Arvind Sethi

Safety of Prasugrel in Indian patients – Multicentric registry of 1000 cases

BACKGROUND Clopidogrel has been the only available antiplatelet drug used along with aspirin in patients of ACS. In recent years 2 new antiplatelet drugs (Prasugrel and Ticagrelor) have become available. Prasugrel in the dose of 10 mg OD has been found to be more efficacious but with increased risk of major bleeding. For this reason it has not gained widespread usage in ACS patients undergoing PCI. There are no systematic data on the use of Prasugrel in Indian population. METHOD This is a prospective, multicentric, hospital registry of 1000 patients with ACS undergoing PCI who were administered Prasugrel. The primary safety endpoint of this study was major and minor bleeding while the efficacy endpoint is the composite of CV death, nonfatal MI, nonfatal stroke up to 30 days after PCI. Patients with high bleeding risk were excluded. RESULTS Most patients (91%) received loading dose of Prasugrel along with the maintenance dose getting according to the defined protocol. Patients were followed up to 30 days post procedure. Primary efficacy end point was reached in 3 patients only with two of them dying due to possible stent thrombosis and the third requiring revascularization of the target vessel for stent thrombosis. One major and 19 minor bleeding complications were recorded, with access site bleeding in 0.7% & non-access site bleeding in 1.2% of the subjects. CONCLUSION Prasugrel was found to be effective & not associated with a high incidence of bleeding in the high risk ACS patients when those at a high bleeding risk were excluded.

Parachute mitral valve and Pacman deformity of the ventricular septum in a middle-aged male

Parachute mitral valve and Pacman heart (incomplete muscular ventricular septal defect) are rare congenital deformities usually reported in infants and children. Very few adult patients with these anomalies are reported but the association of the two has not been described. This report describes a 56-year-old male with exertional dyspnea who was detected to have moderately severe mitral regurgitation and mitral stenosis. Typical parachute deformity of the mitral valve with a reduced opening and common attachment of all the chordae to a single posteromedial papillary muscle was evident. The chordae were elongated, lax, and redundant, which is atypical for this anomaly. Incidentally, detected aneurysm of the basal muscular interventricular septum (Pacman deformity or incomplete triangular septal defect) was also present.

Stent thrombosis with an aneurysm 7 years after a drug eluting stent implantation.

We report a case of very late stent thrombosis 7 years post sirolimus eluting stent implantation presenting as ST elevation MI while on dual antiplatelet therapy. Angiography revealed an aneurysm at the proximal end of the stent. The patient was managed successfully by primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with adjunct thrombus aspiration and intracoronary abciximab administration followed by deploying a mesh-covered stent MGuard. This very late complication is a rare presentation after a drug illuting stent (DES).

Spontaneous dissecting aneurysm of the left atrium complicated by cerebral embolism: A report of two cases with review of literature

Left atrial dissection is a very uncommon complication of cardiac surgery and usually causes significant hemodynamic compromise. Little is known about spontaneous dissection of the left atrium. Two patients, one middle-aged man and another elderly woman were evaluated following stroke. Routine trans-thoracic echocardiogram showed vertical division of the left atrium with both chambers communicating with each other through an orifice. Detailed trans-oesophageal echocardiographic study revealed dissection of the left atrium producing an additional false chamber (pseudo-aneurysm) placed posterior to the left atrial appendage and above the postero-lateral aspect of mitral annulus. Spontaneous dissection of the left atrium is extremely rare, and there is no report of cerebral embolism associated with it. Review of literature reveals interesting facets of this rare entity.

Congenitally unguarded tricuspid valve orifice with right ventricular apical isolation in an adult.

Congenitally unguarded tricuspid valve (TV) orifice, a variant of TV dysplasia, is a rare malformation with protean manifestations. This report describes a symptomatic adult male with gross right heart failure and atrial fibrillation, who was found to have an unguarded TV orifice with isolation of the trabecular apical cavity of the right ventricle (RV) and muscular ridges separating outflow tract (forme-fruste of the double-chambered RV). The right ventricular outflow tract remained patent.

Significant intra-valvular pressure loss across EPIC SUPRA and perimount magna supra-annular designed aortic bioprostheses in patients with normal aortic size

Doppler-derived trans-prosthetic gradients are higher and the estimated effective valve area is smaller than the catheter-derived and directly measured hemodynamic values, mostly due to pressure recovery phenomenon. Pressure recovery to a varying extent is common to all prosthetic heart valves including bioprostheses. Pressure recovery-related differences are usually small except in patients with bileaflet metallic prosthesis, wherein high-pressure local jets across central orifice have been documented since long back and also in patients with narrow aortic root. We describe two patients with normally functioning stented aortic bioprostheses with supra-annular design (EPIC SUPRA and PERIMOUNT MAGNA), wherein very high trans-prosthetic gradients and critically reduced estimated effective valve orifice areas in presence of normal aortic size were consistently recorded over long periods of follow-up. The valve leaflets, however had normal excursion, were thin, opened with a triangular or oblong shape and had expected geometric valve area (1.7 and 1.6 cm2 respectively) measured by 3D trans-oesophageal echocardiographic planimetry. Pressure recovery upstream the valves accounted for 20% and 12% of total pressure gradients respectively. Dominant site for pressure drop was intra-valvular (75–85%). Such a phenomenon has not been reported in vivo for these two valve designs.

Systolic Aortic Regurgitation in Rheumatic Carditis: Mechanistic Insight by Doppler Echocardiography

Background Aortic regurgitation (AR) usually occurs in diastole in presence of an incompetent aortic valve. Systolic AR is a rare phenomenon occurring in patients with reduced left ventricular systolic pressure and atrial fibrillation or premature ventricular contractions. Its occurrence is a Doppler peculiarity and adds to the hemodynamic burden. Aim Rheumatic carditis is often characterised by acute or subacute severe mitral regurgitation (MR) due to flail anterior mitral leaflet and elongated chords. In patients with acute or subacute MR, developed left ventricular systolic pressure may fall in mid and late systole due to reduced afterload and end-systolic volume and may be lower than the aortic systolic pressure, causing flow reversal in aorta and systolic AR. Material and methods 17 patients with acute rheumatic fever were studied in the echocardiography lab during the period 2005–2015. Five patients had severe MR of which two had no AR and hence were excluded from the study. Three young male patients (age 8–24 years) who met modified Jones’ criteria for rheumatic fever with mitral and aortic valve involvement were studied for the presence of systolic AR. Results In presence of acute or subacute severe MR, flail anterior mitral valve and heart failure, all three showed both diastolic and late systolic AR by continuous-wave and color Doppler echocardiography. Conclusion Systolic AR is a unique hemodynamic phenomenon in patients with acute rheumatic carditis involving both mitral and aortic valves and occurs in presence of severe MR.

Mobile thrombus originating from densely calcified mitral annulus with cerebral embolism

Mitral annular calcification (MAC) has been considered a predisposition and an association of thrombo-embolic disease. Superimposed thrombus on MAC is under-appreciated as a potential cause of systemic thrombo-embolism. This report describes an elderly gentleman, who had recurrent cerebral embolism and in one of the episodes, a large mobile thrombus was detected on the ventricular surface of calcified mitral annulus. The thrombus disappeared after initiation of anti-coagulation.

Hypoplastic right heart syndrome, absent pulmonary valve, and non-compacted left ventricle in an adult.

Hypoplastic right heart syndrome is a rare cyanotic congenital heart disease with under-development of the right ventricle, tricuspid, and pulmonary valves leading to right-to-left shunting of the blood through inter-atrial septal defect. Perinatal mortality is high with very few patients surviving to adulthood without corrective surgery. This report describes a 26-year-old young woman, who had recurrent abortions and stillbirths and detected to have marked cyanosis with hypoplastic right heart, sub-arterial ventricular septal defect, absent pulmonary valve, non-compaction of the left ventricle, and bicuspid aortic valve with aortic regurgitation. The patient died owing to progressive heart failure 4 years after the diagnosis was made.

Spectrum of congenital mitral valve abnormalities associated with solitary undifferentiated papillary muscle in adults.

Background Congenital anomaly wherein the mitral valve leaflets are directly attached to the papillary muscle(s) (PM) with or without short under-developed chords is rarely reported in adults. Patients with two PMs with an intervening fibrous bridge have also been included under this head in previous studies. Methods Echocardiography enables accurate evaluation of the morphology and function of valve leaflets, chordae tendineae, and PM. This report describes a series of six patients aged 56–84 years who had abnormal mitral valve with a large solitary and anomalously inserted PM seen over a period of 3 years. Only those patients who had a single pillar or bridge-like PM and either absent tendinous chords or small under-developed chords were included in the analysis. Results Among 9600 consecutive echocardiograms performed, six patients met the criteria of an abnormal mitral valve with solitary large PM. Two patients underwent mitral valve replacement with partial excision of the PM wherein echocardiographic observations were confirmed. The patients were previously followed with the diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (3) and rheumatic mitral valve disease (3). Multi-planar reconstruction of 3D echocardiographic images provided incremental value in assessing the detailed patho-anatomy of PMs in these cases. Conclusion In adult patients, a high index of suspicion is required to detect congenital mitral stenosis/regurgitation with large solitary PM (resembling a parachute mitral valve) which may masquerade as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or rheumatic mitral valve disease.