Celal Kilit

Time-to-reperfusion in STEMI undergoing interhospital transfer using smartphone and WhatsApp messenger

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to assess the efficacy of WhatsApp application as a communication method among the emergency physician (EP) in a rural hospital without percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) capability and the interventional cardiologist at a tertiary PCI center. BACKGROUND Current guidelines recommend that patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) receive primary PCI within 90 minutes. This door-to-balloon (D2B) time has been difficult to achieve in rural STEMI. METHODS AND RESULTS We evaluated 108 patients with STEMI in a rural hospital with emergency department but without PCI capability to determine the impact of WhatsApp triage and activation of the cardiac catheterization laboratory on D2B time. The images were obtained from cases of suspected STEMI using the smartphones by the EP and were sent to the interventional cardiologist via the WhatsApp application (group 1, n=53). The control group included concurrently treated patients with STEMI during the same period but not receiving triage (group 2, n=55). The D2B time was significantly shorter in the intervention group (109±31 vs 130±46 minutes, P<.001) with significant reduction in false STEMI rate as well. CONCLUSION This study demonstrates that use of WhatsApp triage with activation of the cardiac catheterization laboratory was associated with shorter D2B time and results in a greater proportion of patients achieving guideline recommendations. The method is cheap, quick, and easy to operate.

Effect of acute cigarette smoking on left and right ventricle filling parameters: a conventional and tissue Doppler echocardiographic study in healthy participants.

Acute effects of smoking on left and right ventricular function is determined by conventional and tissue Doppler imaging methods in this study. Pulsed-wave Doppler indices of the left and right ventricle diastolic function, including mitral and tricuspid inflow peak early and late velocity and their ratio were obtained from 20 healthy subjects by conventional Doppler and tissue Doppler imaging. Echocardiographic indices of left and right ventricles, including isovolumetric relaxation time, deceleration time, isovolumetric contraction time, ejection time, and myocardial performance index of right ventricle were measured before and 30 minutes after smoking a cigarette. Mitral and tricuspid inflow parameters and right ventricular myocardial performance index significantly altered after smoking a cigarette. Among the tissue Doppler imaging parameters, mitral and tricuspid lateral annulus diastolic, but not systolic, velocities altered after smoking a cigarette. Acute cigarette smoking alters left and right ventricular diastolic functions in healthy nonsmokers.

The effect of dopamine type-2 receptor blockade on autonomic modulation

Abstract.Dopamine2 (D2)-like receptor antagonists are widely used for the treatment of gastroparesis and vomiting. Metoclopramide (MCP), a peripheral and central D2-like receptor antagonist, stimulates the sympathetic nervous system and may alter autonomic modulation, but the net effect of MCP to the heart is not known. The aim of our study was to investigate the effects of MCP on cardiac autonomic modulation, using power spectral analysis of heart rate variability.We evaluated the effect of MCP on cardiac autonomic modulation during prolonged supine and standing positions in 9 healthy men. We intravenously administered 10 mg MCP and placebo in a double blind and crossover manner to all participants during continuous electrocardiography recording. Placebo or MCP was administered after 15 minutes in supine position (REST phase), where participants remained for an additional 50 minutes (PSUP phase) and then stood up for 10 minutes (STA phase). Five-minute intervals were selected for power spectral analysis, and average values were calculated for low frequency (LF), normalized unit of LF (LFnu), high frequency (HF), normalized unit of HF (HFnu) components of the power spectrum, and for LF/HF ratio.Heart rate alterations were statistically significant during placebo administration (Friedman’s p < 0.0001). These changes were related to the decrease in PSUP phase and increase in STA phase in post hoc analyses. There was a trend toward lower LFnu in PSUP phase (Friedman’s p = 0.050), but LF/HF ratio changes did not reach a statistically significant level during placebo administration. MCP administration prevented the decrease in heart rate and LFnu component was seen with placebo in PSUP phase. Heart rate alterations also reached a significant level during MCP administration (Friedman’s p = 0.002), and post hoc analyses showed that these changes were mainly related to the increase in STA phase. In contrast to placebo, MCP administration resulted in significant alterations in LFnu and LF/HF ratio (Friedman’s p = 0.004 and p = 0.003, respectively). Two-way ANOVA model for LF/HF ratio changes showed that MCP induced a significant upward shift in LF/HF ratio than placebo during each phase of the study (F = 5.570; p = 0.031).We concluded that the net effect of MCP on sympathovagal balance is an increased sympathetic drive to the heart. MCP prevented the decrease in sympathetic drive to the heart during prolonged supine position and augmented sympathetic drive to the heart during mild sympathetic stimulation such as induced by standing up.

The effects of air pollution and weather conditions on the incidence of acute myocardial infarction

OBJECTIVE In this retrospective study, we investigated the association between air pollution and weather conditions with the incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the city of Kutahya. METHODS A total of 402 patients who were admitted with acute ST segment elevation MI and non-ST segment elevation MI were included in the study in 1 year. Daily maximum, minimum, and mean ambient temperature and mean barometric pressure data were obtained from the Kutahya Meteorology Department. Daily air pollution data were obtained from the Web site of National Air Quality Observation Network (http://www.havaizleme.gov.tr). RESULTS Increase in ambient air temperature in the day of MI and 2 days before the day of MI according to their control days was correlated with increase in number of MI cases. When we grouped the patients according to ages as 30-54, 55-65, and >65 years, we found that there was a relation between sulfur dioxide (SO2) and the occurrence of AMI for the age group of 30-54 for the same day (D0) (P<.017). The number of AMIs was the lowest in fall season, whereas the number of AMIs was the highest in winter season. CONCLUSION There was no statistically significant association between the particulates with diameter b=10 μm, SO2 concentrations, air pressure, and the risk of AMI, but there was statistically significant relation between occurrence of MI and SO2 for the patients under age of 55 years. The number of AMIs was the lowest in fall season, whereas the number of AMIs was the highest in winter season.

Cardiac autonomic function evaluated by the heart rate turbulence method was not changed in obese patients without co-morbidities.

Obese subjects are more prone to sudden deaths and arrhythmias than non-obese subjects. Heart rate turbulence (HRT) impairment reflects cardiac autonomic dysfunction, in particular impaired baroreflex sensitivity and reduced parasympathetic activity. Our aim was to evaluate the cardiac autonomic function in obesity by the HRT method. Ninety obese subjects and 112 healthy subjects were included in the study. Twenty-four hours ambulatory electrocardiograms were recorded and Holter recordings were analyzed. HRT parameters, turbulence onset (TO) and turbulence slope (TS), were calculated with HRT View Version 0.60-0.1 software program. HRT were calculated in 43 obese and 43 control subjects who had at least one ventricular premature beat in their Holter recordings. We excluded 47 obese patients and 69 control subjects who showed no ventricular premature beats in their Holter recordings from the statistical analysis. There were no significant differences in TO and TS between obese and control subjects (TO obese: -1.6±2.2%, TO control: -2.1±2.6%, p>0.05; TS obese: 8.2±5.2, TS control: 10.1±6.7, p>0.05, respectively). HRT parameters seem to be normal in obese patients without comorbidities.

Cardiac autonomic function in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: heart rate turbulence analysis.

OBJECTIVE Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic disease. The risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality is high in patients with RA. Heart rate turbulence (HRT) expresses ventriculophasic sinus arrhythmia and has been considered to reflect cardiac autonomic activity. It has been shown that HRT is an independent and powerful predictor of mortality. The aim of this study is to determine if HRT changes in patients with RA in comparison with the healthy controls. METHODS The study was performed as a cross-sectional study. Twenty-six patients with RA (mean age 56 ± 10 years, 18 women) and 26 healthy controls (mean age 55 ± 9 years, 18 women) were enrolled in this study. All participants underwent 24 hours Holter electrocardiogram monitoring. HRT measurements, turbulence onset (TO) and turbulence slope (TS), were calculated in patients and healthy controls that have at least one ventricular premature complex (VPC) in their Holter recordings. TO is a measure of the early sinus acceleration and TS is the measure of the rate of sinus deceleration that follows the sinus acceleration after a VPC. Mann-Whitney U test was used for comparison of continuous variables and the Chi-square test for comparison of categorical variables. RESULTS There were no statistically significant differences in TO and TS between the RA and control groups (TO: -2.2 ± 3.1% vs -2.8 ± 2.5%, p=0.25; TS: 11.5 ± 9.7 ms/RR vs 15.5 ± 10.9 ms/RR, p=0.10). CONCLUSION HRT parameters, which determine the autonomic dysfunction, did not seem to be altered in patients with RA.

The Effects of Rilmenidine on Cardiac Autonomic Function in Healthy Volunteers

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Rilmenidine is an antihypertensive drug whose antihypertensive effect occurs via a sympatholytic action on the central nervous system. However, the effects of rilmenidine on autonomic cardiovascular function are not clear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the acute effect of rilmenidine on autonomic cardiac function by measuring heart rate variability. SUBJECTS AND METHOD A total of 20 healthy men (mean age, 263 years) were included in the study; 1 mg of rilmenidine or placebo was given to participants on different days in a double-blind crossover randomized study protocol. After drug administration, time domain and frequency domain parameters of heart rate variability were determined before and after 2 h with the patient in supine decubitus and during the handgrip exercise with 5-min electrocardiographic recordings. RESULTS Rilmenidine caused an increase in mean RR values after administration when compared to pre-drug administration recordings with the patient in supine decubitus (929 ms vs 860 ms, P<.05), but this effect was not found in the placebo group. However, there were no differences in other time domain parameters or in any of the frequency domain parameters (normalized low frequency unit, normalized high frequency unit and low frequency/high frequency ratio) with the participant in supine position in either group. In addition, neither rilmenidine nor placebo modified heart rate variability parameters during the handgrip exercise. CONCLUSION Administration of a single dose of rilmenidine increased vagal tone without affecting vagal modulation in the supine position. The absence of vagal tone increase during the handgrip exercise suggests that this effect of rilmenidine is minimal.

The usefulness of plateletcrit to predict cardiac syndrome X in patients with normal coronary angiogram

Introduction Cardiac syndrome X (CSX) is a clinical entity defined as the triad of typical angina pectoris on exercise, electrocardiographic or metabolic findings of ischemia and normal epicardial coronary arteries. Platelets, whose amount in the blood is indicated with plateletcrit (PCT), play an important role in inflammatory and thrombotic processes and the physiopathology of cardiovascular events. Aim To investigate the association between cardiac syndrome X and PCT and platelet count. Material and methods A total of 113 patients with normal coronary angiogram were included in the study. Fifty patients with typical chest pain and evidence of myocardial ischemia in non-invasive tests formed the CSX patient group. The control group consisted of 63 age- and gender-matched patients with normal coronary arteries but without angina. Results The mean PCT value of the CSX group was significantly higher than that of the control group (0.22 ±0.06 vs. 0.19 ±0.04; respectively, p=0.03). Higher PCT was found to be associated with the presence of CSX in patients with normal coronary arteries by multivariate logistic regression analysis. Conclusions We suggest that high PCT may predict the presence of cardiac syndrome X in patients with normal coronary arteries. The value of PCT appears additive to conventional expensive methods commonly used in CSX prediction.

Broken guidewire during primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

A 68-year-old female patient was admitted to emergency room with acute anterior myocardial infarction. Her coronary angiography revealed an acute total occlusion in the ostial segment of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) (Fig. 1). The lesion was successfully crossed with a floppy guidewire (Fig. 2) and then predilated with balloon. Because of the close proximity of the lesion to the left main coronary artery (LMCA), a second guidewire was tried to send to the left circumflex artery (CX). The tip of the guidewire became curved while trying to pass the CX. Then it was thought to change the guidewire with another one. The tip of the second guidewire was broken inside the guiding catheter while pulling back but it was not understood during the procedure. Then another guidewire was passed to CX. A bare metal stent was sent to the lesion in LAD. When the stent arrived to the lesion area, the broken tip of the guidewire was seen at the end of the stent as a ring and entrapped over the culprit lesion (Fig. 3). The stent was crossed within

Which Coronary Lesions Are More Prone to Cause Acute Myocardial Infarction

Background According to common belief, most myocardial infarctions (MIs) are due to the rupture of nonsevere, vulnerable plaques with < 70% obstruction. Data from recent trials challenge this belief, suggesting that the risk of coronary occlusion is, in fact, much higher after severe stenosis. The aim of this study was to investigate whether or not acute ST-elevation MIs result from high-grade stenoses by evaluating the presence of coronary collateral circulation (CCC). Methods We retrospectively included 207 consecutive patients who had undergone primary percutaneous coronary intervention for acute ST-elevation MI. Collateral blood flow distal to the culprit lesion was assessed by two investigators using the Rentrop scoring system. Results Out of the 207 patients included in the study, 153 (73.9%) had coronary collateral vessels (Rentrop 1-3). The Rentrop scores were 0, 1, 2, and 3 in 54 (26.1%), 50 (24.2%), 51 (24.6%), and 52 (25.1%) patients, respectively. Triglycerides, mean platelet volume (MPV), white cell (WBC) count, and neutrophil count were significantly lower in the group with good collateral vessels (p = 0.013, p = 0.002, p = 0.003, and p = 0.021, respectively). Conclusion More than 70% of the patients with acute MI had CCC with Rentrop scores of 1-3 during primary coronary angiography. This shows that most cases of acute MI in our study originated from underlying high-grade stenoses, challenging the common believe. Higher serum triglycerides levels, greater MPV, and increased WBC and neutrophil counts were independently associated with impaired development of collateral vessels.