Arthur J. Gosselin

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty in 1985-1986 and 1977-1981. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Registry

In August 1985, the Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty Registry of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute reopened at its previous sites to document changes in angioplasty strategy and outcome. The new registry entered 1802 consecutive patients who had not had a myocardial infarction in the 10 days before angioplasty. Patient selection, technical outcome, and short-term major complications were compared with those of the 1977 to 1981 registry cohort. The new-registry patients were older and had a significantly higher proportion of multivessel disease (53 vs. 25 percent, P less than 0.001), poor left ventricular function (19 vs. 8 percent, P less than 0.001), previous myocardial infarction (37 vs. 21 percent, P less than 0.001), and previous coronary bypass surgery (13 vs. 9 percent, P less than 0.01). The new-registry cohort also had more complex coronary lesions, and angioplasty attempts in these patients involved more multivessel procedures. Despite these differences, the in-hospital outcome in the new cohort was better. Angiographic success rates according to lesion increased from 67 to 88 percent (P less than 0.001), and overall success rates (measured as a reduction of at least 20 percent in all lesions attempted, without death, myocardial infarction, or coronary bypass surgery) increased from 61 to 78 percent (P less than 0.001). In-hospital mortality for the new cohort was 1 percent, and the nonfatal myocardial infarction rate was 4.3 percent. Both rates are similar to those for the old registry. The long-term efficacy of current angioplasty remains to be determined.

Aneurysmal coronary artery disease.

To examine the clinical and historical features and the natural history of aneurysmal coronary disease, we reviewed the registry data of the Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS). Nine hundred seventy-eight patients, representing 4.9% of the total registry population, were identified as having aneurysmal disease. No significant differences were noted between aneurysmal and nonaneurysmal coronary disease patients when features such as hypertension, diabetes, lipid abnormalities, family history, cigarette consumption, incidence of documented myocardial infarction, presence and severity of angina, and presence of peripheral vascular disease were examined. In addition, no difference in 5-year medical survival was noted between these two groups. These findings suggest that aneurysmal coronary disease does not represent a distinct clinical entity but is, rather, a variant of coronary atherosclerosis.

Coronary arteriography and coronary artery bypass surgery: morbidity and mortality in patients ages 65 years or older. A report from the Coronary Artery Surgery Study.

Of 2144 patients age 65 years or older entered into the registry of the Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS) who had coronary arteriography, 1086 underwent isolated coronary artery bypass grafting. Complications of angiography included death in four patients and nonfatal myocardial infarction in 17. Eight patients suffered neurologic complications, which were transient in five. The perioperative mortality was 5.2% (57 of 1086), which is significantly greater than the perioperative mortality of 1.9% 151 of 7827) in patients younger than 65 years entered in CASS (p < 0.001). There was a trend toward an increased mortality rate with age; it was 4.6% (37 of 803) in patients age 65–69 years, 6.6% (16 of 241) in those 70–74 years and 9.5% (four of 42) in those 75 years or older. The duration of hospital stay after operation was significantly longer for the patients 65 years or older than for the patients younger than 65 13.3 vs 11.4 days; p < 0.001). Stepwise linear discriminant analysis identified five variables predictive of perioperative mortality: presence of 70% or more stenosis of the left main coronary artery and a leftdominant circulation, left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, a history of current cigarette smoking, pulmonary rales on auscultation, and presence of one or more associated medical diseases. A second linear discriminant analysis, incorporating 7658 CASS patients who underwent isolated coronary artery bypass surgery irrespective of age, examined whether age 65 years or older was an independent predictor of perioperative mortality. The variables selected, in order of significance, were congestive cardiac failure score, left main coronary artery stenosis and a left-dominant circulation, age 65 years or older, left ventricular wall motion score, sex and history of unstable angina pectoris. In patients 65 years or older, the mortality from coronary arteriography is low, whereas mortality from coronary artery bypass surgery is greater than that in CASS patients than 65

Long-term efficacy of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA): Report from the national heart, lung, and blood institute PTCA registry

The NHLBI PTCA Registry has collected data from 3,079 patients who underwent PTCA at 105 centers from September 1977 through September 1981 that document the initial risks and benefits of PTCA. A subgroup of 2,272 patients at 65 centers was chosen to examine the long-term effects of PTCA (97% follow-up). All patients were followed for 1 year, 191 for 3 years and 57 for 4 years. Initial success occurred in 1,397 (61%), and 72% remained improved at 1 year with no further procedures; during the first year of follow-up, 14% had repeat PTCA, 12% had CABG, 3% had MI and 1.6% died. After 1 year, 67% were asymptomatic; of these, 52% had no other procedure, 7% had a second PTCA and 8% had CABG. Follow-up at 2 to 4 years was similar except that there were few repeat PTCA or CABG procedures after 1 year. The annual mortality rate after PTCA in patients with 1-vessel diseases was less than 1% per year and with multivessel CAD, 3% per year. Thus, successful PTCA alone results in sustained improvement in 84% of patients; 59% were asymptomatic (12% had repeat PTCA). PTCA offers extended effective therapy in selected patients with CAD.

Lymphocytic Myocarditis Presenting as Unexplained Ventricular Arrhythmias: Diagnosis With Endomyocardial Biopsy and Response to Immunosuppression

During a period of 18 months beginning in January 1982, a total of 65 patients were referred to the Miami Heart Institute for evaluation of either aborted out of hospital sudden death, ventricular tachycardia resistant to standard clinically directed antiarrhythmic medication programs or high grade ventricular arrhythmia (Lown class greater than or equal to IV B) with or without syncope. After complete evaluation including cardiac catheterization in all but 1 patient, 17 patients were identified in whom no obvious cardiac disease could be found. Twelve of the 17 underwent right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy. Six of the 12 biopsies demonstrated clinically unsuspected lymphocytic myocarditis (Group A). Findings in three of the remaining six biopsies were consistent with an early cardiomyopathy and in three were completely normal (Group B). Retrospective review of the clinical, laboratory, electrophysiologic, hemodynamic and angiographic data failed to identify a marker that reliably separated Group A from Group B patients. In addition to antiarrhythmic therapy guided by laboratory electrophysiologic study, all Group A patients were treated with prednisone and azathioprine. After 6 months of immunosuppression, all patients with myocarditis were reevaluated in the hospital without antiarrhythmic medication. Ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation could not be provoked in the laboratory during repeat electrophysiologic testing in five of the six patients. Repeat myocardial biopsy after all immunosuppressive therapy had been discontinued revealed absence of inflammation associated with varying degrees of residual interstitial fibrosis. There were no deaths. It was concluded that a patient with an otherwise clinically silent lymphocytic myocarditis can present with potentially life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Left main coronary artery stenosis: angiographic determination.

Reliability of angiographic assessment of the left main coronary artery segment was evaluated by review of 106 coronary cineangiograms from the Coronary Artery Surgery Study. The films were interpreted by three groups of angiographers: those at a clinical site, those at a quality control site, and those on a study census panel. Among the readings of these three groups, there was 41% to 59% agreement on the severity of the lesion, with 80% agreement on whether the lesion was greater or less than 50%. The severity of lesion, its location, or presence of ectasia or calcium did not affect the discrepancy rate, whereas segments that were unusually short, diffusely diseased, or obscured by overlapping vessels were especially difficult to interpret.

Efficacy of procainamide on ventricular tachycardia: Relation to prolongation of refractoriness and slowing of conduction

The effect of procainamide on intraventricular conduction and refractoriness, and the prevention of induction of ventricular tachycardia (VT) were studied in 29 patients who had remote myocardial infarction and inducible sustained monomorphic VT. AFter intravenous administration of 15 mg/kg procainamide, induction of VT was suppressed in seven (24%) patients (responders), while in 22 (76%) VT was still inducible (nonresponders). The percent change in paced QRS duration at a cycle length (CL) of 400 msec produced by procainamide was significantly less in responders than in nonresponders: 29.8 +/- 3.9% versus 38.9 +/- 10.8% (p = 0.0020). The percent change in the right ventricular effective refractory period (ERP) at CLs of 600 and 400 msec was significantly greater in responders than in nonresponders: 14.6 +/- 6.9% versus 7.9 +/- 7.3% (p = 0.0414) for ERP at a CL of 600 msec and 15.1 +/- 7.0% versus 8.0 +/- 7.4% (p = 0.0386) for ERP at a CL of 400 msec. Stepwise discriminant analysis showed that greater percent increase in ERP at a CL of 400 msec and lesser percent increase in paced QRS duration at a CL of 400 msec were significantly independent markers for the responders. These findings suggest that lesser slowing of conduction and greater prolongation of refractoriness by procainamide tend to abolish reentry within the reentrant circuit. Greater slowing of conduction and lesser prolongation of refractoriness tend to stabilize a reentrant circuit, and promote the continued induction of VT.

Susceptibility of infarcted canine hearts to digitalis-toxic ventricular tachycardia

The susceptibility to the toxic arrhythmogenic effects of digitalis was studied in 10 normal dogs (group 1) and in 15 dogs with healed myocardial infarction (group 2) 26 ± 5 days after coronary artery ligation. The dose of ouabain required to cause stable digitalis-toxic ventricular tachycardia was 25% less in the group 2 dogs than in the group 1 control dogs (70 ± 21 versus 93 ± 16 μg/kg, probability [p] These findings are consistent with healed infarcted myocardium serving as a site of predilection for the origin of digitalis-toxic ventricular tachycardia. Our observations add to a growing body of information suggesting that hearts with healed myocardial infarction have an enhanced susceptibility to digitalis intoxication.

Follow-up of patients from the Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS) potentially suitable for percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty

To determine the proper place for percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) among the therapeutic options available for patients with coronary heart disease, one must compare the results of PTCA with those obtained by conventional medical and surgical therapy. To develop a cohort comparison group, we interrogated the Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS) registry, and patients with proximal discrete subtotal stenosis (70% to 99%) involving the right, left anterior descending, circumflex, or left main coronary artery, singly or with stenoses in two of the three major coronary arteries, were selected; 796 patients (3.7% of all patients enrolled in CASS from 1975 to 1979) met these selection criteria. Surgical therapy was chosen in 53.3%; surgical mortality was low and there was excellent 4-year actuarial survival. There was significant improvement in functional class. Survival was also excellent in medically treated patients. Medically treated patients also had significant improvement in functional class in comparison with baseline values. The data presented here characterize a cohort group against which the clinical results of PTCA can be evaluated and compared.

Guidelines for effective and safe percutaneous intraaortic balloon pump insertion and removal

During the 12 month period beginning February 1980, a total of 54 consecutive patients had 60 attempts at percutaneous insertion of an intraaortic balloon because of medically uncontrollable angina, cardiogenic shock either in the setting of an acute myocardial infarction or within hours of cardiac surgery and as a prophylactic measure in high risk patients before cardiac surgery. The balloon was successfully inserted in 49 patients (91 percent). In five patients the balloon could not be inserted in spite of eight attempts because of tortuosity of the iliac artery. All nine patients in whom balloon insertion was attempted without fluoroscopy had the device inserted successfully. The four insertion attempts during cardiac massage were all successful. Experience with use of the new longer introducer sheath is described. Since its acquisition there has not been a single balloon pump insertion failure in 20 consecutive patients including 6 patients in whom initial attempts through the conventional short death were unsuccessful because of iliac tortuosity. The major complications encountered in the present series were thromboembolic: femoral arterial thrombosis developed in five patients (10.2 percent) and an asymptomatic pulse loss in the contralateral foot developed in another. There were no cases of pseudoaneurysm, groin hematoma, aortic dissection or infection related to the percutaneous balloon. On the basis of this experience, several guidelines are suggested for safe and effective percutaneous insertions and removal of the intraaortic balloon pump.