Etienne Aliot

Detection of myocarditis by contrast-enhanced MRI in patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome but no coronary stenosis

To prospectively assess the use of cardiac MRI with delayed contrast enhancement (DCE) for identifying patients with active myocarditis among those presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) but no coronary stenosis.

Effects of Blood Pressure Control on Radial Artery Diameter and Compliance in Hypertensive Patients

The radial artery compliance may be paradoxically increased in untreated arterial hypertension. However, the effect of blood pressure normalization on the radial artery compliance is not well known. We performed a cross-sectional study in order to investigate the effects of blood pressure control on the radial artery diameter and compliance (echotracking and digital photoplethysmography) by comparing these variables in a group of untreated hypertensive patients and in another group of adequately treated hypertensive patients as well as in a group of healthy normotensive subjects. All groups were sex- and age-matched. Radial artery internal diameter was increased in both untreated hypertensive patients and effectively treated hypertensive patients comparatively to controls. Cross-sectional compliance and volumic distensibility were not different between groups. As compared to controls (2.85 +/- 0.39 x 10(-3) mm2 x mm Hg(-1) and 0.42 +/- 0.05 x 10(-3) mm Hg(-1)), isobaric (100 mm Hg) compliance and distensibility were significantly increased in untreated hypertensive patients (4.46 +/- 0.44 and 0.65 +/- 0.07, P < .01) but not significantly different in treated hypertensive patients (3.19 +/- 0.33 and 0.45 +/- 0.04, P = NS). The results of this cross-sectional study suggest that compliance abnormalities of the radial artery, but not internal diameter changes may be reversed by effective therapeutic control of blood pressure in arterial hypertension.

Residual stress ischaemia is associated with blood markers of myocardial structural remodelling.

Long‐term prognosis of coronary artery disease (CAD) patients is worsened when stress ischemia persists on treatment, but the relationship with adverse cardiac remodelling had never been investigated.

AV Node Ablation and DDD Pacing in Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy

Clinical improvement with dual-chamber pacing has largely been reported in patients with drug-resistant hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOLM)1–5. This clinical improvement is mainly related to the ability to bypass the normal atrioventricular (AV) conduction system in order to obtain a complete and permanent right ventricular capture. Some patients, however, experience only minor benefits with DDD pacing. This lack of improvement is probably due to incomplete right ventricular capture and/or deleterious effects of short AV delays on AV synchrony and left ventricular filling. Instrumental AV node modulation or ablation may be indicated in this subgroup of patients. Another indication of AV node ablation in HOCM is the occurrence of atrial fibrillation in order to restore adequate and permanent right ventricular capture. This chapter will focus on the rationale, the technical problems and results of AV node ablation in HOCM.