Hiroya Tamada

Impact of coronary artery remodeling on clinical presentation of coronary artery disease: an intravascular ultrasound study.

OBJECTIVES We examined the association between the features of the culprit lesion in coronary artery disease (CAD) and clinical presentation as shown by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). BACKGROUND The association between coronary remodeling pattern and clinical presentation of CAD is unclear. METHODS We analyzed 125 selected patients who underwent preintervention IVUS. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and unstable angina pectoris (UAP) were categorized as an acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and stable angina pectoris (SAP) and old myocardial infarction (OMI) as stable CAD. Coronary remodeling patterns and plaque morphology of the culprit lesion obtained by IVUS were analyzed in terms of their association with clinical presentation or angiographic morphology. RESULTS Angiographically complex lesions were associated with ACS and OMI. In patients with a complex lesion, positive remodeling was observed more frequently than in those with a simple lesion. In AMI and UAP, positive remodeling was observed more frequently than in SAP and OMI (82% vs. 78% vs. 33% vs. 40%, respectively, p < 0.0001). The remodeling ratio was greater in AMI and UAP than in SAP and OMI (1.26 +/- 0.15 vs. 1.11 +/- 0.10 vs. 0.94 +/- 0.11 vs. 0.96 +/- 0.13, respectively, p < 0.0001). Furthermore, within ACS, the remodeling ratio was greater in AMI than in UAP (1.26 +/- 0.15 vs. 1.11 +/- 0.10, respectively, p < 0.05), whereas the frequency of positive remodeling was not different. CONCLUSIONS Positive remodeling was more frequently observed in ACS than in stable CAD. Moreover, the degree of positive remodeling was greater in AMI than in UAP. These results may reflect the impact of remodeling types and its degree in the culprit lesion of CAD on clinical presentation.

Thallium-201 SPECT and Low-Dose Dobutamine Stress Cine MRI for Predicting Functional Recovery of Regional Myocardial Contraction in Patients with Myocardial Infarction

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to compare the diagnostic performances of Tl-201 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and dobutamine stress cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for predicting functional recovery of regional myocardial contraction in patients after myocardial infarction. METHODS Twenty patients underwent Tl-201 SPECT and MRI 3-4 weeks after onset of myocardial infarction. Cine MR images were acquired in the resting state and during dobutamine stress. Tl-201 uptake and systolic wall thickening (SWT) on cine MRI were analyzed on short-axis images by using a 14-segment model. Follow-up cine MR images were obtained 187.1+/-33.5 days after onset. RESULTS The averaged Tl-201 uptake in 54 segments with impaired SWT was 47%+/-20%, being significantly lower than that in 226 segments with preserved SWT (75%+/-18%; p<0.0001). The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of dobutamine MRI and Tl-201 SPECT for predicting preserved SWT after 6 months were 89% vs. 80%, not significant (NS); 89% vs. 72%, p<0.01; and 89% vs. 79%, NS, respectively. In the anterior wall and apex, the sensitivity and specificity of SPECT were not significantly different from those of MRI. In the inferior wall and posterolateral wall, however, the specificity of SPECT was substantially lower than that of MRI (53% vs. 88%, p<0.001), resulting in significantly lower accuracy (75% vs. 90%, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS Both SPECT and dobutamine MRI showed excellent sensitivity for predicting myocardial viability in all left ventricular segments. Decreased specificity of SPECT in the inferior and posterolateral segments resulted in lower overall specificity in comparison with dobutamine MRI.

Late development of an aneurysm of a saphenous vein used as an aortocoronary conduit

A case of a large saphenous vein aortocoronary aneurysm that developed late after coronary artery bypass grafting is presented. This is the first case of a large saphenous vein aortocoronary aneurysm identified by serial angiography and 3-dimensional computed tomographic scanning.

Adenosine Triphosphate-sensitive Micro-reentrant Atrial Tachycardia Originating from the Crista Terminalis in a Patient with Chronic Renal Failure due to Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura

A 57‐year‐old woman with chronic renal failure due to the thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura complained of palpitation. A 12‐lead ECG showed supraventricular tachycardia with a cycle length of 375 ms. During the electrophysiological study, a tachycardia with a cycle length of 375 ms was reproducibly induced and terminated by atrial extrastimulation. The tachycardia exhibited an inverse relationship between the coupling interval of extrastimulus initiating the tachycardia, and the first postpacing return cycle, as well as an increasing pattern of resetting the tachycardia with an atrial extrastimulus. Ventricular burst pacing during tachycardia produced AV dissociation. Intravenous injections of a low dose (4 mg) of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) terminated the tachycardia without a preceding atrio‐His bundle block. The tachycardia was diagnosed as an ATP‐sensitive micro‐reentrant atrial tachycardia. Real‐time endocardial activation mapping using an electroanatomical mapping system revealed that the earliest activation site of the tachycardia was located at the midlateral portion of the crista terminalis. The tachycardia was abolished by focal ablation targeting the earliest activation site during tachycardia. This is the first reported case of an ATP‐sensitive micro‐reentrant atrial tachycardia associated with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.