Adnan Kaya

The effect of serum potassium level on in-hospital and long-term mortality in ST elevation myocardial infarction.

Current studies evaluating the effect of serum potassium levels on mortality in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) are lacking. We analyzed retrospectively 3760 patients diagnosed with STEMI. Mean serum potassium levels were categorized accordingly: <3.0, 3.0 to <3.5, 3.5 to <4.0, 4.0 to <4.5, 4.5 to <5.0, 5.0 to <5.5, and ≥5.5mEq/L. The lowest mortality was determined in patients with serum potassium level of 4 to <4.5mEq/L whereas mortality was higher in patients with serum potassium levels of ≥5.0 and <3.5mEq/L. In a multivariable Cox-proportional regression analysis, the mortality risk was higher for patients with serum potassium levels of ≥5mEq/L [hazard ratio (HR), 2.11; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.23-4.74 and HR, 4.20; 95% CI 1.08-8.23, for patients with potassium levels of 5 to <5.5mEq/L and ≥5.5mEq/L, respectively]. In-hospital and long-term mortality risks were also higher for patients with serum potassium levels of ≤3.5mEq/L. Conversely, ventricular arrhythmias were higher only for patients with serum potassium level of ≤3.5mEq/L. Furthermore, a significant relationship was found between the patient with serum potassium levels of ≤3.5mEq/L and ventricular arrhythmias.

Resolution of left ventricular thrombus with apixaban in a patient with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Anticoagulation with warfarin is the main treatment of intracardiac thrombus. While novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for stroke prevention in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF), they are not indicated for resolution of intracardiac thrombus. The case of a 60-year-old woman with left ventricular (LV) thrombus secondary to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and AF is described in the present report. Indications for oral anticoagulation were AF and LV thrombus. Thrombus was dissolved after 1 month of apixaban treatment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that describes the resolution of LV thrombus with apixaban treatment in a patient with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Fragmented QRS on Admission Electrocardiography Predicts Long-Term Mortality in Patients with Non-ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

Early diagnosis and identification of high‐risk non‐ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) is an important issue. Fragmented QRS (fQRS) complexes are defined as various RSR’ patterns on 12‐lead resting electrocardiography (ECG). Previous studies revealed that fQRS is related with increased ventricular arrhythmias and cardiovascular mortality. The relation between fQRS and mortality in acute coronary syndromes, mitral valve disease severity and structural heart disease has been shown in different studies. The aim of this study was to investigate relation between fQRS and long‐term cardiovascular mortality in NSTEMI patients.

Increased level of red cell distribution width is associated with poor coronary collateral circulation in patients with stable coronary artery disease.

OBJECTIVES Previous studies have shown the association between various hematological parameters and cardiovascular diseases, and their prognostic value. In this study, we compared red cell distribution width (RDW), neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and mean platelet volume (MPV) measurements among patients with poor coronary collateral circulation (CCC) and well-developed CCC. STUDY DESIGN 326 patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) were evaluated retrospectively. CCC was graded by using the Rentrop classification. The poor CCC group included patients with Rentrop 0-1 CCC, and the good CCC group included Rentrop 2-3 CCC. RESULTS There were 171 subjects (84% male; mean age 56.6±10.4 years) in the poor CCC group, and 155 subjects (89% male; mean age 57.6±9.7 years) in the good CCC group. The total number of vessels with >95% stenosis (1.1±0.5 vs. 1.0±0.4; p=0.64) and Gensini scores (84.4±38.8 vs. 83.3±37.4; p=0.83) was not higher in the poor CCC group compared to the good CCC group. RDW was significantly higher in the poor CCC group compared to the good CCC group (14.19±1.36% vs. 13.89±1.19%; p=0.04). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, elevated levels of RDW and LDL were found to be independent predictors of poor CCC (OR 1.73, 95% CI: 1.30-2.29, p=0.01 and OR 1.01 95% CI 1.002-1.02; p=0.02, respectively). CONCLUSION In the present study, poor CCC was found to be independently correlated with RDW, but not with any other hematological parameters in patients with stable CAD.

A novel and useful predictive indicator of prognosis in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, the prognostic nutritional index

BACKGROUND AND AIM The prognostic impact of poor nutritional status and cardiac cachexia in myocardial infarction is not clearly understood. Recent studies have implied a prognostic value of the prognostic nutritional index (PNI) in colorectal surgeries and postoperative septic complications. The present study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of PNI in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients. METHODS AND RESULTS We evaluated the in-hospital and long-term (3 years) prognostic impact of PNI on 1823 patients with STEMI undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention. Patients with lower PNI had significantly higher in-hospital and long-term mortality and major adverse cardiac events. After adjustment for all confounders, the in-hospital mortality rates were 7.9 times higher at the lower PNI level (95% CI: 5.0-15.8) than those at the higher PNI level. The long-term mortality rates were also 6.4 times higher at the lower PNI level (95% CI: 4.4-12.4) than those at the higher PNI level. CONCLUSION The present study demonstrated that the PNI, calculated based on the serum albumin level and lymphocyte count, is an independent prognostic factor for mortality in patients with STEMI.

Immediate electrical storm of Torsades de Pointes after CRT-D implantation in an ischemic cardiomyopathy patient

Cardiac resynchronization therapy with an implantable cardioverter‐defibrillator (CRT‐D) is the preferred treatment for patients with severe heart failure, dyssynchrony, and an increased risk of sudden cardiac death or for primary ventricular arrhythmia survivors. Rarely, left ventricular epicardial pacing can induce ventricular tachyarrhythmia rather than a beneficial effect. We describe an ischemic cardiomyopathy patient who underwent CRT‐D therapy and developed sustained torsades de pointes (TdP) immediately after switching to biventricular pacing (BVP) mode. Here, TdP possibly developed owing to the change in the dispersion of repolarization of the left ventricle myocardium. The diagnosis and management of BVP‐induced ventricular arrhythmia is discussed.

Underlying Autoimmune Activation Rendering Paradoxical Non-Linear Relationship between Biomarkers and Cardiometabolic Risk

Altan Onat1*, Adnan Kaya2, Baris Şimsek3, Tugba Akbas-Şimsek4 and Husniye Yuksel1 1Department of Cardiology, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Turkey 2Suruc State Hospital, Suruc, Şanliurfa, Turkey 3Section of Cardiology, Siyami Ersek Center for Cardiovascular Surgery, Istanbul, Turkey 4Bagcilar Educational Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey *Corresponding author: Altan Onat, Professor, Departments of Cardiology, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Nisbetiye cad. 59/24, Etiler 34335, Istanbul, Turkey, Tel: 90 212 351 6217; Fax: 90 212 351 4235; E-mail: alt_onat@yahoo.com.tr

The association of the coronary thrombus burden with all-cause mortality and major cardiac events in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients treated with tirofiban.

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to investigate the association of the coronary thrombus burden with all-cause mortality and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients treated with ‘in-cath lab’ (downstream) high-dose bolus tirofiban. MethodsThis study included 2452 patients with STEMI treated with a primary percutaneous coronary intervention. All glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor inhibitor (GPI) (tirofiban) infusions were started in the catheterization laboratory according to the coronary thrombus burden; tirofiban was not administered to patients who did not have coronary thrombus burden. All patients with small, moderate, or large thrombus burden received tirofiban therapy. The primary study endpoint was the incidence of all-cause mortality. The secondary study endpoints were major bleeding and MACE, which included all-cause death, nonfatal acute coronary syndrome, and target lesion revascularization. ResultsThe patients were followed up for a mean period of 28.3±10.4 months. The groups showed similar in-hospital and long-term event rates (MACE, major bleeding, and all-cause mortality). The 3-year Kaplan–Meier overall survivals for no thrombus, small thrombus, moderate thrombus, and large thrombus were 91.9, 92.6, 92.3, and 89.5%, respectively. ConclusionDespite the fact that the large coronary thrombus was found to be a predictor of MACE and mortality in many previous studies, we found that the large thrombus was not associated with MACE or in-hospital mortality or long-term mortality. This can be an effect of downstream GPI therapy. We suggest the use of downstream GPI therapy for STEMI patients with large coronary thrombus without an increased risk of bleeding.

Successful sequential drug eluting balloon angioplasty to chronic total occluded popliteal artery in a patient with thromboangitis obliterans by PCR.

Thromboangitis obliterans (TAO), also known as Buerger’s disease (BD), is a non-atherosclerotic, segmental, inflammatory, episodic, non-destructive, thrombotic, and occlusive disease of unknown origin compromising small to medium-sized distal arteries, veins, and nerves (1). Intravenous iloprost (2), intermittent pneumatic compression (3), bosentan (4), and cilostazol (5) are used or experimental medical therapies for TAO, for all that smoking cessation is the sole definitive therapy. Surgical revascularization is usually not preferred because of high involvement of distal segments of vessels. Endovascular revascularization could be an option for patients with bad distal vasculature. Case Report

A Novel Independent Survival Predictor in Pulmonary Embolism: Prognostic Nutritional Index

The prognostic impact of nutritional status in patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) is poorly understood. A well-accepted nutritional status parameter, prognostic nutritional index (PNI), which was first demonstrated to be valuable in patients with cancer and gastrointestinal surgery, was introduced to patients with PE. Our aim was to evaluate the predictive value of PNI in outcomes of patients with PE. We evaluated the in-hospital and long-term (53.8 ± 5.4 months) prognostic impact of PNI on 251 patients with PE. During a median follow-up of 53.8 ± 5.4 months, 27 (11.6%) patients died in hospital course and 31 (13.4%) died in out-of-hospital course. The patients with lower PNI had significantly higher in-hospital and long-term mortality. The Cox proportional hazard analyses showed that PNI was associated with an increased risk of all-cause death for both unadjusted model and adjusted for all covariates. Our study demonstrated that PNI, calculated based on serum albumin level and lymphocyte count, is an independent prognostic factor for mortality in patients with PE.