André Arsenault

Panic disorder in emergency department chest pain patients: prevalence, comorbidity, suicidal ideation, and physician recognition

PURPOSEnTo establish the prevalence of panic disorder in emergency department (ED) chest pain patients; compare psychological distress and recent suicidal ideation in panic and non-panic disorder patients; assess psychiatric and cardiac comorbidity; and examine physician recognition of this disorder.nnnDESIGNnCross-sectional survey (for psychiatric data). Prospective evaluation of patient discharge diagnoses and physician recognition of panic disorder.nnnSETTINGnThe ambulatory ED of a major teaching hospital specializing in cardiac care located in Montreal, Canada.nnnSUBJECTSnFour hundred and forty-one consenting, consecutive patients consulting the ED with a chief complaint of chest pain.nnnPRIMARY OUTCOME MEASUREnPsychiatric diagnoses (AXIS I). Psychological and pain test scores, discharge diagnoses, and cardiac history.nnnRESULTSnApproximately 25% (108/441) of chest pain patients met DSM-III-R criteria for panic disorder. Panic disorder patients displayed significantly higher panic-agoraphobia, anxiety, depression, and pain scores than non-panic disorder patients (P < 0.01). Twenty-five percent of panic disorder patients had thoughts of killing themselves in the week preceding their ED visit compared with 5% of the patients without this disorder (P = 0.0001) even when controlling for co-existing major depression. Fifty-seven percent (62/108) panic disorder patients also met criteria for one or more current AXIS I disorder. Although 44% (47/108) of the panic disorder patients had a prior documented history of coronary artery disease (CAD), 80% had atypical or nonanginal chest pain and 75% were discharged with a noncardiac pain diagnosis. Ninety-eight percent of the panic patients were not recognized by attending ED cardiologists.nnnCONCLUSIONSnPanic disorder is a significantly distressful condition highly prevalent in ED chest pain patients that is rarely recognized by physicians. Nonrecognition may lead to mismanagement of a significant group of distressed patients with or without coronary artery disease.

Technetium-99m sestamibi tomography in patients with spontaneous chest pain : correlations with clinical, electrocardiographic and angiographic findings

The sensitivity and specificity of technetium-99m hexakis-2-methoxy-2-isobutyl-isonitrile (sestamibi) single-photon emission computed tomographic (SPECT) imaging for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease were studied in 45 patients admitted to the hospital for clinical suspicion of unstable angina. Only patients without prior myocardial infarction were included and all patients had technetium-99m sestamibi injection and a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) during and less than or equal to 4 h after an episode of chest pain. Coronary angiography performed in all patients during hospitalization showed significant coronary artery disease (greater than or equal to 50% luminal diameter reduction) in 26 of the 45 patients. The SPECT studies obtained after injection of technetium-99m sestamibi during an episode of spontaneous chest pain showed a sensitivity of 96% for the detection of coronary artery disease; the 12-lead ECG obtained at the time of the injection had a sensitivity of 35%. With the patient in the pain-free state, respective sensitivity values were 65% and 38%. Specificity for the radionuclide study was 79% during pain and 84% in the pain-free state; for the ECG, it was 74% both during and between episodes of pain. The site of the perfusion defect corresponded to the most severe coronary artery lesion in 88% of patients. The severity of the perfusion defect correlated with the extent of coronary artery disease: the defect score was 5.3 +/- 3.3 with one-vessel disease, 4.9 +/- 2.8 with two-vessel disease and 10.5 +/- 5.0 with three-vessel disease (p less than 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Effects of Intracoronary β-Radiation Therapy After Coronary Angioplasty An Intravascular Ultrasound Study

Background—Endovascular radiation is emerging as a potential solution for the prevention and treatment of restenosis. Its effects on the morphology of unstented vessels cannot be determined by angiography and therefore require the use of intravascular ultrasound. Methods and Results—Through a 5F noncentered catheter for delivery of a 90Sr/Y source train, 12, 14, or 16 Gy at 2 mm was delivered to native coronary arteries after successful balloon angioplasty in 30 patients. Four patients required stent deployment in the first week. Quantitative coronary angiography and IVUS were performed during the initial procedure and at 6-month follow-up. Binary angiographic restenosis was present in 3 of 30 patients, with target lesion and vessel revascularization performed in 3 and 5 patients, respectively. Angiographic late loss was −0.02±0.60 mm, with a −0.09±0.46 loss index. IVUS demonstrated no significant reduction in lumen area (from 5.69±1.72 mm2 after treatment to 6.04±2.63 mm2 at follow-up), with no significa...

Panic disorder in coronary artery disease patients with noncardiac chest pain

In this study we address the following questions: (1) What percentage of coronary artery disease (CAD) patients that present with chest pain, but whose symptoms cannot be fully explained by their cardiac status, suffer from panic disorder (PD)? (2) How do patients with both CAD and PD compare to patients without CAD and to patients without either PD or CAD in terms of psychological distress? Four hundred forty-one consecutive walk-in emergency department patients with chest pain underwent a structured psychiatric interview (ADIS-R) and completed psychological scales. Fifty-seven percent (250 of 441) of these patients were diagnosed as having noncardiac chest pain and constituted this studys sample. A total of 30% (74 of 250) of noncardiac chest pain patients had a documented history of CAD. Thirty-four percent (25 of 74) of CAD patients met criteria for PD. Patients with both PD and CAD displayed significantly more psychological distress than CAD patients without PD and patients with neither CAD nor PD. However, they did not differ from non-CAD patients with PD. PD is highly prevalent in patients with CAD that are discharged with noncardiac diagnoses. The psychological distress in these patients appears to be related to the panic syndrome and not to the presence of the cardiac condition.

Association between clinical depression and endothelial function measured by forearm hyperemic reactivity.

Objective: To assess associations between clinically significant depression (major depressive disorder [MDD] and minor depressive disorder [MiDD]) and endothelial function (EF), via forearm hyperemic reactivity (FHR), in patients referred for myocardial perfusion imaging. Studies have linked MDD to impaired EF, an early marker of coronary heart disease (CHD) and risk factor for cardiac events, in healthy, noncardiac patients, although no studies have assessed the MDD-EF association in patients with or at risk for CHD. Methods: Depression was assessed, using the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders structured interview in 323 patients (n = 242 men; mean age = 59 years) with or at risk for CHD. FHR was assessed, using a dynamic nuclear imaging technique that measures the dilatory capability of the brachial artery during hyperemic challenge. The relative uptake ratio (RUR) of blood flow between hyperemic and nonhyperemic arms was used to measure FHR. Results: Patients with MDD and MiDD had lower RURs (mean values = 3.31 and 3.34, respectively), indicating poorer EF than patients without depression (mean = 4.27) (F = 5.19, p < .01), irrespective of CHD status. All results were adjusted for covariates including sociodemographic, medical, biochemical, and physiological variables. Conclusions: Patients with clinical levels of depression had worse FHR than patients without depression, irrespective of CHD status and after adjusting for covariates. Data extend previous findings, suggesting that the link between clinical depression and worse CHD outcomes may be mediated by EF. BDI = Beck Depression Inventory; CHD = coronary heart disease; CRP = C-reactive protein; DSM = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual; EF = endothelial function; FHR = forearm hyperemic reactivity; FMD = flow-mediated dilatation; HPA = hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal; MDD = major depressive disorder; MiDD = minor depressive disorder; MI = myocardial infarction; NO = nitric oxide; PRIME-MD = Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders; RUR = relative uptake ratio; SCID = Structured Clinical Interview for DSM; SPECT = single photon emission computed tomography.

Heart rate variability in coronary artery disease patients with and without panic disorder

Panic disorder (PD) and coronary artery disease (CAD) often co-occur, and CAD patients with comorbid PD suffer greater cardiovascular morbidity and mortality relative to CAD patients without PD. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations are still unknown. Reduced heart rate variability (HRV), a non-invasive measure of cardiac autonomic modulation, is an important predictor of adverse cardiac events. Interestingly, reduced HRV has been observed in patients with panic-like anxiety and PD, as well as in various CAD populations. However, the extent to which HRV is altered in patients with both PD and CAD is unknown. This study evaluated HRV in 42 CAD patients with (n=20) and without (n=22) PD. Patients underwent 48-h electrocardiographic monitoring. Power spectral analysis of HRV indicated that CAD patients with PD exhibited significantly lower LF/HF ratios, which may reflect lower sympathetic modulation, compared with non-PD patients. Additionally, total power in PD patients was made up of a significantly higher proportion of HF power and a significantly lower proportion of VLF power than in non-PD patients. No other significant differences in HRV indices were observed. Results suggest that contrary to what has been observed in the majority of PD-only and CAD-only populations; patients with both PD and CAD appear to exhibit lower sympathetic modulation during ordinary daily life conditions. Though preliminary, these findings suggest that changes in HRV may not be the mechanism underlying greater cardiovascular morbidity and mortality among CAD patients with PD.

Sauna-induced myocardial ischemia in patients with coronary artery disease

PURPOSEnSauna bathing is a popular recreational activity that is generally considered to be safe. However, there have been case reports of adverse cardiac events. We sought to determine whether sauna use caused myocardial ischemia in patients with coronary artery disease.nnnMETHODSnSixteen patients with proven coronary artery disease were submitted to three conditions (rest, exercise, and sauna bathing) with continuous electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring and regular blood pressure measurements. During each condition, patients were injected with Tc-99 sestamibi followed by nuclear scintigraphic imaging. Perfusion defect scores were calculated in 15 patients.nnnRESULTSnSauna bathing was well tolerated. There was a mean (+/- SD) increase in heart rate of 32% +/- 20% in the sauna (resting mean heart rate = 60 +/- 9 beats per minute vs sauna mean heart rate = 79 +/- 11 beats per minute, P <0.001) and a 13% +/- 6% drop in systolic blood pressure (resting mean systolic blood pressure = 142 +/- 14 mm Hg vs sauna mean systolic blood pressure = 123 +/- 15 mm Hg, P <0.001). There were no arrhythmias or ECG changes in the sauna. Compared with rest, there was significant ischemia during sauna bathing (average perfusion defect score at rest = -0.44 vs average sauna score = -0.93, P <0.001). The perfusion defect score in the sauna was worse than the resting score in 14 of the 15 patients. Sauna-associated perfusion defect scores were highly correlated with exercise-induced scores (R2 = 0.65, P <0.001).nnnCONCLUSIONnIn patients with stable coronary artery disease, sauna use is clinically well tolerated but is associated with scintigraphically demonstrated myocardial ischemia.

The research on endothelial function in women and men at risk for cardiovascular disease (REWARD) study: methodology

BackgroundEndothelial function has been shown to be a highly sensitive marker for the overall cardiovascular risk of an individual. Furthermore, there is evidence of important sex differences in endothelial function that may underlie the differential presentation of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women relative to men. As such, measuring endothelial function may have sex-specific prognostic value for the prediction of CVD events, thus improving risk stratification for the overall prediction of CVD in both men and women. The primary objective of this study is to assess the clinical utility of the forearm hyperaemic reactivity (FHR) test (a proxy measure of endothelial function) for the prediction of CVD events in men vs. women using a novel, noninvasive nuclear medicine -based approach. It is hypothesised that: 1) endothelial dysfunction will be a significant predictor of 5-year CVD events independent of baseline stress test results, clinical, demographic, and psychological variables in both men and women; and 2) endothelial dysfunction will be a better predictor of 5-year CVD events in women compared to men.Methods/DesignA total of 1972 patients (812 men and 1160 women) undergoing a dipyridamole stress testing were recruited. Medical history, CVD risk factors, health behaviours, psychological status, and gender identity were assessed via structured interview or self-report questionnaires at baseline. In addition, FHR was assessed, as well as levels of sex hormones via blood draw. Patients will be followed for 5 years to assess major CVD events (cardiac mortality, non-fatal MI, revascularization procedures, and cerebrovascular events).DiscussionThis is the first study to determine the extent and nature of any sex differences in the ability of endothelial function to predict CVD events. We believe the results of this study will provide data that will better inform the choice of diagnostic tests in men and women and bring the quality of risk stratification in women on par with that of men.

Health behaviors and endothelial function

An unhealthy lifestyle, including excess caloric intake, lack of exercise, smoking, and excessive alcohol consumption, increases one’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the exact mechanisms by which these behaviors influence the development and progression of CVD have yet to be determined. Endothelial function (EF) has been shown to be a potent predictor of CVD, yet the effects of health behaviors on EF are not clear. The literature assessing the role of four health behaviors, obesity (a proxy of excess caloric intake), smoking, physical inactivity, and alcohol consumption, on the development of endothelial dysfunction is reviewed. Potential mechanisms through which these behaviors may influence EF are discussed. Smoking, being overweight or obese, and physical inactivity are all associated with decreased EF. A direct causal relationship between these measures and EF is suggested by the fact that improvements in these behaviors leads to parallel improvements in EF. The influence of alcohol consumption is somewhat more contentious, with some studies indicating a dose−response relationship such that those with greater consumption have poor EF. However, other studies have shown that those who drink moderately have the best EF. Although there is a growing body of literature implicating poor health behaviors in the development of endothelial dysfunction, more work is needed to establish the exact mechanisms by which this occurs. To our knowledge, there are no studies that have assessed the impact of multiple health behaviors or the interaction of health behaviors on EF.

β-Radiation for the Creation of Linear Lesions in the Canine Atrium

Background—Creating linear lesions is important for the treatment of arrhythmias such as atrial flutter and fibrillation. Making these lesions with standard radiofrequency catheters can be difficult and may result in charring and thrombosis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate &bgr;-radiation as a novel energy source for creating linear myocardial lesions. Methods and Results—Eight dogs with intact conduction across the cavotricuspid isthmus were studied. The isthmus was irradiated (25 to 50 Gy) with strontium/yttrium-90 delivered via a deflectable 7F catheter (Novoste Corporation). There were no immediate effects, but bidirectional conduction block developed during follow-up studies in 7 of 8 dogs. The dog without conduction block received 25 Gy. After the animals were euthanized, histology revealed transmural, linear areas of fibrosis without any thrombus. Conclusions—&bgr;-Radiation can safely and effectively create linear lesions that are contiguous and nonthrombogenic. This energy source may become an interesting adjunct to radiofrequency for the treatment of atrial flutter and fibrillation.