Fabio Chirillo

Usefulness of transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography in recognition and management of cardiovascular injuries after blunt chest trauma.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the diagnostic potential of transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography for the detection of traumatic cardiovascular injuries in patients suffering from severe blunt chest trauma. DESIGN: Prospective study over a three year period. SETTING: A regional cardiothoracic centre. PATIENTS: 134 consecutive patients (94 M/40 F; mean age 38 (SD 14) years) suffering from severe blunt chest trauma (injury severity score 33.5 (18.2)). Most patients (89%) were victims of motor vehicle accidents. EVALUATION: All patients underwent transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography within 8 h of admission. Aortography was performed in the first 20 patients and in a further five equivocal cases. RESULTS: Transthoracic echocardiography provided suboptimal images in 83 patients, detecting three aortic ruptures, 28 pericardial effusions (one cardiac tamponade), 35 left pleural effusions, and 15 myocardial contusions. Transoesophageal echocardiography was feasible in 131 patients and detected 14 aortic ruptures (13 at the isthmus), 40 pericardial effusions, 51 left pleural effusions, 34 periaortic haematomas, 45 myocardial contusions, right atrial laceration in one patient with cardiac tamponade, one tricuspid valve rupture, and one severe mitral regurgitation caused by annular disruption. For the detection of aortic rupture transoesophageal echocardiography showed 93% sensitivity, 98% specificity, and 98% accuracy. Time to surgery was significantly shorter (30 (12) v 71 (21) min; P < 0.05) for patients operated on only on the basis of transoesophageal echocardiographic findings. CONCLUSIONS: Transthoracic echocardiography has low diagnostic yield in severe blunt chest trauma, while transoesophageal echocardiography provides accurate diagnosis in a short time at the bedside, is inexpensive, minimally invasive, and does not interfere with other diagnostic or therapeutic procedures.

Colchicine for Prevention of Postpericardiotomy Syndrome and Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation: The COPPS-2 Randomized Clinical Trial

IMPORTANCE Postpericardiotomy syndrome, postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF), and postoperative effusions may be responsible for increased morbidity and health care costs after cardiac surgery. Postoperative use of colchicine prevented these complications in a single trial. OBJECTIVE To determine the efficacy and safety of perioperative use of oral colchicine in reducing postpericardiotomy syndrome, postoperative AF, and postoperative pericardial or pleural effusions. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Investigator-initiated, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial among 360 consecutive candidates for cardiac surgery enrolled in 11 Italian centers between March 2012 and March 2014. At enrollment, mean age of the trial participants was 67.5 years (SD, 10.6 years), 69% were men, and 36% had planned valvular surgery. Main exclusion criteria were absence of sinus rhythm at enrollment, cardiac transplantation, and contraindications to colchicine. INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive placebo (n=180) or colchicine (0.5 mg twice daily in patients ≥70 kg or 0.5 mg once daily in patients <70 kg; n=180) starting between 48 and 72 hours before surgery and continued for 1 month after surgery. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Occurrence of postpericardiotomy syndrome within 3 months; main secondary study end points were postoperative AF and pericardial or pleural effusion. RESULTS The primary end point of postpericardiotomy syndrome occurred in 35 patients (19.4%) assigned to colchicine and in 53 (29.4%) assigned to placebo (absolute difference, 10.0%; 95% CI, 1.1%-18.7%; number needed to treat = 10). There were no significant differences between the colchicine and placebo groups for the secondary end points of postoperative AF (colchicine, 61 patients [33.9%]; placebo, 75 patients [41.7%]; absolute difference, 7.8%; 95% CI, -2.2% to 17.6%) or postoperative pericardial/pleural effusion (colchicine, 103 patients [57.2%]; placebo, 106 patients [58.9%]; absolute difference, 1.7%; 95% CI, -8.5% to 11.7%), although there was a reduction in postoperative AF in the prespecified on-treatment analysis (placebo, 61/148 patients [41.2%]; colchicine, 38/141 patients [27.0%]; absolute difference, 14.2%; 95% CI, 3.3%-24.7%). Adverse events occurred in 21 patients (11.7%) in the placebo group vs 36 (20.0%) in the colchicine group (absolute difference, 8.3%; 95% CI; 0.76%-15.9%; number needed to harm = 12), but discontinuation rates were similar. No serious adverse events were observed. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among patients undergoing cardiac surgery, perioperative use of colchicine compared with placebo reduced the incidence of postpericardiotomy syndrome but not of postoperative AF or postoperative pericardial/pleural effusion. The increased risk of gastrointestinal adverse effects reduced the potential benefits of colchicine in this setting. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01552187.

Estimation of left ventricular diastolic pressures from precordial pulsed-Doppler analysis of pulmonary venous and mitral flow

Because analysis of pulmonary venous flow (PVF) will be extensively used in comprehensive Doppler assessment of left ventricular diastolic function, this study was designed to (1) evaluate the feasibility of PVF measurement in 116 consecutive patients with various cardiac abnormalities by using precordial pulsed Doppler echocardiography; (2) Estimate mean pulmonary capillary pressure (MPCP) and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) from Doppler variables of PVF and mitral inflow; and (3) evaluate the influence of clinical and hemodynamic variables on PVF Doppler patterns. We adequately recorded anterograde PVF in 96 (82.7%) patients and retrograde PVF in 45 (38.7%) patients. The strongest correlation between MPCP and Doppler variables of PVF was found with systolic fraction (the systolic velocity time integral expressed as a fraction of total anterograde PVF) (r = -0.88; p < 0.001). Age influenced this relation, with progressive increase of the systolic fraction in older patients. A good correlation (r = 0.72; p < 0.001) was found between LVEDP and the difference in duration of the reversal PVF and the mitral a wave. In conclusion, (1) PVF can be recorded adequately in most patients with precordial Doppler echocardiography; (2) left ventricular diastolic pressures can be estimated reliably by precordial Doppler echocardiography; and (3) the clinical meaning of Doppler-derived indexes of left ventricular diastolic performance is age-related.

Estimating Mean Pulmonary Wedge Pressure in Patients With Chronic Atrial Fibrillation From Transthoracic Doppler Indexes of Mitral and Pulmonary Venous Flow Velocity

OBJECTIVES We sought to obtain a noninvasive estimation of mean pulmonary wedge pressure (MPWP) in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation (AF). BACKGROUND It has previously been demonstrated that MPWP can be reliably estimated from Doppler indexes of mitral and pulmonary venous flow (PVF) in patients with sinus rhythm. Doppler estimation of MPWP has not been validated in patients with AF. METHODS MPWP was correlated with variables of mitral and pulmonary venous flow velocity as assessed by Doppler transthoracic echocardiography in 35 consecutive patients. The derived algorithm was prospectively tested in 23 additional patients. RESULTS In all patients the mitral flow pattern showed only a diastolic forward component. A significant but relatively weak correlation (r = -0.50) was observed between MPWP and mitral deceleration time. In 12 (34%) of 35 patients, the pulmonary vein flow tracing demonstrated only a diastolic forward component; a diastolic and late systolic forward flow was noted in the remaining 23 patients (66%). A strong negative correlation was observed between MPWP and the normalized duration of the diastolic flow (r = -0.80) and its initial deceleration slope time (r = -0.91). Deceleration time > 220 ms predicted MPWP < or = 12 mm Hg with 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity. When estimating MPWP by using the equation MPWP = -94.261 PVF deceleration time -9.831 Interval QRS to onset of diastolic PVF -16.337 Duration of PVF + 44.261, the measured and predicted MPWP closely agreed with a mean difference of -0.85 mm Hg. The 95% confidence limits were 4.8 and -6.1 mm Hg. CONCLUSIONS In patients with chronic AF, MPWP can be estimated from transthoracic Doppler study of PVF velocity signals.

Comparison of sirolimus-eluting and bare metal stent for treatment of patients with total coronary occlusions: results of the GISSOC II-GISE multicentre randomized trial.

AIMS Percutaneous coronary intervention with bare metal stent (BMS) in chronic total coronary occlusions (CTOs) is associated with a higher rate of angiographic restenosis and reocclusion than that observed in subtotal stenoses. Preliminary reports have suggested a better performance of drug-eluting stents in CTO. In this multicentre, randomized trial, we compared the mid-term angiographic and clinical outcome of sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) or BMS implantation after successful recanalization of CTO. METHODS AND RESULTS Patients with CTO older than 1 month, after successful recanalization, were randomized to implantation of SES (78 patients) or BMS (74 patients) in 13 Italian centres. Clopidogrel therapy was prescribed for 6 months. The primary endpoint was in-segment minimal luminal diameter (MLD) at 8-month follow-up. Secondary clinical endpoints included death, myocardial infarction (MI), target lesion revascularization (TLR), and target vessel revascularization (TVR) at 24 months. Patients treated with SES showed, at in-segment analysis, a larger MLD (1.98 +/- 0.57 vs. 0.98 +/- 0.80 mm, P < 0.001), a lower late luminal loss (-0.06 +/- 0.49 vs. 1.11 +/- 0.79 mm, P < 0.001), and lower restenosis (9.8 vs. 67.7%, P < 0.001) and reocclusion (0 vs. 17%, P = 0.001) rates. At 24-month follow-up, patients in the SES group experienced fewer major adverse cardiac events (50.0 vs. 17.6%, P < 0.001) mainly due to a lower rate of both TLR (44.9 vs. 8.1%, P < 0.001) and TVR (44.9 vs. 14.9%, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION In CTO, SES is markedly superior to BMS in terms of restenosis and reocclusion rate, and incidence of repeat revascularization at 24 months. Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT00220558.

Assessment of internal mammary artery and saphenous vein graft patency and flow reserve using transthoracic Doppler echocardiography

OBJECTIVE To investigate transthoracic Doppler echocardiography in the identification of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) flow for assessing graft patency. DESIGN The initial study group comprised 45 consecutive patients with previous CABG undergoing elective cardiac catheterisation for recurrent ischaemia. The Doppler variables best correlated with angiographic graft patency were then tested prospectively in a further 84 patients (test group). SETTING Three tertiary referral centres. INTERVENTIONS Flow velocities in grafts were recorded at rest and during hyperaemia induced by dipyridamole (0.56 mg/kg/4 min), under the guidance of transthoracic colour Doppler flow mapping. Findings on transthoracic Doppler were compared with angiography. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Feasibility of identifying open grafts by Doppler and diagnostic accuracy for Doppler detection of significant (⩾ 70%) graft stenosis. RESULTS In the test group the identification rate for mammary artery grafts was 100%, for saphenous vein grafts to left anterior descending coronary artery 91%, for vein grafts to right coronary artery 96%, and for vein grafts to circumflex artery 90%. Coronary flow reserve (the ratio between peak diastolic velocity under hyperaemia and at baseline) of < 1.9 (95% confidence interval 1.83 to 2.08) had 100% sensitivity, 98% specificity, 87.5% positive predictive value, and 100% negative predictive value for mammary artery graft stenosis. Coronary flow reserve of < 1.6 (95% CI 1.51 to 1.73) had 91% sensitivity, 87% specificity, 85.4% positive predictive value, and 92.3% negative predictive value for significant vein graft stenosis. CONCLUSIONS Transthoracic Doppler can provide non-invasive assessment of CABG patency.

Clinical epidemiology in Italian Registry of Infective Endocarditis (RIEI): Focus on age, intravascular devices and enterococci.

INTRODUCTION The epidemiology of infective endocarditis (IE) is changing due to a number of factors, including aging and health related comorbidities and medical procedures. The aim of this study is to describe the main clinical, epidemiologic and etiologic changes of IE from a large database in Italy. METHODS We prospectively collected episodes of IE in 17 Italian centers from July 2007 to December 2010. RESULTS We enrolled 677 patients with definite IE, of which 24% health-care associated. Patients were male (73%) with a median age of 62 years (IQR: 49-74) and 61% had several comorbidities. One hundred and twenty-eight (19%) patients had prosthetic left side IE, 391 (58%) native left side IE, 94 (14%) device-related IE and 54 (8%) right side IE. A predisposing cardiopathy was present in 50%, while odontoiatric and non odontoiatric procedures were reported in 5% and 21% of patients respectively. Symptoms were usually atypical and precocious. The prevalent etiology was represented by Staphylococcus aureus (27%) followed by coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS, 21%), Streptococcus viridans (15%) and enterococci (14%). CNS and enterococci were relatively more frequent in patients with intravascular devices and prosthesis and S. viridans in left native valve. Diagnosis was made by transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography in 62% and 94% of cases, respectively. The in-hospital mortality was 14% and 1-year mortality was 21%. CONCLUSION The epidemiology is changing in Italy, where IE more often affects older patients with comorbidities and intravascular devices, with an acute onset and including a high frequency of enterococci. There were few preceding odontoiatric procedures.

Role of transthoracic, transesophageal, and transgastric two dimensional and color doppler echocardiography in the evaluation of mechanical complications of acute myocardial infarction

Abstract In conclusion, according to previous studies, 3,5–7 transthoracic echocardiography remains the most important technique for achieving an accurate and rapid diagnosis of mechanical complications of AMI. The addition of TEE and transgastric echocardiography is of great value in assessing the severity and the mechanism of mitral regurgitation to delineate complex lesions (very frequent in the present series) and to identify incomplete free wall rupture.

Successful emergency percutaneous balloon mitral valvotomy in a patient with massive left atrial thrombosis : utility of transesophageal echocardiographic monitoring

Emergency percutaneous balloon mitral valvotomy was carried out successfully in a 65-year-old woman with severe mitral stenosis and massive left atrial thrombosis. Transesophageal echocardiography was of great value in monitoring each step of the procedure in order to avoid systemic embolization due to improper manipulation of the dilating apparatus within the left atrium.

Management of patients with infective endocarditis by a multidisciplinary team approach: an operative protocol.

Even in the modern era of advanced diagnostic imaging, improved antibiotic therapy and potentially curative surgery, infective endocarditis remains a serious disease with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Reasons for such a persistently poor outcome may be represented by the changing epidemiology and microbiology, with new groups of patients at risk and new and more aggressive microorganisms. However, the inadequate use of both diagnostic (blood cultures and echocardiography) and therapeutic (antibiotics and surgery) means can influence the generally delayed diagnosis and poor prognosis seen in patients with infective endocarditis. We tried to identify the critical points in the management of patients with infective endocarditis and to elaborate a formal multidisciplinary approach based on the strict collaboration of specialists in infectious diseases, microbiology, cardiology and cardiac surgery. We hypothesized that this approach could increase the adherence to the published guidelines, and could represent a means to improve the outcome of patients with infective endocarditis.