17.2)% to 24.9 (19.3)% of the whole myocardium (p = 0.01), while, in this area, the thallium uptake increased from 62.9 (13.7)% to 66. 9 (15.6)% (p < 0.001). At the time of inclusion, the defect size, thallium uptake, and ejection fraction were similar in both groups. In group 1 patients only, the reduction in defect size correlated with the improvement in ejection fraction (r = 0.41, p = 0.02) and was related to the percentage of coronary artery stenosis. TIMI 3 patients reduced the defect size while other patients increased this defect (-5.1 (7.0)% v +11.0 (14.4)%, p < 0.001). In contrast, no significant relations were found in group 2 patients. CONCLUSION: Late spontaneous recovery in thallium defect can occur in patients with a patent infarct related artery, depending on the TIMI flow grade and a low grade stenosis of the infarct related artery, and is associated with functional improvement.  (+info)

Relationship between TIMI frame count and clinical outcomes after thrombolytic administration. Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) Study Group. (4/230)

BACKGROUND: The corrected TIMI frame count (CTFC) is the number of cine frames required for dye to first reach standardized distal coronary landmarks, and it is an objective and quantitative index of coronary blood flow. METHODS AND RESULTS: The CTFC was measured in 1248 patients in the TIMI 4, 10A, and 10B trials, and its relationship to clinical outcomes was examined. Patients who died in the hospital had a higher CTFC (ie, slower flow) than survivors (69. 6+/-35.4 [n=53] versus 49.5+/-32.3 [n=1195]; P=0.0003). Likewise, patients who died by 30 to 42 days had higher CTFCs than survivors (66.2+/-36.4 [n=57] versus 49.9+/-32.1 [n=1059]; P=0.006). In a multivariate model that excluded TIMI flow grades, the 90-minute CTFC was an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality (OR=1.21 per 10-frame rise [95% CI, 1.1 to 1.3], an approximately 0.7% increase in absolute mortality for every 10-frame rise; P<0.001) even when other significant correlates of mortality (age, heart rate, anterior myocardial infarction, and female sex) were adjusted for in the model. The CTFC identified a subgroup of patients with TIMI grade 3 flow who were at a particularly low risk of adverse outcomes. The risk of in-hospital mortality increased in a stepwise fashion from 0.0% (n=41) in patients with a 90-minute CTFC that was faster than the 95% CI for normal flow (0 to 13 frames, hyperemia, TIMI grade 4 flow), to 2.7% (n=18 of 658 patients) in patients with a CTFC of 14 to 40 (a CTFC of 40 has previously been identified as the cutpoint for distinguishing TIMI grade 3 flow), to 6.4% (35/549) in patients with a CTFC >40 (P=0.003). Although the risk of death, recurrent myocardial infarction, shock, congestive heart failure, or left ventricular ejection fraction 20 to +info)

Prognostication in 3-vessel coronary artery disease based on left ventricular ejection fraction during exercise : influence of coronary artery bypass grafting. (5/230)

BACKGROUND: Previous data indicate that left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) provides prognostic information among patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), but the value of such testing specifically for defining benefits of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) may relate to severity of exercise-inducible ischemia measured noninvasively before surgery. METHODS AND RESULTS: To determine the independent prognostic importance of preoperative ischemia severity for predicting outcomes of CABG among patients with extensive CAD, we monitored 167 stable patients with angiographically documented 3-vessel CAD (average follow-up of 9 years in event-free patients) who previously had undergone rest and exercise radionuclide cineangiography. Their course was correlated with data obtained during initial radionuclide testing, coronary arteriography, and clinical evaluation at study entry. Fifty-two patients received medical treatment only, and 115 underwent CABG (44 early [+info)

Right ventricular diastolic function in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy--an invasive study. (6/230)

To assess diastolic function of the right ventricle (RV) in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), biplane RV angiograms and RV pressures were analyzed in 19 HCM patients and in 13 normal subjects. RV and left ventricle (LV) pressures were measured using catheter-tip manometers. RV volumes were obtained from frame-by-frame tracings of angiograms. Ventricular relaxation was assessed by the time constant of isovolumic pressure decay (T). The peak filling rate (PFR) and the time to PFR (TPFR) were used as parameters of early diastolic filling, and the right atrial contribution to RV filling (%AF) was used as a parameter of late diastolic filling. The T for the RV was significantly prolonged in HCM patients. However, there was no significant correlation between the T for the RV and LV, nor did the T for the RV correlate with the RV ejection fraction or interventricular septal wall thickness. The TPFR, but not PFR, was significantly greater in HCM patients, and the %AF tended to be increased in HCM, but not significantly. The RV diastolic pressure-volume relations in the HCM patients shifted upward. In conclusion, impaired isovolumic relaxation and delayed diastolic filling and decreased diastolic distensibility are present in the RV of HCM patients.  (+info)

Prediction of functional recovery of viable myocardium after delayed revascularization in postinfarction patients: accuracy of dobutamine stress echocardiography and influence of long-term vessel patency. (7/230)

OBJECTIVES: We sought to evaluate dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) for predicting recovery of viable myocardium after revascularization with cineangiography as a gold standard for left ventricular (LV) function. We studied the influence of late vessel reocclusion on regional LV function. BACKGROUND: Dobutamine stress echocardiography is a well established evaluation method for myocardial viability assessment. In previous studies the reference method for assessing LV recovery was echocardiography, long-term vessel patency has not been systematically addressed. METHODS: Sixty-eight patients with a first acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and residual stenosis of the infarct related artery (IRA) underwent DSE (mean +/- standard deviation) 21 +/- 12 days after AMI to evaluate myocardial viability. Revascularization of the IRA was performed in 54 patients by angioplasty (n = 43) or bypass grafting (n = 11). Coronary angiography and LV cineangiography were repeated at four months to assess LV function and IRA patency. RESULTS: Sensitivity and specificity of DSE for predicting myocardial recovery after revascularization were 83% and 82%. In the case of late IRA patency, specificity increased to 95%, whereas sensitivity remained unchanged. In the 16 patients with myocardial viability and late IRA patency, echocardiographic wall motion score index decreased after revascularization from 1.83 +/- 0.15 to 1.36 +/- 0.17 (p = 0.0001), and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) increased from 0.52 +/- 0.06 to 0.57 +/- 0.06 (p = 0.0004), whereas in five patients, reocclusion of the IRA prevented improvement of segmental or global LV function despite initially viable myocardium. CONCLUSIONS: Dobutamine stress echocardiography is reliable to predict recovery of viable myocardium after revascularization in postinfarction patients. Late reocclusion of the IRA may prevent LV recovery and influence the accuracy of DSE.  (+info)

Effect of potential confounding factors on the thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) trial frame count and its reproducibility. (8/230)

BACKGROUND: The potential factors that introduce variability into TIMI frame count (TFC) have not been systematically investigated. The goal of this study was to determine if nitrate use, dye injection rate, catheter size, the phase of the cardiac cycle in which dye is injected, or heart rate affect the TFC and to investigate the reproducibility of the TFC. METHODS AND RESULTS: The dye injection rate was increased 1 mL/s, and angiography was repeated. A coronary angiogram was taken first with an 8F catheter and then with a 6F catheter. After taking angiograms, intracoronary nitrate was given to the patient, and the second angiography was performed. Basal heart rate was increased 20 beats/min, and angiography was repeated. Dye injection was performed at the beginning of systole and diastole. The TFC was not significantly changed by increasing the dye injection rate (P=0.467) or by changing catheter size (P=0.693). Nitrate administration significantly increased the TFC from 26.4+/-11.9 to 32.8+/-13.3 frames (P<0.001). Dye injection at the beginning of diastole significantly decreased the TFC from 30.1+/-8.8 to 24.4+/-7.9 frames (P<0.001) for the left coronary artery and from 24.16+/-4.49 to 21. 24+/-4.45 frames (P<0.001) for the right coronary artery. Increasing heart rate significantly decreased the TFC from 30.4+/-6.1 to 25. 3+/-7.2 frames (P<0.001). Intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility of the TFC was good (mean difference, 1.33+/-1.24 and 2.57+/-1.72 frames, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Nitrate use, heart rate, and the phase of the cardiac cycle in which dye is injected had significant effects on the TFC. Therefore, studies comparing TFC need to consider these factors, and the use of nitrates should be either standardized or randomized.  (+info)

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