Amr ElFaramawy

The association between extracoronary calcification and coronary artery disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Cardiovascular complications are the major cause of diabetes-associated morbidity and mortality. However, not all patients with diabetes are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Coronary artery calcification was found to be a powerful predictor of coronary artery disease (CAD). The presence of extracoronary cardiac calcification as a useful predictor of CAD is not yet established, especially in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The aim of this study was to evaluate the relation between extracoronary calcification and extent of CAD in a group of T2DM patients who were scheduled for computed tomographic coronary angiography (CTCA). We prospectively studied 380 patients (151 had T2DM) under the age of 60 years who were scheduled for CTCA because of suspected CAD. Severity of CAD was assessed by Gensini score. Coronary artery calcium score (CACS) as well as calcium score in the aortic valve, mitral annulus, ascending aorta, and descending aorta were measured by a 256-row multidetector computed tomography scanner with dedicated software for calcium calculation. Patients with known CAD were excluded. Diabetic and nondiabetic patients had comparable age and gender distribution. However, the diabetic group had higher Gensini score, CACS, and extracoronary calcium score (ECCS). Logistic regression analyses identified male gender and ECCS as significant predictors for the presence of CAD in diabetic patients. Age, smoking, and ECCS were the significant predictors of CAD in nondiabetic patients. Type 2 diabetic patients had increased coronary and extracoronary calcification. ECCS was found to be a significant predictor of CAD in diabetic and nondiabetic patients only when CACS was not taken into account.

Adult congenital heart disease registry at Cairo University: a report of the first 100 patients.

Aims: To establish a clinical registry for adult patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) managed in Cairo University Hospitals, aiming at description of the pattern and clinical profile of such patients. Methods: Patients were recruited from both Cardiovascular Medicine Department Outpatient Clinic and inpatient wards of Cairo University Hospitals. Clinical data were collected from hospital records and directly from patients by treating cardiologists. Collected data were then registered in a dedicated database system and subsequently analyzed. Results: Patients (49% males) ranged in age from 16 to 63 years, with a median of 25 years. Fifty-one patients were in the age-group from 20 to 30 years, with only 9% aged 50 years or older. Seventy-eight patients had acyanotic lesions, with atrial septal defect being the most common primary diagnosis (20% of total lesions). The remaining 22 patients had cyanotic heart disease, with tetralogy of Fallot being the predominant diagnosis (45% of cyanotic lesions). Six patients presented with infective endocarditis in the setting of CHD. Four women (8% of females) presented during pregnancy. Forty-six patients were sent for surgical correction/repair, while percutaneous intervention was planned in 20 patients. Conclusions: A new registry of adult patients with CHD managed in Cairo University Hospitals provides useful information, including the extent to which congenital heart defects are underdiagnosed and undertreated during infancy and childhood. In addition, those who were previously treated early in life require long-term follow-up in specialized centers. Establishment of a multidisciplinary team with expert physicians (cardiologists, dentists, obstetricians, and psychiatrists), cardiac surgeons, and nurses may be facilitated by development of a dedicated database system. Continuous financial support is a major challenge.

Validation of Noninvasive Measurement of Cardiac Output Using Inert Gas Rebreathing in a Cohort of Patients With Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection FractionCLINICAL PERSPECTIVE

Background— Cardiac output (CO) is a key indicator of cardiac function in patients with heart failure. No completely accurate method is available for measuring CO in all patients. The objective of this study was to validate CO measurement using the inert gas rebreathing (IGR) method against other noninvasive and invasive methods of CO quantification in a cohort of patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction. Methods and Results— The study included 97 patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction (age 42±15.5 years; 64 patients (65.9%) had idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and 21 patients (21.6%) had ischemic heart disease). Median left ventricle ejection fraction was 24% (10%–36%). Patients with atrial fibrillation were excluded. CO was measured using 4 methods (IGR, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, cardiac catheterization, and echocardiography) and indexed to body surface area (cardiac index [CI]). All studies were performed within 48 hours. Median CI measured by IGR was 1.75, by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was 1.82, by cardiac catheterization was 1.65, and by echo was 1.7 L·min−1·m−2. There were significant modest linear correlations between IGR-derived CI and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging–derived CI (r=0.7; P<0.001), as well as cardiac catheterization–derived CI (r=0.6; P<0.001). Using Bland–Altman analysis, the agreement between the IGR method and the other methods was as good as the agreement between any 2 other methods with each other. Conclusions— The IGR method is a simple, accurate, and reproducible noninvasive method for quantification of CO in patients with advanced heart failure. The prognostic value of this simple measurement needs to be studied prospectively.

Comparison of Safety and Effectiveness Between Right Versus Left Radial Arterial Access in Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for Acute ST Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

BACKGROUND Transradial approach (TRA) is now considered the standard of care in many centres for elective and primary percutaneous intervention (PCI). The use of the radial approach in ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients has been associated with a significant reduction in major adverse cardiac events. However, it is still unclear if the side of radial access (right vs. left) has impact on safety and effectiveness of TRA in primary PCI. So this study was conducted to compare the safety, feasibility, and outcomes of right radial access (RRA) vs. left radial access (LRA) in the setting of primary PCI. METHODS We retrospectively analysed the data of 400 consecutive patients presenting to our institution with STEMI for whom primary PCIs were performed via RRA and LRA. RESULTS Mean age of the whole studied population was 57±12.8 years, with male predominance (77.2%). There were 202 cases in the RRA group and 198 in the LRA group, with no significant difference in demographics and clinical characteristics for patients included in both groups. There was no significant difference in procedure success rate (97.5% for RRA vs. 98.4% for LRA; P=0.77). In addition, no significant difference between both approaches was observed in the contrast volume, number of catheters, fluoroscopy time (FT), needle-to-balloon time, post-procedure vascular complications, in hospital reinfarction, stroke/transient ischaemic attack (TIA) or death. CONCLUSION Right radial access and LRA are equally safe and effective in the setting of primary PCI. Both approaches have a high success rate and comparable needle-to-balloon time.

Closure of a large pulmonary arterio-venous fistula with Amplatzer vascular plug I

A 55-year-old female patient, with a long-standing history of rheumatic mitral valve disease and atrial fibrillation, complains of shortness of breath and decreased effort tolerance, despite being compliant to medical treatment. On presentation, the patient was cyanotic (bluish discolouration of finger tips, lips, and tongue) with warm periphery and no clubbing; her …

Impact of fractional flow reserve on decision-making in daily clinical practice: A single center experience in Egypt

Background Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is the reference standard for the assessment of the functional significance of coronary artery stenoses, but remains underutilized. Our aims were to study whether FFR changed the decision for treatment of intermediate coronary lesions and to assess the clinical outcome in the deferred and intervention groups. Methods In this retrospective study, coronary angiograms of patients with moderately stenotic lesions (40–70%) for which FFR was performed were re-analyzed by three experienced interventional cardiologists (blinded to FFR results) to determine its angiographic significance and whether to defer or perform an intervention. Results We revised 156 equivocal lesions of 151 patients. The clinical presentation were stable angina (65.6%) and acute coronary syndrome in (34.4%). All reviewers had concordant agreement to do PCI in 59 (37.8%) lesions based on angiographic assessment. Interestingly 23 (39%) of these lesions were functionally non-significant by FFR. The reviewers agreed to defer 97 (62.2%) lesions, however, 32 (33%) of these lesions were functionally significant by FFR and necessitated PCI. MACE were similar in both groups (1.5% vs 2.4%, p = 1.0). Conclusion Mismatches between visually- and FFR- estimated significance of intermediate coronary stenosis are frequently encountered across a wide spectrum of clinical presentations. FFR leads to a change in decision for coronary intervention. The clinical and cost implications of such changes-in areas with limited resources- needs further evaluation.

The degree of hair graying as an independent risk marker for coronary artery disease, a CT coronary angiography study

Background Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death worldwide. Aging is an unavoidable coronary risk factor and is associated with dermatological signs that could be a marker for increased coronary risk. We tested the hypothesis that hair graying as a visible marker of aging is associated with risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) independent of chronological age. Methods This cross-sectional study included 545 males who underwent a computed tomography coronary angiography (CTCA) for suspicious of CAD, patients were divided into subgroups according to the percentage of gray/white hairs (Hair Whitening Score, HWS: 1–5) and to the absence or presence of CAD. Results CAD was prevalent in 80% of our studied population, 255 (46.8%) had 3 vessels disease with mean age of 53.2 ± 10.7 yrs. Hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia were more prevalent in CAD group (P = 0.001, P = 0.001, and P = 0.003, respectively). Patients with CAD had statistically significant higher HWS (32.1% vs 60.1%, p < 0.001) and significant coronary artery calcification (<0.001). Multivariate regression analysis showed that age (odds ratio (OR): 2.40, 95% confidence interval (CI): [1.31–4.39], p = 0.004), HWS (OR: 1.31, 95% CI: [1.09–1.57], p = 0.004), hypertension (OR: 1.63, 95% CI: [1.03–2.58], p = 0.036), and dyslipidemia (OR: 1.61, 95% CI: [1.02–2.54], p = 0.038) were independent predictors of the presence of atherosclerotic CAD, and only age (p < 0.001) was significantly associated with HWS. Conclusions Higher HWS was associated with increased coronary artery calcification and risk of CAD independent of chronological age and other established cardiovascular risk factors.

Difference in plaque characteristics of coronary culprit lesions in a cohort of Egyptian patients presented with acute coronary syndrome and stable coronary artery disease: An optical coherence tomography study

Aims This study was designed to utilize frequency-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT) for assessment of plaque characteristics and vulnerability in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) compared to stable coronary artery disease (SCAD). Methods and results We enrolled 48 patients; divided into an ACS-group (27 patients) and SCAD-group (21 patients) according to their clinical presentation. Hypertension and diabetes mellitus were more prevalent in SCAD group. Patients with ACS showed higher frequency of lipid-rich plaques (96.3% vs. 66.7%, P = .015), lower frequency of calcium plaques (7.4% vs. 57.1%, P < .001), and fibrous plaques (14.8% vs. 81%, P < .001) when compared with SCAD patients. The TCFA (defined as lipid-rich plaque with cap thickness <65 μm) identified more frequently (33.3% vs. 14.3%, P = .185), with a trend towards thinner median fibrous cap thickness (70 (50–180) µm vs. 100 (50–220) µm, P = .064) in ACS group. Rupture plaque (52% vs. 14.3%, P = .014), plaque erosion (18.5% vs. 0%, P = .059) and intracoronary thrombus (92.6% vs. 14.3%, P < .001) were observed more frequently in ACS group, while cholesterol crystals were identified frequently in patients with SCAD (0.0% vs. 33.3%, P = .002). Conclusion The current FD-OCT study demonstrated the differences of plaque morphology and identified distinct lesion characteristics between patients with ACS and those with SCAD. These findings could explain the clinical presentation of patients in both groups.

Prevalence and prognostic value of echocardiographic screening for rheumatic heart disease

Objective Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) remains a major health problem in many low-income and middle-income countries. The use of echocardiographic imaging suggests that subclinical disease is far more widespread than previously appreciated, but little is known as to how these mild forms of RHD progress. We have determined the prevalence of subclinical RHD in a large group of schoolchildren in Aswan, Egypt and have evaluated its subsequent progression. Methods Echocardiographic screening was performed on 3062 randomly selected schoolchildren, aged 5–15 years, in Aswan, Egypt. Follow-up of children with a definite or borderline diagnosis of RHD was carried out 48–60 months later to determine how the valvular abnormalities altered and to evaluate the factors influencing progression. Results Sixty children were initially diagnosed with definite RHD (19.6 per 1000 children) and 35 with borderline disease (11.4 per 1000); most had mitral valve disease. Of the 72 children followed up progression was documented in 14 children (19.4%) and regression in 30 (41.7%) children. Boys had lower rates of progression while older children had lower rates of regression. Functional defects of the valve even in the presence of structural features were associated with lower rates of progression and higher rates of regression than structural changes. Conclusions RHD has a high prevalence in Egypt. Although a high proportion of the abnormalities originally detected persisted at follow-up, both progression and regression of valve lesions were demonstrated.